Industrial Butterfly Valve: Examining the Significant Components
Industrial butterfly valve devices are utilized to regulate the flow of material through a piping system. This valve classification handles liquids, steam and gas; and are also used for throttling applications because of their quarter turn capability. Industrial butterfly valves are lightweight, small and are easy to maintain. They are highly favored in many industries because they are quick-acting, economical and fully capable of positive shut-off. A butterfly valve is made up of important components that allow it to perform its primary functions. These important parts include the body, the stem, the butterfly disk, the seat, the actuator, and the handle.
The body of an industrial butterfly valve is usually composed of strong metals like stainless steel, aluminum, carbon steel, ductile iron or cast iron. The stem passes through the center of the valve's body and attaches to the disk. It can be attached to the handle or actuator, and sets the disk in position for the shut off application or product flow control. Valve stems can be constructed in a one or two-piece model. They can also be made from different grades of stainless steel or carbon steel.
The disk situated within the butterfly valve is the main component that allows or blocks the flow of the product within the conveying line. In some cases, it is also designed to permit more flow patterns through the pipework. Customary installation of a butterfly valve puts the disk at the center of the pipe. By using the butterfly valve, a pressure drop is induced in the flow regardless of valve's position, because the disk is always present within the flow. The material of construction and shape of the disk directly affects the performance of an industrial butterfly valve. Some of the common valve disk materials are stainless steel, bronze, ductile iron and aluminum.
Regular butterfly valves usually come with seats molded into the body. However, there are some precision industrial butterfly valve models that are designed to have their seats held in place via mechanical methods; making them replaceable and repairable. When choosing the seat material for butterfly valves, you have to take into consideration the product handled, temperature and pressure associated with the flow.
An actuator is a control mechanism that supervises the movement of the valve's disk. It is mainly classified according its power source. Thus, the major types of actuators are manual gear, electric, pneumatic and electro-hydraulic. The actuator can position the butterfly valve's disk perpendicular or parallel to the flow. There are some butterfly valve models can be opened and closed using a handle. This handle is typically moved to a quarter turn in order to rotate the valve disk to 90 degrees. Other larger butterfly valves use a handwheel to operate the valve.
Top manufacturers can customize the body, disk, stem and seats of their industrial butterfly valve products upon client requests. Fabricating initiatives for these parts and their materials are usually made to meet application standards in temperature and pressure range, fluid concentration and flow conditions.
