VALVE Magazine’s Top Ten Stories: 2014

10. Five Key Criteria for Selecting Low-Temperature Valves

Specifying and consulting engineers, engineering houses, original equipment manufacturers and end users depend on valves to control the flow of compressed air or other fluids and on cylinders to control motion. But the cold truth is that low temperatures can cause problems for these fluid automation devices all along the line—from selection and delivery to operation and maintenance.

This article outlined the five key qualities to consider when purchasing valves, cylinders and other fluid automation devices for application in low ambient temperatures: Reliability and reputation, certification and compliance, breadth and depth of offering, low temperature and low power capabilities, and service and support. By paying attention to these issues when choosing products, users, designers and other specifiers will experience reliable performance in cold conditions for many years.

9. Improving Valve Sealing Performance and Reliability

Considering all plant equipment and applications, the greatest contributors to fugitive emissions are valves, and the author of this article discussed how a comprehensive valve enhancement program created to improve sealing considers the entirety of the valve and addresses performance and reliability issues to not only decrease leakage, but also to improve valve performance and efficiency.

8. Proactive Defect Detection with Simulation Software

Through-wall leakers in cast valve bodies often can be the end result of undetected defective areas created during the metal casting process. Such failures in service are extremely undesirable for valve manufacturers as well as end users, and in many cases such failures could pose significant health and safety concerns.

This article covers common casting defects and the limitations of common defect detection methods or non-destructive evaluation (NDE), along with enumeration of the challenging nature of defect detection. The author also presented a casting process simulation as a means of detecting and eliminating the casting defects that commonly lead to the failure of valve castings.

7. Improve Ethylene Conversion

Olefin production plants use a variety of feedstocks. The type of feedstock used will impact the type of recovery technology, but no matter the feedstock, control valve performance is an essential part of plant operations. In a series of three articles, critical control valve applications in the furnace, cracked gas processing and fractionation processing were covered, but our Number 7 most popular article dealt specifically with the furnace.

Control valve considerations related to furnace operation include noise abatement trim to reduce effects of noise and vibration, trim materials engineered for high-temperature service, sealing technologies to provide tight shutoff preventing valuable leakage and the accessories available to facilitate fast stroking requirements.

6. You Don’t Have a Malware Problem

The adversary can be any individual, group or nation-state. Some adversaries are tied directly to the governments of China, Iran, India, North Korea and Russia. Others are activist groups like the Syrian Electronic Army, while others are just plain old criminal groups tracked under the “Spider” cryptonym. These groups are diverse and difficult to track, but they all leave human tool marks; the task is to track them just as you would track evidence left at a physical crime scene.

5. Evaluating and Proving SIS Safety Levels

This article stressed that, as safety instrumented systems are designed and implemented, manufacturers and end users must work together to achieve optimal functional safety. The manufacturer must specify the environmental and application limitations. The end user must design the product into an application that will not exceed the limitations of the instrument design.

4. From Coal to Combined Cycle

One way power providers are adapting is to construct new power plants that use alternative fossil fuels, and our 2014’s fourth most popular article explored the cause for the conversion and explained how this change and the demand for increased efficiency has influenced the selection of valve equipment used in power generation.

3. Smarter Pump Operation

The author of our third most read article this year posed the question: “Have you ever experienced a sprained ankle that tweaked your hip joint and then resulted in a stiff back?”

You might wonder what this has to do with valves, but he pointed out that this is an illustration of how chain reactions can occur in complex systems. The body, like a highly engineered industrial process, can experience immobilization and downtime, i.e., each joint, bone and associated connective tissue inside works as part of a highly integrated system. When one subsystem fails, other issues may be the root cause. If a control valve is presenting problems, it may be a sign of a greater systemic issue, with other “bad actor” system components taking the blame.

2. Understanding and Selecting Valve Flanges, Pt. 1: Design and Standards

In Part 1 of this article, originally published in the print version of VALVE Magazine, the effect of different sealing mechanisms such as gaskets, O-rings and mechanical seals on the performance of the connections was discussed. Part 2, published on VALVEMagazine.com, explained in detail the variables that affect flange ratings, and then describes how flanges are produced and the accepted methods for use and installation.

And... drum roll, please, VALVE Magazine’s Most Read Article of 2014:

1. Market Outlook 2015: Oil Joins Gas in the Spotlight

While some things change, others remain constant, and that is certainly the case when it comes to our readers’ interest in planning for the economic future. As was the case in 2013, coverage of 2014’s Market Outlook Workshop received the most viewers, both online and in print.

In the 2014 report, shale oil grabbed its share of the stage, along with last year’s star, natural gas. Speakers said these two commodities promise to alter the flow of trade around the world, and promise to help rebuild the North American economy which, they also claimed, has met its expectations for growth. However, even as predictions of a petrochemical industry rebound made glad the hearts of many attendees, problems such as unemployment and the skilled workers’ shortage were also at the forefront of many presentations.

When the last Market Outlook event was held, oil sat around $100 per barrel. As of this writing, oil prices are currently at around $57 per barrel. Consequently, 2015 could look very different economically than 2014, and there could be massive changes in the markets. What that means to valve, actuator and control manufacturers and their suppliers, distributors and customers remains to be seen.

Be sure to keep VALVEMagazine.com in your favorites tab, as we continue to keep you up to date on the latest technological, economic and regulatory changes that affect your business this year.

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 Kate Kunkel is senior editor for VALVE Magazine. If you have information you’d like to share, an article idea, or wish to give feedback on what you’ve read in the past, please write to her at kkunkel@vma.org.