III. Product Features

• Efficient Thermal Insulation: The full-jacketed design ensures uniform heat distribution, maintaining medium temperature and preventing solidification. This is critical for high-viscosity media like bitumen, which require consistent heat to flow.
• Low Flow Resistance: The ball’s bore matches the pipeline diameter (full port), minimizing pressure drop and energy loss. This design is essential for high-viscosity fluids, where even minor restrictions can cause flow issues.
• Resilient Sealing: PTFE seals provide bubble-tight shutoff (API 598 Class VI), while metal seals handle high temperatures and abrasive media. The floating ball design uses line pressure to enhance sealing, ensuring reliability under varying pressures.
• Corrosion Resistance: CF8/CF8M stainless steel and duplex steel options resist chemical attack, pitting, and crevice corrosion—ideal for coastal, marine, or aggressive chemical environments.
• Versatile Jacketing: Jackets can be configured for steam, hot water, or cooling water, allowing precise temperature control. The jacket’s welded construction withstands heat-transfer fluid pressures up to 1MPa.
• Easy Maintenance: Modular design allows seal replacement without removing the valve from the pipeline. The floating ball structure simplifies disassembly, reducing downtime.
• Safety and Compliance: API 608 and ASME B16.34 compliance ensures suitability for critical applications, while fire-safe designs (API 607) are available for high-risk environments.

IV. Manufacturing Process

• Material Selection and Testing: Raw materials (WCB, CF8, CF8M) undergo chemical composition analysis and mechanical testing (tensile strength, impact resistance) to meet ASTM/ASME standards. PTFE seals are tested for purity and thermal stability.
• Precision Casting: Valve bodies and bonnets are produced via investment casting (lost wax process) to achieve dimensional accuracy (±0.05mm) and a smooth surface finish (Ra ≤1.6μm). This process eliminates internal defects like porosity.
• Jacket Fabrication: Jackets are formed from seamless steel tubes, welded to the valve body with full penetration welds. Welds undergo ultrasonic testing to ensure integrity, critical for withstanding heat-transfer fluid pressure.
• Ball valve and Seat Machining: Balls are precision-ground to a mirror finish (Ra ≤0.8μm) to ensure proper seating. Seats are machined to tight tolerances (±0.02mm) to match the ball’s contour, with PTFE seals bonded using high-temperature adhesive.
• Assembly and Calibration: The floating ball is assembled with guided seats, ensuring vertical alignment. Actuators (manual or automated) are calibrated for smooth operation, with torque testing to prevent overloading.
• Testing and Quality Control: Each valve undergoes:
  • Shell test: 1.5×nominal pressure (hydrostatic) to verify body integrity.
  • Seat test: 1.1×nominal pressure (gas/water) to confirm Class VI leakage rates.
  • Thermal cycle test: 100+ cycles of heating/cooling to validate jacket performance.