A ball valve is a quarter-turn valve with a ball that controls fluid flow. It can be two-way or three-way, and is controlled by a handle. It’s good for shutting off streams, but not precise control. There are three types: full bore, standard port, and small-port.
A ball valve, a type of quarter-turn valve, is literally a ball placed in a passage through which fluid flows. The ball has a hole through which the valve opens and closes. When the ball is positioned so that the hole flows in the same direction as the passage, the fluid simply flows through it and the valve is open. The ball can also be positioned so that the hole is perpendicular to the passage so that the fluid cannot pass and the valve is closed. It is controlled from the outside, often with a handle that is turned back and forth to open and close the valve.
The basic version described above is a two-way valve. This type has a single straight passage bored through the sphere, making two openings: one on each side, an entrance and an exit. A ball valve can also be a three-way valve if a third hole is drilled partway through the ball, until it meets the main hole, forming a T. A three-way valve can close one or all three passages which connects .
Due to the nature of this valve, it does not perform well in situations where precise valve control is required, such as the valve that controls the throttle in an automobile. This works very well for situations where a stream needs to be completely shut off, such as the shutoff valve on the main water line in a home. Ball valves also don’t tend to develop problems if they aren’t used for long periods of time; they will still work perfectly when needed again.
There are three different types of ball valves. A full bore valve offers no flow restrictions, meaning that when it is open, liquid can flow freely through it. This is accomplished by making the ball larger than the size of the pass, so that the hole can be the same size as the pass. A standard port ball valve does not have an oversized ball and as a result the orifice is one size smaller than the port. This creates a small amount of flow restriction as the fluid passes. A small-port valve, on the other hand, has a smaller ball and an even smaller bore, which creates a significant flow restriction as the fluid passes through it.
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