Pneumatic control valve

Various accessories can be suppHed along with the control valves for special situations. Positioners ensure that the valve stem is accurately positioned following small or slowly changing control signals or where unbalanced valve forces exist. Boosters, which are actually pneumatic amplifiers, can increase the speed of response or provide adequate force in high pressure appHcations. Limit switches are sometimes included to provide remote verification that the valve stem has actually moved to a particular position. 

E. A. Mayer, Electro-Pneumatic Control Valve for EGRfATC Actuation, SAE 810464, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, Pa., 1981. 

The symbol for the control valve in Fig. 8-47 is for a pneumatic positioning valve without a valve positioner. 

Pneumatic Controllers The pneumatic controller is an automatic controller that uses pneumatic pressure as a power source and generates a single pneumatic output pressure. The pneumatic controller is used in single-loop control applications and is often installed on the control valve or on an adjacent pipestand or wall in close proximity to the control valve and/or measurement transmitter. Pneumatic controllers are used in areas where it would be hazardous to use electronic equipment, in locations without power, in situations where maintenance personnel are more familiar with pneumatic controllers, or in applications where replacement with modern electronic controls has not been justified. 

As most throttling control valves are still operated bv pneumatic actuators, the control-valve device descriptions that follow relate primarily to devices that are used with pneumatic actuators. The function of hydraulic and electrical coimteiparts are very similar. Specific details on a particular valve-control device are available from the vendor of the device. 

Positioner Application Positioners are widelv used on pneumatic valve actuators, VIore often than not, thev provide improved process-loop control because thev reduce valve-related nonlinearitv, Dvnarnicallv, positioners maintain their abilitv to improve control-valve performance for sinusoidal input frequencies up to about one half of the positioner bandwidth. At input frequencies greater than this, the attenuation in the positioner amplifier netvv ork gets large, and valve nonlinearitv begins to affect final control-element performance more significantlv. Because of this, the most successful use of the positioner occurs when the positioner-response bandwidth is greater than twice that of the most dominant time lag in the process loop. 

Solenoid Valves The electric solenoid valve has tw o output states. Wlien sufficient electric current is supplied to the coil, an internal armature moves against a spring to an extreme position. This motion causes an attached pneumatic or hvdraiilic valve to operate. Wlien current is removed, the spring returns the armature and the attached solenoid valve to the deenergized position. An intermediate pilot stage is sometimes used when additional force is required to operate the main solenoid valve. Generallv, solenoid valves are used to pressurize or vent the actuator casing for on/off control-valve application and safetv shutdown applications. 

Trip Valves The trip valve is part of a system that is used where a specific valve action (i.e., fail up, Fail down, or lock in last position) is required when pneumatic supply pressure to the control valve falls befow a preset level. Trip systems are used primarily on springless piston ac tuators requiring fail-open or fail-closed acrion. An air storage or Volume tank and a check v ve are used with the trip valve to provide power to stroke the valve when supply pressure is lost. Trip valves are designed with hysteresis around the trip point to avoid instabihty when the trip pressure and the reset pressure settings are too close to the same value. 

From a dynamic-response standpoint, the adjustable speed pump has a dynamic characteristic that is more suitable in process-control apphcations than those characteristics of control valves. The small amphtude response of an adjustable speed pump does not contain the dead baud or the dead time commonly found in the small amphtude response of the control valve. Nonhnearities associated with frictions in the valve and discontinuities in the pneumatic portion of the control-valve instrumentation are not present with electronic... 

Pneumatic and hydraulic vibrating conveyors have as their greatest asset ehmination of explosion hazards. If pressurized air, water, or oil is available, they can be extremely practical since their drive design is relatively simple and pressure-control valves can be used to vaiy capacity either manually or automatically. 

Gas compressor anti-surge (GM-OFF) control circuit, comprising transmitters, computers and pneumatic control valve Reverse flow protection (on axnal compressors only) as supplementary protection device against surging, working independently of the control circuit Expander emergency stop valve with pneumatic actuator and solenoid valve... 

Figure 15-6. Typical single-port body control valve (left) and pneumatic actuator (right). Courtesy of Fisher Controls Internationa , Inc.]...

Hydraulic or Pneumatic Piston Operated Control Valve... 

Directional control valves for hydraulic and pneumatic systems are similar in design and operation. However, there is one major difference. The return port of a hydraulic valve is ported through a return line to the reservoir. Any other differences are pointed out in the discussion of these valves. 

The purpose of pneumatics is to do work in a controlled manner. The control of pneumatic power is accomplished using valves and other control devices that are connected together in an organized circuit. The starting point in this organized circuit is the air compressor, where the air is pressurized. 

The whole set-up for partial oxidation comprises a micro mixer for safe handling of explosive mixtures downstream (flame-arrestor effect), a micro heat exchanger for pre-heating reactant gases, the pressure vessel with the monolith reactor, a double-pipe heat exchanger for product gas cooling and a pneumatic pressure control valve to allow operation at elevated pressure [3]. 

Signal transmission limitations of pneumatic control systems made it necessary to limit the distance between the control house and the transmitter or control valve. As a result, early control houses were located within or at the periphery of the process unit. 

This symbol is used to represent all types of control valve, and both pneumatic and electric actuators. 

The death knell for pneumatic control equipment has been predicted for at least the past 15 years. So far this has not happened, but it is still predicted. The major reason why pneumatic equipment is so popular is that the pneumatic control valve is cheap and requires little maintenance. The pneumatic system also has the advantage of posing no problems in the presence of flammable substances. (Extreme care must be exercised if electrical signals are used in such environments.) One major problem with pneumatic systems is the delay encountered in sending a pneumatic signal over 300 ft (90 m). However, this can usually be avoided by mounting the controller next to the unit instead of in the control room. This does not affect the monitoring of the process, which can still be done in a remote location. 

The temperature control loop consists of a temperature transmitter, a temperature controller, and a temperature control valve. The diagonally crossed lines indicate that the control signals are air (pneumatic). 

A simplified diagram of a pneumatic actuator is shown in Figure 35. It operates by a combination of force created by air and spring force. The actuator positions a control valve by transmitting its motion through the stem. 

A positioner is a device that regulates the supply air pressure to a pneumatic actuator. It does this by comparing the actuator s demanded position with the control valve s actual position. The demanded position is transmitted by a pneumatic or electrical control signal from a controller to the positioner. The pneumatic actuator in Figure 35 is shown in Figure 36 with a controller and positioner added. 

Analog controllers use continuous electronic or pneumatic signals. The controllers see transmitter signals continuously, and control valves are changed continuously. 

Vapor depressuring valves may be electric motor-operated gate valves, pneumatically operated control valves, or manually operated valves. Pneumatically operated valves should open on air failure, with provision to maintain pressure... 

In this paper, an instrument is described in which the inlet liquid flow rate is held constant and the pressure regulated by a pneumatically actuated flow control valve at the exit of the column. This approach permits the use of a wide-range pressure program with a controlled flow. Also, by selecting mobile phases that are liquids at ambient laboratory conditions, several types of conventional liquid chromatographic detectors may be utilized. 

Fig. 3 shows the experimental apparatus. The feed tank had a 50 gallon capacity and was equipped with a variable speed mixer. The feed pump was a flexible impeller, positive-displacement pump to minimize shearing of the feed emulsion. The pumping rate was regulated by a Graham Variable Speed Transmission. Each flotation tank was 11.5 in. ID with 6.5 in. liquid depth maintained by a CE IN-VAL-CO conductometric level controller with a pneumatically actuated control valve in the effluent line. The fourth cell was not equipped with an air inducer. The outer diameter of the air downcomers was 1.5 in. The rotor in each air inducer was a turbine taken from a 2 in. turbine flow meter. Each rotor was belt driven by a 10,000 rpm, 1/30 hp motor and all three motors were governed by the same variable transformer. Another pulley on each rotor shaft was attached to a non-powered belt connecting all three shafts to ensure that each rotor turned at the same speed. 

For normal extraction times, two manifolds with a corresponding set of valves located on the top and bottom of each extractor are adequate. For short extraction times three manifolds may be necessary. Small and medium-sized plants are equipped with control valves for discontinuous operation steps. From the technical- and economic points of view, high-pressure control valves are limited with KVs values between 6 and 10, especially for pneumatically driven valves. If such valve sizes are too small, high-pressure ball valves must be used, thereby substantially increasing the costs for the interlocking system and the safety requirements. 

On working flowsheets the detectors, transmitters, and controllers are identified individually by appropriate letters and serial numbers in circles. Control valves are identified by the letters CV- followed by a serial number. When the intent is to show only in general the kind of control system, no special symbol is used for detectors, but simply a point of contact of the signal line with the equipment or process line. Transmitters are devices that convert the measured variable into air pressure for pneumatic controllers or units appropriate for electrical controllers. Temperature, for instance, may be detected with thermocouples or electrical resistance or height of a liquid column or radiant flux, etc., but the controller can accept only pneumatic or electrical signals depending on its type. When the nature of the transmitter is clear, it may be represented by an encircled cross or left out entirely. For clarity, the flowsheet can include only the most essential information. In an actual design... 

One important application of pneumatic transmission is in the operation of diaphragm actuators. These are the elements generally employed to drive the spindles of control valves (Section 7.22.3) and, if hard-wired transmission systems are employed, require devices which convert electric current into air pressure or air flowrate, i.e. electropneumatic (E/P) converters. The basic construction of a typical E/P converter is illustrated in Fig. 6.77. A coil is suspended in a magnetic field in such a way that when a current is passed through the coil it rotates. This rotation is sensed by a flapper/nozzle system (Section 7.22.1). The nozzle is supplied with air via a restrictor and its back pressure actuates a pneumatic relay. The output from the latter is applied to the feedback bellows and also acts as output from the E/P converter. Electropneumatic valve positioners employ the same principle of operation. 

The level of liquid in a tank is controlled using a pneumatic proportional controller as shown in Fig. 7.6. The level sensor is able to measure over the range 1.85 to 2.2S m. It is found that, after adjustment, the controller output pressure changes by 4 kN/m2 for a 0.01 m variation in level with the desired value held constant. If a variation in output pressure of 80 kN/m2 moves the control valve from fully open to fully closed, determine the gain and the proportional band. 

For many years the pneumatic controller was preferred to its electronic counterpart due to its simplicity, its general ruggedness in the process environment, and the fact that its output could be used to operate directly the diaphragm of a pneumatic control valve. Although now largely superseded by software or hard wired electronic equivalents, pneumatic controllers are still employed in special circumstances, e.g. in explosive atmospheres. Furthermore, substantial numbers of pneumatic controllers can be found on older plant and thus an understanding of their principles of operation is necessary. 

Fig. 7.119. Pneumatically operated control valve (a) double-spring actuator with single-ported globe valve (b) exterior view of double-ported control valve with valve-positioner fitted on the side...

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