In practice, control valves leak, even when fully closed. Ignorance of valve trim leakage definitions has led to many misunderstandings throughout industry: Control valves being misidentified as requiring tight shutoff (TSO); TSO valves (or control valves) requested when excessive or inappropriate for the application; Vendors highlighting their valve having “tight shutoff” capabilities without mentioning crucial testing details. These scenarios help cultivate valve terminology confusion which can inherently introduce process safety risks, schedule-creep and/or higher capital and maintenance costs. Familiarization with the specifics of valve verbiage and leak testing is beneficial and will ideally spread clarity regarding this subject in the Oil and Gas space.
Have you read the full tech talk from the September issue of Valve World Americas? Contact Brittani Schroeder (b.schroeder@kci-world.com) for the full PDF.