5 Facts Valve Manufacturers cannot ignore. Manufacturing gate valves of such large dimensions also comes along with challenges in manufacturing and assembly of each and every component of the valve and trim parts. Advanced casting simulation programme was required to optimise the casting process to ensure the castings manufactured were free from any residual stresses that could potentially develop during the solidification of the metal. Thus ensuring the enhanced life of the trim parts and components of the valve without subjecting them to excessive stress and strain. Extensive QA/QC and NDE inspection was also part of the bid specifications to guarantee that the valves were manufactured to the highest quality standards.
5 Facts Valve Manufacturers cannot ignore.
A large municipal water project in Texas, USA were in need of placing an order of DN 2800 parallel faced metal seated gate valve which was part of the 2 billion dollar Integrated Pipeline Project. The DN2800 parallel faced metal seated gate valves are among the largest sizes in the Industry. The technical specifications required for this job were rather stringent that required appointed manufacturers use theoretical knowlede combined with empirical data and finite element analysis to simulate and predict the structural behaviour of the valve during its operation and its capability of sealing under various flow and pressure conditions. The manufacturers were also required to design the valve so as to incorporate external loading factors viz; computational seismic (modal) analysis to ensure the sustainability and robustness of the valve during earthquakes and other natural calamities.Some of the facts valve manufacturers cannot ignore are manufacturing gate valves of such large dimensions also comes along with challenges in manufacturing and assembly of each and every component of the valve and trim parts. Advanced casting simulation programme was required to optimise the casting process to ensure the castings manufactured were free from any residual stresses that could potentially develop during the solidification of the metal. Thus ensuring the enhanced life of the trim parts and components of the valve without subjecting them to excessive stress and strain. Extensive QA/QC and NDE inspection was also part of the bid specifications to guarantee that the valves were manufactured to the highest quality standards.
While designing such large valves most manufacturers would take into account the longevity of uninterrupted service required. However valve manufacturers cannot ignore the importance of preventive or breakdown maintenance in the designing and manufacturing of non standard valves. How would the large size of these valves affect their design since any basic maintenance if required would have to be carried out insitu online along a cross country pipeline. During my earlier days at [Amrutha Technologies] doing troubleshooting site services for global valve manufacturers in India, one of the biggest challenges i faced was the non availability of spare parts, repair kits and sourcing them. Even if the manufacturer had supplied essential spares at the project stage the handover from projects to the owner of the plant was mismanaged and many a time they were stored in large warehouses with little or no traceability making them no good. To learn more on "How Preventive maintenance in Process Plants can result in increased revenues" [Click Here]
While most leading valve manufacturers are familiar with standard products that make up the bulk of the industry. One big challenge that valve manufacturers bidding for this project had to ascertain were the manufacturing of associated internal components and trim parts of non standard sizes for which hi-tech advanced machining facilities were required. Most manufacturers are setup with state of the art machine tools for manufacturing standard components. Outsourcing is a standard practice in the industry with bulk of the smaller and standard products. However valve manufacturers cannot ignore the importance of qualifying vendors with adequate facility and proven track record, pedigree of doing custom non standard jobs which can be largely under estimated for at the bidding stage.
While most manufacturers succeed at managing the entire operations across their global manufacturing facilities. Outsourcing and contracting work of such magnitude generally call for a completely different set of resources. For which manufacturers may not be setup and have to identify and evaluate third party vendors across many metrics, audit their QA/QC procedures and facility to ensure the finished parts achieve dimensional and geometric accuracy which are critical for the smooth operation of the valve. Another fact valve manufacturers cannot ignore while outsourcing jobs without indepth planning and evaluation is the cost of reworking. Any dimensional flaws or other manufacturing defects exposed in the final stage during inspections can be rather expensive to rework. To learn more on "5 Questions you must ask before you buy Industrial Valves"
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The DN2800 gate valve final assembly was estimated to weigh over 100 tons and a robust 40 feet tall. The size alone throws another challenge most manufacturers are not prepared for in terms of will their existing facilities or outsourced facilities house the valve. Do they have adequate lifting, shifting, material handling facilities inhouse to move such large and heavy components. Further manufacturers had to take care while mounting and assembly of body parts to ensure the exceptional reliability of the valve build. Finally the first valve to be installed on the pipeline successfully cleared all hydraulic tests, Shell strength at 375psig and seating capability tested for zero leakage at 250psig. Such projects that involve such engineering depth and challenges in manufacturing also offer a great learning opportunity for the entire global valve community at large.
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