Different Types of Flanges and Valves in the Industry | Health and Safety

Types of Flanges

Flanges have been designed and developed to be used in countless application each one has its own special characteristics and should be carefully selected to meet specific functional requirements.

The following flanges will be discussed in this chapter weld neck, threaded, socket weld, slip-on, lap-joint, blind, Orifice, and reducing flange.

1. Weld Neck Flange- Weld Neck Flanges transfer the stress from the flange itself into the connected pipe. These are used mainly for all processes and critical services where the weld joints need a radiographic inspection.

2. Socket Weld Flange- Socket Weld Flanges are welded on one side only these are used for small board blanks only

3. Threaded Flange- Threaded Flanges are used on non-critical piping for air, water, or nitrogen. Usually, the piping material used for threaded piping is Galvanized CS.

4. Lap Joint Flanges-Lap Joint Flanges are used with stub ends. These are welded with pipes & flanges are kept loose over the same.

5. Slip-On Flange-Slip-On type flanges are attached by welding inside as well as outside these flanges are of forged construction.

6. Blind Flange-Blind Flanges are used to close the ends of headers which need to be reopened for inspection purposes, cleaning, and extensions of header.

7. Reducing Flange-Reducing Flanges are used to connect between larger and smaller sizes without using a reducer. For reducing flanges, the thickness of the flange should be that of the higher diameter.

8. Orifice flange- The Orifice Flange is the only one that actually performs the function. The function of the orifice flange is to measure the rate of the flow of the commodity through the piping system. Orifice flanges are easy to recognize because they have a hole drilled through the face of the flange upright to the pipe.

Types of Valves

Different types of valves and their applications. Gate valve, Ball valve, Globe valve, check valve, butterfly valve, diaphragm valve, needle valve, and plug valve.

1. Gate valves-Gate valves are used for on/off control and where there is no need to throttle the flow. Low-pressure loss. Ball Valve-allow quick quarter turn-off operation and have poor throttling ability. It provides tight shutoff. Can handle fluids with suspended solids.

2. Globe valves- Globe valve used to control purposes as it has good throttling ability. Very less leakage under low pressure when shutoff.

3. Butterfly valve- butterfly wall generally used for handling large flows of gases or liquids including slurries low-pressure drop. It has an advantage and other valves designs in weight, space, and cost for large valve applications.

4. Needle valve- Needed valves used for precise regulation of flow. Used in flow metering applications and in vacuum systems. Not used for simple shut-off applications.

5. Diaphragm valves-Diaphragm valves are used in systems where it is desirable for operation mechanism to be completely isolated from fluid. Which are suitable for applications where cleanliness, bubble-tight shut-off, and chemical compatibility are important.

6. Plug Valve- Plug valves are used to direct flow between several different ports through one valve. It provides excellent protection for corrosive applications that need tight shut off.

7. Check Valve- Check valve allows fluid to flow through it only in one direction and prevents reverse flow.