What is a v-ball valve?

A v-ball valve is a type of control valve. The v-shaped seal or ball which gives the valve its name allows for better fluid control. The v-ball not only provides exceptional proportional control for steam applications, it can also be used in other media applications such as water and air. We’re seeing an increasing demand for this type of valve in the water treatment industry as a cost-effective alternative to plug valves.

What are the advantages of v-ball valves?

The v-ball or v-notch offers various advantages due to its low-maintenance design.

Flow control

The precision of 30° and 60° v-balls offers equal percentage flow characteristics not normally associated with a standard ball valve. The ball can be positioned anywhere between 0° and 90°, allowing the user to control the desired flow rate they require. Furthermore, when fitted with a modulating actuator, this will give better flow control accuracy then a standard bore ball valve.

Bubble tight shut-off

V-ball valves have soft seats with bubble tight shut-off and can control or shut-off bi-directional flow. As no additional shut-off valves are required, v-balls are cost efficient and reduce the number of components in the system.

Higher shut-off pressure

The 90° ball rotation allows the v-ball to shutoff at higher working pressures, allowing lower torque actuators to be used. This results in cost savings and higher efficiency for the end user.

Flexibility

The advantage of a v-ball valve is the flexibility. Whether you require 50% stainless steel filled PTFE seats for steam applications, or PTFE for water/air applications, end connections can be changed to meet the site requirements, i.e: screwed BSP, socket weld, butt weld or flanged.

Electric actuated valve

An electric actuator with modulating functionality combined with a v-ball valve will provide a cost-effective solution that gives similar properties when compared with an equal characteristic linear control valve, as they both have similar characteristic Cv curves.