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Valve Seat Leakage Test

The document discusses valve seat leakage tests which are used to determine a control valve's ability to completely stop fluid flow. Valves are given roman numeral ratings based on maximum leakage rates, with Class VI being the tightest and able to stop all but 1 bubble every 2 seconds. Special test fixtures are used to test rebuilt valves and apply varying pressures to measure leakage rates.

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taeyun hwng
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142 views3 pages

Valve Seat Leakage Test

The document discusses valve seat leakage tests which are used to determine a control valve's ability to completely stop fluid flow. Valves are given roman numeral ratings based on maximum leakage rates, with Class VI being the tightest and able to stop all but 1 bubble every 2 seconds. Special test fixtures are used to test rebuilt valves and apply varying pressures to measure leakage rates.

Uploaded by

taeyun hwng
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Valve Seat Leakage Test

In some process applications, it is important that the control


valve be able to completely stop fluid flow when placed in the
“closed” position. Although this may seem to be a fundamental
requirement of any valve, it is not necessarily so.

Many control valves spend most of their operating lives in a


partially-open state, rarely opening or closing fully. Additionally,
some control valve designs are notorious for the inability to
completely shut off (e.g. double-ported globe valves).

Given the common installation of manual “block” valves upstream


and downstream of a control valve, there is usually a way to secure
zero flow through a pipe even if a control valve is incapable of tight
shut-off. For some applications, however, tight control valve shut-
off is mandatory.

For this reason we have several classifications for control valves,


rating them in their ability to fully shut off.

Valve Seat Leakage Test


Seat leakage tolerances are given roman numeral designations, as
shown in this table:
The “bubble test” used for Class VI seat leakage is based on the
leakage rate of air or nitrogen gas past the closed valve seat as
measured by counting the rate of gas bubbles escaping a bubble
tube submerged under water.

For a 6 inch valve, this maximum bubble rate is 27 bubbles per


minute (or about 1 bubble every two seconds):

It is from this leakage test procedure that the term bubble-tight


shut-off originates. Class VI shut-off is often achievable only
through the use of “soft” seat materials such as Teflon rather
than hard metal-to-metal contact between the valve plug and seat.

Of course, this method of achieving bubble-tight shut-off comes at


the price of limited operating temperature range and the inability to
withstand nuclear radiation exposure.

Special test fixtures are typically used in control valve rebuild shops
to test the leakage rates of a rebuilt valve. One such test bench
appears in this photograph:
In the foreground of this photograph we see a special “vise” used to
make quick, pressure-tight connections to the flange of any control
valve placed within it.

A movable flange sandwiches the control valve against a stationary


flange, both flanges faced with high-density plastic for a pressure
tight fit against the valve body flange faces.

A stainless-steel panel in the background provides a set of air


pressure regulators, hand valves, rotameters, pressure gauges, and
even a “bubble” flow indicator to measure leakage flow rate
through the control valve under varying pressure conditions.

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