Ball Valves
A ball valve is a valve that has a spherical “disc” or ball which has a bore cut through it. This valve works on rotational motion. Ball valves are quarter turn valves, at 0 degrees the valve is in the fully open position and once the valve is actuated thru 90 degrees the valve is fully closed.
Ball valves rely upon seats (either soft or metallic) on both the inlet and outlet of the ball bore to provide the sealing mechanism. Ball valves offer a very flexible design which allows them to be utilised in a wide range of applications. Applications can be chemically severe or high pressure/temperature applications, the flexibility of a ball valves design allows ball valves to be utilised in all of these situations.
Ball valves are excellent isolation valves particularly for critical applications. Not only do ball valves provide efficient means of effective sealing, they are also able to be actuated very quickly in relation to other valving options due to the quarter turn nature of these valves.
Types:
Floating and trunnion mounted ball valves available in various configurations including 2-piece body, 3-piece body, fully welded, cryogenic, subsea, side entry, top entry, full/reduced porting, v-notch porting
Materials:
Forged and cast materials including cast/ductile iron, carbon steel (including low temperature service), stainless steel, duplex stainless steels, alloys (ie. bronze, brass), exotic alloys (ie. Monel, Hastelloy, titanium), engineering plastics
