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Our Advantage:
We are a manufacturer, produce&sell ourselves
Fully support customer customized valves
MOQ：1 Piece
Accept OEM, ODM
What is a Floating Ball Valve?
As the name suggests, a floating ball valve uses a ball as the structure to close the cross-section of the pipe and prevent the flow of the fluid. Now, the main feature of a floating ball valve is that the ball has no structure to support it, so it stays suspended in the fluid and in place by valve seats.
The key components of a ball valve:
Valve body: the chamber in which the valve mechanism is encased. Ball valves are commonly made of steel, iron, brass, bronze or PVC.
Ball: A pivoting sphere with a flow path through the center, connected to the valve body via a stem or shaft
Bore or port: hollow center of the ball
Packing: Flexible seals that fit around the valve stem to prevent media from escaping the valve body
Seat : A round, donut-shaped disc that forms a seal between the valve body and ball
Stem: The shaft that anchors the ball and connects it to the external operating lever or actuator
Actuator: An external device designed to rotate the stem of the valve. This can be a lever, a gear, a motor-operated gear (electric actuator) or a pneumatic/hydraulic actuator.
Most ball valves are of the floating variety. Floating ball valves are supported by cupped seats that create a tight seal between the valve body and the ball. The ball itself is suspended in the media it regulates and is kept in position by cup-like seats, usually made of a thermoplastic. These seats form a tight seal between the ball and the valve body.
Floating ball valves are capable of providing bi-directional sealing, meaning that the ball can move freely enough to halt media flowing in either direction. This type of valve is lightweight, economical and versatile, and is found in applications including oil, gas, water, steam and petrochemicals.
How Do Floating Ball Valves Work?
Floating ball valves are operated by a shaft, or stem, attached to the top of the ball that turns it 90 degrees (a quarter turn). As the ball rotates, the port is covered or uncovered by the wall of the valve body, either releasing or halting the flow of media. The stem is attached loosely enough to the ball that, as the ball rotates on its axis, the pressure of the flow pushes the ball against its downstream seat, creating a tight seal. For this reason, floating ball valves may not seal as effectively in very low pressure applications after a certain amount of seat wear has occurred. This is because there may not be enough media pressure to force the ball against the downstream seat to create a tight seal. However, in most applications downstream pressure is sufficient to maintain a tight seal long after the seats have begun to wear.
Floating Ball Valve Standards:
Design standard: API 608 /API6D
Test standard: API 598/API6D
Fire Standard: API 607
Wall thickness standard: ASME B16.34
Floating Ball Valve Selection Guidance:
The main pipeline for oil and natural gas transportation needs to be a clean pipeline, and it needs to be buried underground. For buried pipelines, it is recommended to select full-diameter welded or flanged ball valves. For branch pipes, it is recommended to select flange connections or welded connections with a full diameter or a reduced diameter ball valve.
For the pipeline and storage equipment of oil products, it is recommended to use flanged ball valves.
For city gas and natural gas pipelines, the choice of suggested is floating ball valves with flange connection and female connections.
The metallurgical oxygen piping system should use rigorously de-aliphatic oxygen valves.
When working with fluids at very low temperatures, it is recommended to select the low temperature ball valve with a valve cover
The pipeline system of the catalytic cracking unit of the oil refining unit can be used with a lifting rod ball valve.
In the equipment and piping systems of corrosive media such as acids and alkali used in the chemical industry, it is appropriate to select stainless-steel ball valves made of austenitic stainless steel with polytetrafluoroethylene as the seat ring.
Metal-to-metal sealed ball valves can be used on the piping systems or devices which work at high-temperature in metallurgical systems, power systems, petrochemical plants, and urban heating systems.
When flow adjustment is required, worm gear drive, pneumatic or electric adjustment ball valve with V-shaped opening can be selected.
Pros &Cons for Floating Ball Valve
Ball valve advantages:
• The fluid resistance is small, and the resistance coefficient is equal to that of the pipe section of the same length.
• It has a simple structure, a small size and a light weight.
• It is tight and reliable. Currently, the most widely used sealing surface material of a ball valve is plastic, which has good sealing performance and has been widely used in vacuum systems.
• It is easy to operate with a fast shutter speed. The rotation from the fully open to the fully closed position is as long as 90 [deg.], to facilitate remote control.
Disadvantages of ball valves:
• The sealing surface of the sphere can be damaged very easily, and it is not suitable for the applications with working conditions where the medium contains particles.
• Soft-sealed valves are not practical for high temperature and high pressure conditions.
• Hard-sealed valves require high sealing forces and high torque to create the protection barrier.
Our Advantage:
We are a manufacturer, produce&sell ourselves
Fully support customer customized valves
MOQ：1 Piece
Accept OEM, ODM
What is a Floating Ball Valve?
As the name suggests, a floating ball valve uses a ball as the structure to close the cross-section of the pipe and prevent the flow of the fluid. Now, the main feature of a floating ball valve is that the ball has no structure to support it, so it stays suspended in the fluid and in place by valve seats.
The key components of a ball valve:
Valve body: the chamber in which the valve mechanism is encased. Ball valves are commonly made of steel, iron, brass, bronze or PVC.
Ball: A pivoting sphere with a flow path through the center, connected to the valve body via a stem or shaft
Bore or port: hollow center of the ball
Packing: Flexible seals that fit around the valve stem to prevent media from escaping the valve body
Seat : A round, donut-shaped disc that forms a seal between the valve body and ball
Stem: The shaft that anchors the ball and connects it to the external operating lever or actuator
Actuator: An external device designed to rotate the stem of the valve. This can be a lever, a gear, a motor-operated gear (electric actuator) or a pneumatic/hydraulic actuator.
Most ball valves are of the floating variety. Floating ball valves are supported by cupped seats that create a tight seal between the valve body and the ball. The ball itself is suspended in the media it regulates and is kept in position by cup-like seats, usually made of a thermoplastic. These seats form a tight seal between the ball and the valve body.
Floating ball valves are capable of providing bi-directional sealing, meaning that the ball can move freely enough to halt media flowing in either direction. This type of valve is lightweight, economical and versatile, and is found in applications including oil, gas, water, steam and petrochemicals.
How Do Floating Ball Valves Work?
Floating ball valves are operated by a shaft, or stem, attached to the top of the ball that turns it 90 degrees (a quarter turn). As the ball rotates, the port is covered or uncovered by the wall of the valve body, either releasing or halting the flow of media. The stem is attached loosely enough to the ball that, as the ball rotates on its axis, the pressure of the flow pushes the ball against its downstream seat, creating a tight seal. For this reason, floating ball valves may not seal as effectively in very low pressure applications after a certain amount of seat wear has occurred. This is because there may not be enough media pressure to force the ball against the downstream seat to create a tight seal. However, in most applications downstream pressure is sufficient to maintain a tight seal long after the seats have begun to wear.
Floating Ball Valve Standards:
Design standard: API 608 /API6D
Test standard: API 598/API6D
Fire Standard: API 607
Wall thickness standard: ASME B16.34
Floating Ball Valve Selection Guidance:
The main pipeline for oil and natural gas transportation needs to be a clean pipeline, and it needs to be buried underground. For buried pipelines, it is recommended to select full-diameter welded or flanged ball valves. For branch pipes, it is recommended to select flange connections or welded connections with a full diameter or a reduced diameter ball valve.
For the pipeline and storage equipment of oil products, it is recommended to use flanged ball valves.
For city gas and natural gas pipelines, the choice of suggested is floating ball valves with flange connection and female connections.
The metallurgical oxygen piping system should use rigorously de-aliphatic oxygen valves.
When working with fluids at very low temperatures, it is recommended to select the low temperature ball valve with a valve cover
The pipeline system of the catalytic cracking unit of the oil refining unit can be used with a lifting rod ball valve.
In the equipment and piping systems of corrosive media such as acids and alkali used in the chemical industry, it is appropriate to select stainless-steel ball valves made of austenitic stainless steel with polytetrafluoroethylene as the seat ring.
Metal-to-metal sealed ball valves can be used on the piping systems or devices which work at high-temperature in metallurgical systems, power systems, petrochemical plants, and urban heating systems.
When flow adjustment is required, worm gear drive, pneumatic or electric adjustment ball valve with V-shaped opening can be selected.
Pros &Cons for Floating Ball Valve
Ball valve advantages:
• The fluid resistance is small, and the resistance coefficient is equal to that of the pipe section of the same length.
• It has a simple structure, a small size and a light weight.
• It is tight and reliable. Currently, the most widely used sealing surface material of a ball valve is plastic, which has good sealing performance and has been widely used in vacuum systems.
• It is easy to operate with a fast shutter speed. The rotation from the fully open to the fully closed position is as long as 90 [deg.], to facilitate remote control.
Disadvantages of ball valves:
• The sealing surface of the sphere can be damaged very easily, and it is not suitable for the applications with working conditions where the medium contains particles.
• Soft-sealed valves are not practical for high temperature and high pressure conditions.
• Hard-sealed valves require high sealing forces and high torque to create the protection barrier.
