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Fail Open (FO) - Air To Close&Fail Closed (FC) - Air To Open

This document discusses different types of fail-safe positions for valves: fail open, fail closed, and fail in place. Fail open means the valve will open if power is lost, as air pressure is needed to close the valve. Fail closed means the valve will close if power is lost, as air pressure is needed to open the valve. Fail in place only applies to certain valve types that do not react to power loss. The document provides examples of when a wastewater release valve and a heat exchanger water inlet valve would require fail closed and fail open settings, respectively, based on process safety needs.

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Ammar Instrument
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174 views3 pages

Fail Open (FO) - Air To Close&Fail Closed (FC) - Air To Open

This document discusses different types of fail-safe positions for valves: fail open, fail closed, and fail in place. Fail open means the valve will open if power is lost, as air pressure is needed to close the valve. Fail closed means the valve will close if power is lost, as air pressure is needed to open the valve. Fail in place only applies to certain valve types that do not react to power loss. The document provides examples of when a wastewater release valve and a heat exchanger water inlet valve would require fail closed and fail open settings, respectively, based on process safety needs.

Uploaded by

Ammar Instrument
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fail Open (FO) – Air to Close &

Fail Closed (FC) - Air to Open Valve

Prepared by : AMMAR MIRANI

It’s no secret that valves are essential to any control process. But what
happens when your plant loses power? You’re left in the dark with no easy
way to control your fluid process. That’s why it’s important to have a fail-
safe status set up for your valves.

A fail safety status is how the valve should operate when there is a loss of
power or signal. The valve’s fail position is a safety precaution that protects
your process in emergency situations. There are a few different fail
scenarios; each having its own consequences and safety effects.

It is important to remember that valves are generally pneumatic, meaning


that their function is based off of air pressure. Air has to be added in order
to open or close the valve, depending on how it is set up. The air pressure
acts on pistons, diaphragms, or springs inside of an actuator, creating
force to move the valve stem. This allows for pneumatic actuators to be
spring-closed or spring-opened, with the air pressure overpowering the
spring to provide movement.

If you lose power or air pressure, how do you want your valve to react?
Your decision is dictated solely by your process. Every process is unique,
so you need to analyze your process and consider the consequences of
what could happen downstream. Let’s go over the common fail positions.

Here's an interesting case study on how a wire manufacturing facility


created a safety net for a custom water system by choosing a smart fail-
safe position for a critical valve.

Fail Open (FO) – Air to Close


Fail open means a valve would open at a loss of signal or power. These
types of valves require air pressure to stay closed. Once the required air
pressure is gone, the valve will naturally open. Under a power outage, the
source of the air pressure would be lost and the valve would “fail” open.

Fail Closed (FC) - Air to Open


Fail closed means the valve will close when signal is interrupted or lost.
This is the opposite of the scenario above. Since air pressure is needed to
keep the valve open, it would automatically close when power is lost
because there would no longer be a functioning air source.

Fail in Place
This scenario is a little different because it only applies to a ball valve or
control valve that doesn’t react to loss of power. This would be useful when
the process can’t be shut down or where it is unnecessary to halt the
process.

Let’s go over some hypothetical situations. Imagine that you have a valve
controlling the flow rate of a treated wastewater stream that is being
released into a nearby river. Would you want this valve to fail-open or fail-
close?

You would definitely want this valve to fail closed. The fluid would no
longer be receiving proper treatment, potentially allowing toxic fluid to be
released. If the valve closed during the loss of power, it would prevent
untreated fluid from being released. It would also store the fluid to be
treated after the power outage issue has been remediated.

Now imagine that you have a valve controlling the flow of cold water
entering a heat exchanger. Would you want this valve to fail-open or fail-
close?

You would want it to fail open so the remaining warm process fluid could
be cooled by the cold water. This would prevent the process from
overheating and damaging critical components.

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