COMPRESSOR VALVES ( V-Valves )
Introduction of the V-Valves
Developed after 25yrs experience of compressor valve diagnostics, these valves act as individually replaceable cartridges that can be quickly replaced in the field without any machining or lapping. The straight through flow design guarantees flow increase, outstanding energy efficiency, lower power losses and increased running hours to name but a few of the benefits.
Compressor operating at 1200 RPM would cause the valve to operate 1200 times a minute, 72,000 times an hour or 1,728,000 times a day. If the lift, or springing, were to be changed only enough to lose .1 standard cubic feet of gas per stroke it would drop the daily volume by 172, 800 standard cubic feet. There are lots of inefficiencies that leads to lose in gas production volumes based on this design.
What Causes Compressor Valves to Fail.
Some mechanical causes of compressor valve failure are:
1. Spring failure: A wear down of the spring attached to the valve, due to stress could cause the improper functioning of the valve.
2. High-cycle fatigue: The compressor's operation at high cycles over a long time can lead to stress which could affect the valve
COMPRESSOR CHALLENGES
1. The reciprocating compressor valves are the "heart" of the machine.
2. Compressor valves are the leading cause of more than 70% of unscheduled shutdowns.
3. The valves fail mainly due to the mechanical impacts of their opening and closing during the operating cycle.
The valves operate in a "self-destructive" manner, which also reduces operating hours.
4. Most of the conventional valve suppliers focus their efforts on reducing the mechanical impacts of the valves through the use of damping plates. This often compromises efficiency, performance, and / or reliability leading to production decline 5. Fluttering valves springs behave like damage and allow gas to slip by the valves when they are supposed to be sealing. This consumes excess engine power and decreases compressor capacity. As well, excess heat is generated, which leads to Blowby on an Engine analysis report.
6. Each element of valve design is critical. Therefore, no changes should be made to a valve that will affect its lift or springing. If any one item is altered, the performance of the valve deteriorates with time due to fluttering and affects production.
V-VALVES DESIGN
Because of the V-Valves highly aerodynamic flow path, turbulence is reduced in turn decreasing pressure drops and increasing flow. This leads to dramatic energy savings, increased precision closure as well as high resistance to corrosion and wear.
Aerodynamic flow reduces turbulence in the compressor and contributes to the cleanliness of the equipment. The strong plates are made for high pressure and speed which contributes to fatigue reduction and extended service life.
V-VALVES SOLUTIONS
- Superior High Effective Flow Area (EFA)
- Strong plate thickness for high operating pressures and temperatures, lower pressure drops, higher fuel efficiency
- Streamlined flow path, and self cleaning
- Advanced valve element configuration, reduces fatigue stress for extended life.
- Very strong valve plate design for operating at high pressures and high speeds
- Valves common for most all applications, reduced inventory required
- Strong pressure plate with large affective surface area
- FLOW path "Turbulence" in conventional valves increases power consumption
- Superior Valve Efficiency and performance
- The V-valve features a highly streamlined flow path.
- Reduced turbulence lowers pressure drops and increases flow.
- Dramatic energy savings.
- Reduction in Lube Oil Consumption.
- No Valve Fluttering as the V-Valve does not use valve springs because of the vertical position of the plates abs surface area. It would not be possible to suffer the same issues as stiction and or valve flutter.
- Because it's a straight flow path. We don't have issues with particles getting stuck in the springs. This is an issue with standard valves that prevents them from sealing back closed resulting to blowby.
- Also increase capacity as we the V-Valves reduce losses more than 50%
VALVE MAINTENANCE
- No repair and leak testing of Valves as the cartridge is already leak tested
- Disassembly with hand tools.
- Clean with rags
- Plug and play, individually replaceable cartridges that can be quickly replaced in the field without any machining or lapping, NO SPECIAL TOOLS, no special training all that is required is to depressurized unit, LOTO and replace cartridges by the side of the compressor package in about 30mins