• Stainless Steel Ball Valves

Stainless Steel Ball Valves

The stainless steel 304 ball valve is easy to open and close, small, and its sealing, structure, reliability and maintenance are far superior to those of stainless steel ball valves, which is widely used in various industries.
 
Principles of stainless steel ball valves
The working principle of stainless steel. 304 ball valve is to make the valve unblocked or blocked by rotating the valve spool. The stainless steel 316L ball valve and plug valve belong to the same valve. Only its closed part is a ball. The ball rotates around the centerline of the valve body to realize opening and closing. Stainless steel ball valves are mainly used to cut off, distribute and change the flow direction of media in pipelines. A ball valve is a new type of valve which is widely used. Since the ball valve generally only needs to rotate the handwheel at an angle of 90 to complete the fully open or fully close action, it is easy to achieve rapid opening and closing. The opening and closing time for some structures is only 0.05 to 0.1 seconds to ensure the use of automation systems in the test bench. 
 
Classifications of stainless steel ball valves
According to the structure, stainless steel ball valves can be divided into floating ball valves, trunnion ball valves and elastic ball valves.
 
Floating ball valves
The ball of the ball valve is floating. Under the action of the medium pressure, the ball will generate a certain displacement, and well press the sealing surface of the outlet end to ensure the sealing of the outlet end. The floating ball valve has a simple structure and good sealing performance; the load of the sphere carrying the working medium is all transmitted to the outlet sealing ring. It is necessary to consider whether the material of the sealing ring can bear the working load of the sphere. This structure is widely used in medium and low pressure ball valves. 
 
Trunnion ball valves
The ball of the ball valve is fixed and does not move after being pressurized. Trunnion ball valves are provided with floating seats. After the medium is pressurized, the valve seat moves, so that the sealing ring is pressed well on the ball to ensure the sealing. The bearings are usually installed on the upper and lower shafts of the ball, and the operating torque is small, which is suitable for high-pressure and large-diameter valves. To reduce the operating torque of the ball valve and increase the reliability of the sealing, the oil-sealed ball valve has appeared. A special lubricant is injected between the sealing surfaces to form an oil film, enhances the sealing performance, reduces the operating torque, and is more suitable for high-pressure and large-diameter ball valves. 
 
Elastic ball valves
The ball of the ball valve is elastic. Both the ball and the sealing ring of the valve seat are made of metals, and the sealing-specific pressure is very high. The pressure of the medium cannot meet the requirements for sealing, and an external force must be applied. The valve is suitable for high-temperature and high-pressure medium. An elastic groove is provided at the lower end of the inner wall of the sphere to obtain elasticity for the elastic sphere. When the passage is closed, use the wedge-shaped head of the valve stem to expand the ball and press the seat to seal. Before rotating the ball, release the wedge-shaped head, and the ball will return to its original shape, leaving a small gap between the ball and the valve seat, which can reduce friction on the sealing surface and operating torque.
 
Ball valves classified by channels
Ball valves can be classified into straight ball valves, three-way ball valves and right-angle ball valves. There are T-type and L-type ball valves for three-way ball valves. The T-shape ball valve can interconnect three pipelines, which can be split and merged. The L-shape can only connect two pipes. It only plays the role of distribution. The structure of the three-way ball valve adopts an integrated structure, and has fewer flanges, good reliability, and flexible design. The three-way ball core is divided into T-type and L-type, with long service life, large flow capacity and low resistance.
 
Ball valves classified by functions
There are single-acting and double-acting ball valves. The characteristic of the single-acting type is that once the power source fails, the ball valve will be in the state required by the control system.
 
Ball valves classified by structure
Ball valves can be classified by one-piece ball valves, two-piece ball valves and three-piece ball valves.
 
Ball valves classified by materials
Ball valves can be classified by SS 201, SS 301, SS 304, SS 304L, SS 316L ball valves, cast steel ball valves WCB, carbon steel ball valves and ductile iron ball valves.
 
Ball valves classified by driving modes
Ball valves can be classified by electric ball valves, pneumatic ball valves, manual ball valves and hydraulic ball valves.
 
Characteristics of stainless steel ball valves
  • Stainless steel ball valves have no maintenance, adjustment and lubrication, easy installation, low operating costs, and long-term reliable operation. The surface adopts plastic spraying processing technology and is beautiful. There will be no leakage. It is very easy to install the adjustment mechanism. The operating handle can be disassembled and installed in reverse.
  • Since the valve seat is composed of carbon fiber reinforced Teflon sealing rings and disc springs, it has good adaptability to pressure and temperature changes, and there will be no slippage within the marked pressure and temperature range.
  • The sphere processing adopts the advanced computer detector to track and detect, and the sphere processing precision is high.
  • Since the material of the valve body is the same as that of the pipeline, there will be no uneven force, no deformation due to earthquakes and vehicles passing through the ground, and the pipeline is resistant to aging.
  • To prevent static electricity, steel balls and springs are installed between the valve stem and the ball, and between the valve stem and the packing box, which can keep the various parts of the valve and the valve body electrically conductive, allowing the current to pass through this area, and release static electricity. It can not only prevent fire, but also corrosion, realizing temporary power failure and timely maintenance.
  • The anti-blowout function of the valve stem is because the valve stem is affected by the pressure inside the valve and always generates a separation force, so the valve stem is designed as an anti-blowout structure.
  • The thrust washer made of materials with low friction is used to push the pressure to the valve stem, so that the valve stem only plays the role of transmitting torque.
 
Application scopes of stainless steel ball valves
City gas: outlets of gas pipelines, main pipelines, various gas supply pipelines, etc.
Central heating: output pipelines, main pipelines, and branch pipelines of large heating equipment.
Heat exchangers: open and close pipes and circuits.
Iron and steel plants: various fluid pipelines, exhaust gas selective discharge pipelines, gas heating pipelines and fuel supply pipelines.
All kinds of industrial equipment: all kinds of heat treatment pipelines, all kinds of industrial gas and heating pipelines.