SAFETY VALVE

SAFETY VALVES
A device designed to pop open in response to excessive internal fluid pressure to prevent any
accident or damage and commonly used in gas and steam line or vessel are called Safety
Valve.
Some Characteristics of Safety Valves:
•Safety valves are typically used for compressible fluids such as steam or other gases.
•A safety valve will stay fully open (pop open) until the pressure drops below a reset pressure.
•Safety valves can often be distinguished by the presence of an external lever at the top of the valve body,
which is used as an operational check.
•Discharge port is bigger than the inlet port (nozzle).

Parts of Safety Valves:

STEM
As other valves its common parts are
1. Body
2. Bonnet
3. Trim : disc, stem, seat
4. Actuator : Set Pressure Adjusting Screw

Parts uncommon to other valves

DISC
1. Adjusting Ring : to adjust the blowdown.
2. Spring : for providing load on disc.
3. Release Lever : for operational check
4. Adjusting ring set screw.
RELIEF VALVE

• A device designed to open in response to excessive internal fluid pressure to prevent any
accident or damage and commonly used in liquid line or vessel are called Relief Valve.
Some Characteristics of Relief Valves:
1) Relief valves are applied to incompressible fluid such as liquid (water or oil).
2) Safety and Relief valves are different in their extent to open. A relief valve opens only as necessary to
relieve the over-pressure condition.
. 3)Back pressure is more prone in relief valves. Because mostly safety
valves are released to atmosphere. But in relief valves the liquid is
further used and if the pressure at the discharge end of the valve is
greater than the pressure at the inlet end this will exert pressure on the
disc to close and this increases chatter.

SAFETY RELIEF VALVE

• The valves which are used both in liquid and gas systems
to prevent any accident or damage by releasing internal
pressure are called Safety Relief Valves.
 Relief Valve Terminology
• MAWP : Maximum allowable working pressure. It is the
maximum pressure allowed to operate as per
construction code. It is also the maximum pressure
setting of a pressure relief valve.
• Operating pressure : The maximum pressure that is
expected during normal operating condition.
• Set pressure : The pressure at which the valves disc
begins to lift off the seat.
• Reseating Pressure : The pressure at which valve
disc again comes in contact with seat sealing the
release.
• Overpressure : It is the pressure increase over the set
pressure, expressed in percentage of set pressure.
• Accumulation : The pressure increase over the
MAWP, expressed in percentage of MAWP.
• Blowdown : The difference between the set pressure
and the reseat pressure, expressed in percentage of
set pressure.
• Popping Pressure : The pressure at which the valve
pops open is the popping pressure.
• Simmering : As the disc lifts, the seating area of disc is also exposed to system pressure i.e larger area of the disc is
now exposed to the system pressure, so more force is exerted at the bottom of the disc and this force overcomes the
spring tension and cause the disc to pop open. This happens briefly before the valve opens fully and called Simmering.
During Simmering the disc is slightly open and valve discharges a small amount of fluid and it lasts for a fraction of
second.
• Lift : The distance that a valve disc moves from the closed position to the fully open position is called Lift or Travel.
• Chattering : If there is no difference between a valve set pressure
and the reseating pressure, the valve disc will jump and down on its seat
until pressure either increases enough to pop it or decreases enough to
keep it closed. This will make abnormal sound and this condition is called Chattering.
Chattering Effects:
It damages both the disc and the seat, because it promotes steam cutting.
• Steam Cutting : When the valve is pop open and the velocity and temperature of the escaping steam is very high it
tends to cut metal of the valve and the disc or seat. This condition is called Steam Cutting.
• Huddling Chamber : A small space located just below the valve disc is called Huddling Chamber.
Advantages of Huddling Chamber:
The disc has a lip or shoulder that is not exposed to system pressure
when the valve is closed. This lip seats above the huddling chamber.
The centre portion of the disc is always exposed to pressure. Huddling
chamber exposes greater area of the disc to the system pressure.
So the fluid pressure acting on the increased area gives a greater
total lifting pressure against the spring. This helps reduce the
simmering time. The steam trapped in this chamber acts as cushion
during shut after pop open.
• Adjusting Ring : Blowdown is adjusted by changing the
setting of the valves adjusting ring.

Raised: When the adjusting ring is in the raised position the escaping steam is
directed right at the disc. The velocity of the escaping pressure exert great
pressure on the disc as steam strikes closer to a 90 deg angle as shown in
the fig 1.
In turn, the system pressure of the valve must drop well below the popping
pressure of the valve to seat the valve on seat. So, raising the adjusting ring
increases the blowdown of the valve.
Lowered: When the adjusting ring is lowered, it is easier for the steam to escape
to the side oof the disc, so much less escaping steam strikes the disc on its
way to the valve outlet as shown in fig 2.
When the adjusting ring is lowered, the velocity of the steam exerts less
upward force on the disc. So the valve closes against higher system pressure
than it did when the ring was raised. Lowering the adjusting ring, decreases
the blowdown of the valve.

Fig 1 Fig 2
 Three Ring
Two Ring

• Two Ring
1. Upper Ring : adjusts blowdown directing the escaping steam.
2. Lower Ring : directs escaping steam at the disc and traps a cushion.

• Three Ring
1. Upper Ring : adjusts blowdown directing the escaping steam.
2. Middle Ring : fine tuning adjustment for controlling the upward force of the steam. It is
adjusted to cover or expose a series of radial holes that have been drilled in the upper
ring.
• Next Class

• 1. Spring Loaded Safety Valves.

• 2. Piloted Operated Safety Valves.
• 3. Trouble Shootings & Maintemance