Safety valve

A safety valve is a valve mechanism for the automatic release of a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system when the pressure or temperature exceeds preset limits.

It is part of a bigger set of pressure safety valves (PSV) or pressure relief valves (PRV). The other parts of the set are relief valves, safety relief valves, pilot-operated relief valves, low pressure safety valves, and vacuum pressure safety valves.

Safety valves were first used on steam boilers during the industrial revolution. Early boilers without them were prone to accidental explosion.

Vacuum safety valves (or combined pressure/vacuum safety valves) are used to prevent a tank from collapsing while emptying it or when cold rinse water is used after hot CIP or SIP. The calculation method is not defined in any norm when sizing a vacuum safety valve, particularly in the hot CIP / cold water scenario, but some manufacturers [1] have developed simulations to do so.

Contents

Function and design

The earliest and simplest safety valve on the steam digester in 1679 used a weight to hold the steam pressure (this design is still commonly used on pressure cookers); however, these were easily tampered with or accidentally released. On the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the safety valve tended to go off when the engine hit a bump in the track. A valve less sensitive to sudden accelerations used a spring to contain the steam pressure, but these (based on a Salter spring balance) could still be screwed down to increase the pressure beyond design limits. This dangerous practice was sometimes used to marginally increase the performance of a steam engine. In 1856 John Ramsbottom invented a tamper-proof spring safety valve that became universal on railways.

Safety valves also evolved to protect equipment such as pressure vessels (fired or not) and heat exchangers. The term safety valve should be limited to compressible fluid application (gas, vapor, or steam).

The two general types of protection encountered in industry are thermal protection and flow protection.

For liquid-packed vessels, thermal relief valves are generally characterized by the relatively small size of the valve necessary to provide protection from excess pressure caused by thermal expansion. In this case a small valve is adequate because most liquids are nearly incompressible, and so a relatively small amount of fluid discharged through the relief valve will produce a substantial reduction in pressure.

Flow protection is characterized by safety valves that are considerably larger than those mounted in thermal protection. They are generally sized for use in situations where significant quantities of gas or high volumes of liquid must be quickly discharged in order to protect the integrity of the vessel or pipeline. This protection can alternatively be achieved by installing a high integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS).

Technical terms

In the petroleum refining, petrochemical, chemical manufacturing, natural gas processing, power generation, food, drinks, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries, the term safety valve is associated with the terms pressure relief valve (PRV), pressure safety valve (PSV) and relief valve. The generic term is Pressure relief valve (PRV) or pressure safety valve (PSV) It should be noted that PRVs and PSVs are not the same thing, despite what many people think; the difference is that PSVs have a manual lever to open the valve in case of emergency.

RV, SV and SRV are spring-operated (even said spring-loaded). LPSV and VPSV are spring-operated or weight-loaded.

Legal and code requirements in industry

In most countries, industries are legally required to protect pressure vessels and other equipment by using relief valves. Also, in most countries, equipment design codes such as those provided by the ASME, API and other organizations like ISO (ISO 4126) must be complied with and those codes include design standards for relief valves.[2][3]

Today, industries such as food, drinks, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals industries ask for hygienic safety valves, fully drainable and Cleanable In Place. Most of these are stainless steel made; the hygienic norms are mainly 3A in the US and EHEDG in Europe.

Types

There is a wide range of safety valves having many different applications and performance criteria required to cover different areas. In addition, national standards are set by many kinds of safety valve.

Safety Valve * classic - The spring housing is vented to the pressure side, i.e., functional characteristics are directly influenced by changes in pressure in the valve.

United States

European Union

Japan

South Korea

Water heaters

They are required on water heaters, where they prevent disaster in certain configurations in the event that a thermostat should fail. There are still occasional, spectacular failures of older water heaters that lack this equipment. Houses can be leveled by the force of the blast.[6]

Pressure cookers

Pressure cookers are pots for cooking with a pressure-proof lid. Cooking at pressure allows the temperature to rise above the normal boiling point of water (100 degrees Celsius at sea level ) which speeds up the cooking and makes the cooking more thorough.

Pressure cookers usually have two safety valves. One is a hole upon which a weight sits. The other is a sealed rubber grommet which is ejected in a controlled explosion if the first valve gets blocked.

The term safety valve is also used metaphorically.

See also

References

  1. ^ Safety valve sized regarding hot CIP -> Cold water conditions
  2. ^ List of countries accepting the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code
  3. ^ API 5210-1, Sizing and Selection of Pressure-Relieving Devices
  4. ^ Safety valve - Types of safety valve
  5. ^ EN ISO 4126-1 Safety devices for protection against excessive pressure - Part 1: Safety valves (ISO 4126-1:2004)
  6. ^ Elaine Porterfield, Paul Shukovsky, and Lewis Kamb (Saturday, July 28, 2001). Four hurt as water heater explodes. seatlepi.nwsource.com, Retrieved on Saturday, May 12, 2007

External links