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Control Valves and Flow
Characteristics
The relationship between control
valve capacity and stem traveling

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The relationship between control valve
capacity and valve stem travel is known
as

THE FLOW CHARACTERISTIC

OF THE
CONTROL VALVE

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Trim
Trim design
design of
of the
the valve
valve affects
affects how
how the
the control
control
valve
valve capacity
capacity changes
changes as
as the
the valve
valve moves
moves through
through
its
its complete
complete travel.
travel. Because
Because of
of the
the variation
variation in
in trim
trim
design,
design, many
many valves
valves are
are not
not linear
linear in
in nature.
nature.
Valve
Valve trims
trims are
are instead
instead designed,
designed, or
or characterized,
characterized,
in
in order
order to
to meet
meet the
the large
large variety
variety of
of control
control
application
application needs.
needs.
Many
Many control
control loops
loops have
have inherent
inherent non
non linearity's,
linearity's,
which
which may
may be
be possible
possible to
to compensate
compensate selecting
selecting the
the
Control
Control Valve
Valve trim.
trim.

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Inherent Control Valve

Flow Characteristics

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The most common characteristics are
shown in the figure above. The percent of
flow through the valve is plotted against
valve stem position.
The curves shown are typical of those
available from valve manufacturers. These
curves are based on constant pressure
drop across the valve and are called
Inherent Flow Characteristics

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Linear
Linear flow
flow capacity
capacity increases
increases linearly
linearly
with
with valve
valve travel.
travel.
Equal percentage
Flow capacity increases exponentially with valve trim
travel. Equal increments of valve travel produce equal
percentage changes in the existing CV.
A modified parabolic characteristic is approximately
midway
between
linear
and
equal-percentage
characteristics. It provides fine throttling at low flow
capacity and approximately linear characteristics at
higher flow capacity.

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Quick
Quick opening
opening provides
provides large
large changes
changes inin flow
flow
for
forvery
verysmall
smallchanges
changesininlift.
lift.It
Itusually
usuallyhas
hastoo
too
high
highaavalve
valvegain
gainfor
foruse
useininmodulating
modulatingcontrol.
control.
So
-off service,
So itit isis limited
limited to
to on
on-off
service, such
such as
as
sequential
sequential operation
operation inin either
either batch
batch or
or semi
semicontinuous
continuousprocesses.
processes.

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The
The majority
majority of
of control
control applications
applications are
are
valves
-percentage, or
valves with
with linear,
linear, equal
equal-percentage,
or
modified
-flow characteristics
modified-flow
characteristics

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Installed
Installed Control
Control Valve
Valve Flow
Flow Characteristics
Characteristics
When valves are installed with pumps, piping and fittings, and
other process equipment, the pressure drop across the valve will
vary as the plug moves through its travel.
When the actual flow in a system is plotted against valve opening,
the curve is called the INSTALLED FLOW CHARACTERISTIC
In most applications, when the valve opens, and the resistance due to
fluids flow decreases the pressure drop across the valve. This moves
the INHERENT CHARACTERISTIC:
A linear inherent curve will in general resemble a quick opening
characteristic.
An equal percentage curve will in general resemble a linear curve

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Control
Valves
and
Cavitation
Control Valves and Cavitation

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When a fluid passes a valve the fluid velocity
increases and the pressure drops according the
Bernoulli Equation
CAVITATION:
If the speed through the VALVE is high enough, the pressure in the liquid
may drop to a level where the fluid may start bubble or flash. The
pressure recovers sufficiently and the bubbles collapse upon themselves.

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