Resource Guide: valves, actuators and positioners

Oct. 11, 2016
Control's monthly guide brings you invaluable industry information to stay up to date on the latest trends and developments.

THE CLASSIC VALVE BOOK

The fourth edition of the 295-page classic text, "Control Valve Handbook," by Fisher Controls International and Emerson Process Management reports this classic text has been a primary reference since its first printing in1965. This fourth edition presents vital information on control valve performance and the latest technologies. Chapters cover definitions, control valve performance, valve and actuator types, digital valve controllers, analog positioners and boosters, selection guide, special control valves, desuperheaters, steam conditioning valves, turbine bypass systems, installation and maintenance procedures, standards and approval agencies, piping references, and conversion resources. It's located here.

Emerson Process Management / www.emersonprocess.com

VIDEO ON VALVES

This 22-minute video, "Introduction to Valves and Actuators," by Total Valve Solutions delivers an excellent summary of valve and actuators functions and capabilities, as well as how they fit into the overall context of process applications and facilities. It's located here.

Total Valve Solutions / www.totalvalvesolutions.com

POSITIONERS 101

"Basics of Control Valve Positioners" is the first of a series of instructional blog posts at the Learning Instrumentation and Control Engineering website. It includes reasons for using valve positioners, types available, typical configurations, diagrams and more. There are also other primary topic areas, as well as several dozen related articles and blog posts. It begins here

Learning Instrumentation and Control Engineering / www.instrumentationtoolbox.com

E-BOOK ON VALVES

This 65-page e-book by Cashco, "Basic Operation and Function of Control Valves," covers a host of problems faced by valve users, such as noise, vibration, leaking packing, rattling, poor control, gaskets that won't seal and other issues. It's chapters include basic valve design, characterization and trim design, technical considerations, force balance principle, basic actuator designs, control valve unit action, valve positioner basics, control loop action, control vakve packinf designs and seat leakage. It's located here

Cashco / www.cashco.com

THE TRUTH ABOUT VALVES

This comprehensive reference paper by Gregory McMillan and Pierce Wu of Mynah Technologies includes and builds on Control's May, 2016 article, "Valve response: truth or consequences," with an extensive tour of the sources of poor valve response and the fundamental solutions needed to address the root causes. Temporary fixes are also described to mitigate the consequences until the true solutions can be implemented. Read it here

Control / www.controlglobal.com [javascriptSnippet]

ULTIMATE VALVE GLOSSARY

The "Basics of Valve Positioner" blog post by Jake Spence at Crane Engineering has some good definitions, but then it links to a downloadable version of what's described as the "Ultimate Glossary of Valve Terminology." It's free after filling out a very brief registration form. Its introduction states, "This handy reference guide will help you better understand various valve functions, help troubleshoot if necessary, and allow you to have more detailed discussions with your valve distributor about challenges and solutions." The blog post is available here

Crane Engineering / www.craneengineering.net

DYNAMIC SPECIFICATION

This classic 21-page guide, '"Control Valve Dynamic Specification," from Entech and Emerson Process Management, covers valve market issues, purpose of specification, defining control problems, measuring responses, control valve nonlinearities, valev sizing specifications, testing procedures, and other useful skills. It's available here

Emerson Process Management / www.emersonprocess.com

ACTUATOR AND POSITIONER TUTORIAL

Because control valves need actuators to operate, this "Control Valve Actuators and Positioners" tutorial briefly discusses the differences between electric and pneumatic actuators, the relationship between direct acting and reverse acting terminology, and how this affects a valve's controlling influence. The importance of positioners is discussed with regard to what they do and why they're required for many applications.​It's available here

Spirax Sarco / www.spiraxsarco.com

If you know of any tools and resources we didn’t include, send them to [email protected] with “Resource” in the subject line, and we’ll add them to the website.