Why are valves important in industry?

Most people probably don't understand how many valves are ubiquitous and essential. And how important are they to our daily lives? Probably not, as you often take them for granted unless they malfunction. In that case, these valves need to be repaired quickly.

Any manufacturing plant will consist of hundreds of different control circuits to produce its products. They all interact with each other based on the information obtained from the sensors, and this information is processed by a controller. With so many things happening at once, load disturbances will inevitably occur. This strategy is carried out by using the control valves.

The basic concept of valve

A valve is an accessory that regulates the flow of fluid (gas or liquid) through a conduit. This is done by blocking, partially obstructing, or opening the passage. The simplest form of valve is the so-called check valve. It is also a very old design of the valves. It consists of a hinged side on one side and a free flap on the other side. What it does is stop the flow of fluid in one direction, allowing it in the opposite direction. Different type of valves has their different usages in the industries and in our daily life.

Natural valve

You can think of yourselves as a Slide gate valve designer and manufacturing geniuses. And sure, they are incredibly useful. But nature struck us there. Your cardiovascular system relies on one-way valves to control the direction of blood circulation.

Commonly used valves

As said before, you probably don't even know how many valves we use every day. Use simple valves each time you turn on the faucet. The gas stove uses a ball valve. Your car uses a poppet knife valve to measure and time the gas and air required for the engine pistons. There is no doubt that the machines you use with gas and liquids have some valve. They contain certain valves called thermal expansion valves. These valves control the amount of refrigerant that enters the condenser of the air conditioning unit.

Material / size / operation method

You can discuss the Floating ball valve in terms of materials. They are usually made of metal because they need to be durable but can be plastic or rubber for disposables. On the other hand, there are special valves that can go far beyond that. Think of those giant gas tubes. The valves that control their flow are huge. Different size of valve has their different usages and features.

Finally, the valve can be split according to how it works. You can use hydraulic, pneumatic, manual, electric, or electronic valves. It all depends on the force that causes the valve position to change. For hydraulic valves, it is water, and the air pressure uses air. Manual valves require direct human intervention by turning a lever, flipping a switch, or otherwise—the last two usesof the valve forces to generated by the motor and electric current, respectively.