This report is about the proposed solution to high pressure piping isolation valve leakage problems.

Background and Motivation

An incident occurred where a leak was discovered on bled steam piping to super heater 3 isolation
valve on unit 3, where upon reopening of Camden Power Station a relieve valve was removed and
the openings sealed to allow for full automation of the Isolation valve. An investigation was done,
and it was found that the leak was due to a failed gasket, the exact cause of the failure was
unknown, so a feasibility study was ordered to investigate the need to look in to other types of
gaskets as an alternative to the ones already in use at Camden Power Station.

The objectives are then to:

1.1.1 Look in to other types of gaskets that can serve as a more suitable replacement for the
existing ones.
Doing this through:
1.1.1.1 Gathering information about the type of flanges already installed in the high-
pressure piping isolation valves at Camden.
1.1.1.2 Gathering geometry information on these flanges.
1.1.1.3 Gathering information about the steam inside the piping, more importantly
pressure and temperature of the steam.
1.1.1.4 Looking at different gasket manufacturers and the design standards they use to
design their gaskets
1.1.1.5 Compare their standards with the standard that was used to design the flanges
installed at Camden, and choose the most suitable manufacturer to consider
when procuring new gaskets
1.1.1.6 Select a suitable gasket type based on the operating conditions at Camden, the
next objective is then to use the chosen manufacturer’s catalogue to select the
geometry of the gasket based on the geometry of the flange.
1.1.1.7 Do calculations/research to come up with a relevant torque that the flange bolts
can be tightened to, to provide sound sealing and not over compress or under
compress the gasket

Results and Discussions

Table 1: Current specifications on bled steam piping to super heater 3 on unit 3

Description Specification
Valve Isolation (parallel slide) Valve
Flange Flat face on turbine side of isolation valve
Gasket Graphite Sheet
Bolt (inches) 5/8
Temperature (deg celc) 440
Pressure 2850 KPa

Table 2: Design specification of flange on bled steam piping to super heater 3 on unit 3 isolation
valve

Temperature (deg celc) 353.7

Pressure 2600 KPa
The graphite gasket on the flange was found to have failed, no failure analysis was done to
determine the exact cause of failure of the gasket. Failure of the gasket could have been a result of
the following:

 Gasket over/under pressurised during installation

 Defects on gasket either by manufacturer negligence or due to bad storage
 Loading conditions exceeding allowable design limits of gasket
 Incorrect installation procedure used
 Gaskets used for periods longer than their design life
 Tempering with already installed gaskets
 Table 3: Dimensional data of affected Isolation valve flange area

Description Value
Pipe inner diameter 19 mm (3/4 in)
Outer Diameter 129 mm
Pitch Circle Diameter 87 mm
Bolt Diameter 15.8 mm (5/8 in)

The gasket selected is Maxiflex Graphite filled from Klinger, can be seen in figure 6, and design
specifications are given as:

Diameters : 67 44 32 21 mm

Thickness : 3.5 mm (uncompressed)

: 2.5 mm (compressed)

Maximum Pressure : 400 MPa

Maximum temperature : 500 Deg celc

Sealing Element : Graphite

Centering Ring : Carbon steel

Inner Ring : 316L

The required torque to pre-stress the bolts can be estimated using the equations on Appendix A
if enough information is available on the flange and bolts that will be used with the chosen
flange, or using torque guidelines given by Klinger. The flange at Camden was designed
according to BS 10, and is equivalent to ANSI class 600 flanges. Given this and the dimensions of
the flange, the torque can be estimated to be between 110 and 120 Nm.