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Full Service Valve Automation

From simple pneumatically or electrically actuated valves, to fully automated critical valve systems, Swanson Flo delivers tested, certified, and extremely reliable product every time. Actuated valve assemblies precisely engineered for the best fit, highest performance, and optimal life.

With decades of combined experience and knowledge, Swanson Flo technicians match state-of-art components with best-in-class manufacturers and deliver carefully crafted valve packages.

Swanson Flo customers always receive the highest quality and best value possible. Their strong reputation was built upon:

• The largest, most comprehensive facility in the Midwest.
• In-house capabilities for all electric, pneumatic and electro-hydraulic actuators.
• Experienced design engineering and fabrication.
• Support for assembly of all valve, actuator, monitor and positioner technologies.
• Complete solution for testing and serialization.

Swanson Flo

https://swansonflo.com

800-288-7926

The Basics of Control Valve Actuators

Control Valve
(Flowserve Valtek)

Understanding control valve operation is very important to for anyone considering a career in process engineering, in plant maintenance, or process design engineering.

Control valve actuators control fluid in a pipe by varying the orifice size through which the fluid flows. Control valves contain two major components: the valve body and the valve actuator. The valve body provides the fluid connections and a movable restrictor comprised of a valve stem and plug that is in contact with the fluid that varies the flow. The valve actuator is the component that physically moves the restrictor to vary the fluid flow.

The video below introduces the viewer to basic control valve operation concepts and the basic types of actuators.

Worcester Controls Valve and Actuator Product Catalog

Here is a new Product Catalog for Flowserve Worcester Control industrial ball valves, pneumatic actuators and electric actuators, courtesy of Swanson Flo.  These include standard flanged ball valves, ANSI and DIN specifications in reduced and full bore, three-piece valves for cryogenic, high pressure, steam, diverter or sampling duty, high integrity valves, multi-way designs, modulating controls or customized solutions.

Worcester Controls Valve and Actuator Product Catalog from Swanson Flo

Process Instrumentation for the Chemical Industry

Process Instrumentation for the Chemical Industry (Foxboro - Schneider Electric)

From petrochemicals to agrochemicals, industrial gases to plastics, pigments, and more, the industry that manufactures, processes, transports, and stores thousands of hazardous materials every day requires one thing above all – absolute confidence in the quality, reliability, accuracy, and safety of the devices entrusted with controlling some of the most complex, pressurized, and volatile processes known.

Foxboro’s complete line of robust, field-proven instrumentation provides measurement solutions for temperature, pressure, flow, process analysis, level, and data acquisition. Additionally, our line of valve positioners offers the highest accuracy in the industry.

You may download a PDF version of the Foxboro "Process Instrumentation for the Chemical Industry" brochure here, or view the embedded document below. For more information on Foxboro instrumentation contact Swanson Flo by visiting https://swansonflo.com or by calling 800-288-7926.

Process Instrumentation for the Chemical Industry from Swanson Flo

What Are Cryogenic Ball Valves?

Cryogenic Ball Valve (Flowserve Worcester)

Cryogenic ball valves are high-performance shutoff valves for intermittent and continuous flow applications with temperatures to -425°F. They are used on tough applications involving all types of cryogens, such as oxygen, hydrogen, methane, ammonia, nitrogen, fluorine, LNG and deuterium.

Cryogenic ball valves include unique features to ensure safety and performance in cryogenic applications. Central to the cryogenic design is a rugged, one-piece, pressure safe stem with a Polyfill thrust bearing and stainless steel split ring. It provides design safety and low operational torque. Polyfill seats give you tight shutoff throughout the temperature range. With an orientation-controlled stem/ball connection and an upstream hole in the ball, you get positive overpressure protection.

Summary of specialized design features:

Brass Cryogenic Ball Valve
(Flowserve Worcester)

• Positive Ball Cavity Relief – An upstream relief hole in the ball prevents dangerous overpressure due to thermal expansion. On extended stem valves through 2", a one-piece stem with alignment pin assures proper orientation of the ball.
• Pressure Safe Stem – Both one-piece and two-piece, assembled inside-the-body stems are safe from blowout and are supported with Polyfill® thrust washers.
• Zero Leak Packing – Belleville live-loaded TFE packing rings and stem centering followers assure zero leakage through the toughest, high-cycle applications.
• Effective Bonnet Extensions – The stem extensions of cryogenic valves conform to standard industrial practices. That means wall thickness and lengths that keep heat transfer down, the packing frost-free, operational torques low, and actuators solidly supported.
• High-Performance/Low-Thermal Stress – The special “part compatibility” design of valve parts, Polyfill seats and body seals assure tight shutoff, zero body leakage and low torque through large thermal excursions from ambient to -425°F.

Cryogenic valves are normally available in four body configuration, in either stainless steel or brass:

1. Three-piece construction - makes it easy to install, versatile in application and simple to maintain.
2. The cryogenic diverter valve - accepts media through the bottom inlet port and directs it to one of two side ports.
3. The wafer design - a flangeless cryogenic valve that mounts between ANSI Class 150 or 300 flanges.
4. A flanged design - has a body cast with ANSI Class 150 flanges.

Application for cryogenic ball valves:

• Over-the-Road LNG-LPG Trailers
• Terminal Unloading Stations
• High-Purity Cryogenic/Gas Systems
• LNG Storage and Distribution
• CO2 and Nitrogen Injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Over-the-Road CO2, LNG, Food Carriers
• Petroleum Refining Unleaded Gasoline (Gas Treatment Skids)
• Lyophilization Systems
• Air Separation Plants
• Liquid and Gaseous Oxygen
• Inerting and Heat Treatment

For more information on cryogenic ball valves, contact Swanson Flo by visiting https://swansonflo.com or by calling 800-288-7926.

What Are Valve Positioners?

Digital Positioner (Valtek)

A valve positioner is used in combination with a valve actuator to precisely position a valve so that optimum flow accuracy may be achieved. The positioner does this by measuring a the process variable, comparing it to a desired condition (set point) and then pneumatically, electrically, or hydraulically changing the valve disc, globe, plug or ball position until the difference between the set point and actual position is zero.

Valve positioners are key elements in a closed loop control system where the final control element is a valve. They assist in maintaining tight control, overcoming the realities of imprecise calibration, differential pressure across the valve, valve wear and a host of other process control challenges.

A valve positioner responds to a signal from some type of master control system, typically a distributed control system (DCS), a programmable logic controller (PLC), or PID controller. The control system reads a signal from a process sensor (flowmeter, temperature sensor, pressure sensor, etc...) and compares that reading to the desired setpoint. A corrective signal, based on the difference,  is provided to the valve positioner which re-adjusts (if necessary) the valve position to bring the system in to equilibrium.

Valve positioners are available with pneumatic, electrical, electro-pneumatic, and digital operation. Here is a brief description of each:

Pneumatic

Pneumatic Positioner (Valtek)

Pneumatic positioners receive pneumatic signals (3-15 or 6-30 PSIG). The positioner then throttles supply air to the valve actuator to move the valve to the required position. Pneumatic positioners are intrinsically safe and can provide a large amount of force to close a valve.

Electric
Electric valve positioners receive an electric signal, usually 4-20 mA, 1-5 VDC, 2-10 VCD or 0-10 VDC and generally drive the motors in electric actuators. They perform the same function as pneumatic positioners do, but use electricity instead of air pressure as an input signal.

Electro-Pneumatic

Electro-pneumatic Positioner
(PMV)

Electro-pneumatic valve positioners contain internal I/P (current to pneumatic) modules that converts the electrical input signal to a pneumatic output (4-20 mA to 3-15 PSIG for instance). Very similar to a pneumatic positioner except that its input is electrical.

Valve positioners are used throughout the process industries including power, pharmaceutical, chemicals, oil and gas, food and beverage, pulp and paper, refining and petrochemicals, pipelines, and many other processes.

For more information on valve positioners, contact Swanson Flo by visiting https://swansonflo.com or by calling 800-288-7926.