What is a Butterfly Valve Used For?
A butterfly valve is a quarter-turn rotational motion valve used to regulate the flow of a fluid. The name is taken from the disc inner part utilized in the valve body that turns on a central stem – similar to a butterfly’s wings in motion. Due to the fact that it is a space-saving unit, light in weight, quick in operation, with economies of gate or ball valves, the butterfly valve finds use in industry water treatment, heating, oil & gas, chemical processing, emergency fire protection, and marine applications.
The reasons of butterfly valves’ flexibility are in their numerous designs, materials, and actuations. One example of a Flange Type Butterfly Valvewhich is widely used in is municipal water where it needs no power and operators can depend on a simple on/off valve for system control. Double Flanged Butterfly Valve has flanged ends and provides better alignment and easy installation in high pressure pipelines application such as wastewater treatment plant and industrial process lines. If corrosion resistance is a must, the Stainless Steel Flange Butterfly Valve finds its way into food processing, pharmaceutical, and sea-faring businesses where hygiene and sustainability in the face of aggressive media cannot be compromised.
In fire protection systems, the Cast Iron Fireproof Wafer Butterfly Valve is essential in sprinkler lines for dependable shut-off and isolation, which is built to endure high temperatures and have a close shut-off. On the other hand, grooved-end configurations including theRubber Coated Grooved Type Butterfly Valve and Ductile Iron Grooved Type Butterfly Valve ASTM A536 are popular in commercial building mechanical rooms and fire protection systems where the Victaulic-style coupling enables fast assembly and disassembly. Manual handling of the Handle Grooved End Butterfly Valve is more convenient for such arrangements, since the valve position can be easily visually verified by the position of the handle.
Soft-seated type products like the Grooved End Butterfly Valve in Soft Seat and Lever Operator have a bubble tight sealing for air, water and inert gases services, while Coating Disc U Section Type Butterfly Valve has an improved disc profile, that reduces turbulence and pressure loss, which results in better energy efficiency in pumping systems. For those who need two-directional sealing, dead-end service, consider the Lug Style Butterfly Valve or its very close relative, the Lug Butterfly Valve, which includes threaded lugs that make it easy to withdraw downstream piping for service without disturbing upstream connections, an advantage for plant maintenance.
Challenging process conditions require High Performance Butterfly Valves with metal seats and an eccentric disc design capable of extreme temperature and pressure rating in refining and power applications. Automation requirements are fulfilled by the Electric Flange Butterfly Valve as well as the Motorized Butterfly Valve which allow integration with Building Management Systems and SCADA Systems on site enabling you to remotely control start/stop, throttle, and positioning of the valve. The standard Flanged Butterfly Valve still handles the general utility applications it was designed for, delivering on clean, simple, effective, and affordable performance day after day.
An interesting variation to note is the Butterfly Check Valve which has the compact profile of a butterfly valve combined with the non-return feature of a check valve, allowing unidirectional flow in a pump discharge line without the need to worry about back flow, at least not needing an extra space or more complex machinery to achieve that. To review, butterfly valve are utilized whenever there is a need for rapid flow control, space savings and reliable shut-off. Their full family of products from manual lug-style products to electric high-performance products allow engineers to specify the correct valve for nearly any fluid challenge. For handling drinking water, corrosive substances, water for fire protection, or compressed air, there is a configuration of butterfly valve ready-made to overcome whatever challenges the task offers.