Segmented Ball Rotary Control Valve for Natural Gas Regulation

Segmented ball valve for natural gas regulation,
shown with Digital Natural Gas Positioner
Image courtesy GE Becker

The manufacturers of valves and other fluid control components for the processing industries have continuously developed new designs and innovated existing designs to deliver better performance for targeted operating conditions. The available basic valve designs, along with their variants, create an immense catalog of potential candidates for each application.

One such design variant is the segmented ball  valve. It is a quarter turn valve, like its cousin the ball valve, but the trim is different. True to its name, the active closure structure is but a portion of what we know of as a common ball valve. Where the closure mechanism of a ball valve essentially is a solid ball with a hole drilled through it, a segmented ball valve more resembles a section of a sphere or hollowed out ball with a shaped opening in the surface. A primary distinction between the two is that a ball valve contains a passageway through the diameter of the ball that rotates around a central axis. A segmented ball valve functions somewhat more like a gate valve and has no machined pathway through the closure, only a formed surface that restricts a portion of the fluid pathway.

The closure in a ball valve can be floating or trunnion mounted. A segmented ball valve will have a trunnion style mounted closure, with rigid support on opposing points of its diameter. Ball valves, with their rotating fluid pathway resembling a short tube, are generally not the best option for flow control, being better suited for isolation applications. The segmented ball valve functions similar to a sliding gate valve, providing an increasing or decreasing shaped opening as the shaft is turned.

GE Oil & Gas, under the Becker brand name, utilizes segmented ball valves for natural gas regulation applications. There are other industrial applications where this valve type can deliver superior performance and overcome a number of otherwise challenging conditions.

The brochure included below provides more detail on the segmented ball valves targeted for natural gas operations. There are some good illustrations that detail the valve construction. Share your fluid control challenges of all types with valve specialists, leveraging your own process knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to develop an effective solution.

Segmented Ball Control Valve for Natural Gas Operations from Classic Controls, Inc.

Asset Condition Monitoring Can Reduce Unplanned Outages and Improve Profitability

Model 3500 Rack Mount Monitoring Unit
Courtesy GE Bently Nevada

Lost industrial production and unplanned plant outages can be unbelievably costly.

Asset condition monitoring, as the name implies, is the process of continually monitoring a machine or piece of equipment with the intent to predict mechanical wear or failure point. Key indicators of failing equipment are changing values in vibration, noise, and temperature, all of which are measurable with the right equipment. Monitoring these variables, key indicators of machine operating health, provides valuable data which can be analyzed. By evaluating trends in the data, intelligent systems can provide useful information about the equipment and asset, such as early detection of possible faults or failures. The goal is to take preventative, less costly, measures, rather than clean up after an outright failure.

Continuously monitoring critical asset parameters such as vibration, temperature, speed, and numerous other condition indicators is a proven method for anticipating and preventing mechanical failures—proven in tens of thousands of industrial facilities around the world by delivering tangible benefits such as:

• Improved protection from catastrophic failures
• Better machinery reliability/availability
• Fewer process interruptions
• Enhanced maintenance/outage planning
• Lower maintenance and repair costs
• Longer intervals between outages
• Reduced insurance premiums

Implementation of asset condition monitoring is benefiting manufacturing plants and process industries such as chemical, petrochemical, pulp & paper, power generation, wind turbines, and oil & gas. Not only can it save money from protecting against unplanned outages, but condition monitoring also improves productivity, quality, and profitability.

GE's Bently Nevada 3500 Monitoring System provides continuous, online monitoring suitable for machinery protection and asset condition monitoring applications. It represents a capable and flexible system in a traditional rack-based design, offering numerous features and advantages not provided in other systems.

Share your equipment monitoring requirements and challenges, large and small, with application specialists. The combination of your process and facilities knowledge, with their product application expertise, will produce effective solutions.

Industrial Machinery and Asset Condition Monitoring from Classic Controls, Inc.