The Crucial Applications of a Fire Safe Butterfly Valve
High performance butterfly valves are used in rigorous applications especially in the petrochemical and offshore settings. Most of these high quality butterfly valves are designed with a fire safe feature. Such feature typically incorporates a secondary sealing seat that will maintain a positive shutoff when the primary seal is destroyed in a fire. This secondary sealing seat is made of indestructible materials that can tolerate extremely high temperature. Fire safe butterfly valve models, just like other types of butterfly valves, are used not only for on/off function but also for control applications.
In most cases, the primary seat of fire safe butterfly valves offers near zero-leakage assurance. The secondary metal seat can perform sealing function, but may allow minimal leakage at high temperature that occurs during fire. The main sealing seat is usually made of the material called PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) also known as Teflon. The primary seat is also resilient to high temperature and provides bubble-tight sealing, but is not entirely fire proof. When fire attacks the valve, it will most likely burn the primary sealing seat. When this happens, the secondary metal seat automatically takes the place of the primary seat and maintains the sealing function.
The fire safe feature of butterfly valves is an important factor in ensuring safety and security in facilities. When butterfly valves without fire safe sealing fail during a fire incident, it can cause further damage to the pipework or the entire flow system, putting not only the environment in danger but also people’s lives. This is the reason why fire safe butterfly valves units are highly suitable for handling hazardous and flammable fluids. This type of valve is also used for critical applications like hydrocarbon services, refinery services, steam control, liquor services, gas, and vacuum applications. In addition, fire safe butterfly valve models are commonly utilized in several industries like power generation, heating, ventilation, waste water treatment, food and beverage processing, pulp and paper production, shipbuilding and hydrocarbon processing.
A fire safe butterfly valve can have various body designs like wafer, lugged and double flanged. This type of butterfly valve is configured to withstand harsh conditions, extreme temperature rating and nominal pressure. The sizes and pressure rating of a fire safe butterfly valve are usually the same as any regular butterfly valves. Before the butterfly valve can be classified as “fire-safe”, it should have undergone rigorous testing. There are a couple of tests that verifies the resiliency of fire safe butterfly valves, and they offer various methods and intensity level.
When manufacturers evaluate the fire safety feature of their valve products, they take in consideration a number of factors like how the process of fire begins and its progression. They also take into account what specific process fluid or gas the product is expected to handle, as well as the maximum temperature during the critical portion of the fire. In addition, the manufacturers will see how tight the valve should seal and how it will function after the fire. To complement the fire safe butterfly valve unit, most facilities also acquire a high performing actuator that can resist fire damage for at least one cycle.