A flow control valve regulates liquid or gas flow and can be mechanical or non-mechanical. Hydraulic mechanisms are used for automatic control valves, while external devices regulate others. Safety and altitude valves are examples of flow control valves.
A flow control valve is a mechanical device used to regulate and control the flow of a liquid or gas. Typically, these control valves are non-mechanical, usually relying on the undesirable conditions of the regulated substance to open or close the valve. Occasionally, flow control valves will be adjusted with external monitoring devices, such as pressure gauges and temperature. A flow control valve is usually a diaphragm or globe valve, although other valves, such as modified ball and gate valves, have been used in certain applications.
Most of the time, a flow control valve will be adjusted using a hydraulic mechanism. This type of flow control valve is known as an automatic control valve, as it requires no external mechanism or sensor to help regulate the opening of the valve. Instead, these valves use an integrated dump mechanism. These flush mechanisms come in a wide variety and use the non-ideal conditions of the fluid that is being adjusted to operate.
An example of this is known as a relief valve. Also known as a pressure flow control valve, safety valves are typically found on steam generators and are used to prevent steam explosions. If the steam is not regulated, it could expand so much that it breaks the boiler tube. In the vent valve itself, the only outlet for steam to escape is held back by some resistance. The force required to overcome the resistance of the safety valve is equal to the maximum pressure flow rate of the boiler; this means that once the steam reaches too high a pressure, the steam pressure alone will be enough to open the valve.
Another type of flow control valve is known as an altitude valve, which controls the volume of fuel and water tanks. The altitude valves help prevent the tanks from overflowing, which is very useful for filling processes. The valve will remain open until the tank reaches its maximum capacity. When this happens, the valve is automatically closed via a built-in switch.
Some flow control valves are regulated by external devices, such as monitors and pressure gauges. These gauges or monitors are often designed to send a signal to the valve when the working fluid is outside a certain flow rate or pressure range. When this happens, these external devices send a signal to the control valve, which will further open or close to help regulate fluid flow or pressure.
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