Valve is King

This article was adopted from ControlGlobal.com.

Predictive Maintenance Keeps Valves Humming

Without valves there would be no way to control either the flow or temperature of the fluid in a piping system. When treated like the essential devices that they are, valves will provide a higher level of system performance for a longer amount of time.

When specifying a valve for your application, Rick Plummer of Spirax Sarco recommends asking several questions. Can the valve:

• Be maintained and restored to duty quickly?
• Be maintained without removal from the pipeline?
• Can components be replaced without special tools?
• Is the valve simple to maintain?
• Does it offer long service intervals?
• Does the design allow for harsh conditions?
• Does the valve use trim materials to reduce erosion?
• Is it easy to adjust the valve to meet new demands?
• Does the valve offer smooth and accurate control?
• Does the vendor give high-quality technical support?
• Can the valve vendor deliver the valve quickly?

Once valves and actuators are installed, maintenance plays a critical role in keeping them up and running. The introduction of control systems using open communications standards has made this function easier. If smart positioners are incorporated into a network, web-based browsing technology can monitor the valves, collect performance trends, tabulate data, and post it to a web page where engineers can evaluate emerging problems and plan for cost-effective maintenance. Predictive maintenance provides trend data to identify which devices will need maintenance, what kind they will need and when.

This is article was written by: Patti Pool
Products Editor