A floating ball valve uses two valve seat sealing rings at the inlet and outlet to clamp a central ball core. Rotating the valve stem causes the ball core to rotate 90°, thus opening and closing the valve. When the ball core is closed, the semi-circular groove at the top of the valve stem and the semi-circular groove of the ball core are aligned. Under the pressure of the medium, the ball core moves towards the outlet, hence the name "floating ball valve."
The inlet and outlet valve seats have a certain sealing preload, encasing the ball core. When the valve is closed, the medium pressure pushes the ball core, causing it to tightly press against the outlet valve seat sealing ring, increasing the outlet valve seat's sealing performance and thus ensuring the ball valve's overall sealing.
In addition to the load from the preload pressure and the ball core's own weight, the load on the outlet valve seat from the medium pressure pushing the ball core must also be considered in a floating ball valve. This is especially important to consider in high-pressure and large-diameter ball valves. It is crucial to avoid exceeding the allowable specific pressure of the valve seat material, which could be damaged by the ball core, leading to internal leakage.
Common valve seat materials include PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), PPL (polyphenylene sulfide), nylon, PEEK, and metal hard seals.
Structural Features
Simple Structure: Floating ball valves have a relatively simple structure, making them easy to manufacture and maintain.
Good Sealing Performance: The sealing surface material between the ball and the valve seat is of excellent quality, such as hard alloy or PTFE, offering wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and excellent sealing performance.
Low Fluid Resistance: The ball only needs to rotate 90 degrees in the pipeline to open and close, resulting in low resistance to fluid flow.
Rapid Opening and Closing: Due to the floating characteristic of the ball on the valve seat, opening and closing actions are faster and more flexible.
Multiple Additional Structures: Floating ball valves are typically equipped with locking devices, stem anti-flyaway structures, anti-static devices, and fireproof structures to improve their safety and reliability.
Applications:
Floating ball valves are widely used for general working media such as water, solvents, acids, and natural gas, as well as for media with harsh working conditions, such as oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, methane, and ethylene. Furthermore, they are suitable for industries such as chemical, petroleum, natural gas, and metallurgy, and for long-distance natural gas pipelines containing hydrogen sulfide, high levels of impurities, and severe corrosion.
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