Ball valves are perhaps the most commonly used valve across all types of industries. You can find these valves in oil and gas production, in residential plumbing systems, in most processing systems, and in waterworks systems.
The advantage of the ball valve is its simple design. It is primarily used as an on or off types of valve, but it can also be used to control or modulate the flow of the media through a system, or even to direct the flow. These types of valves can be used in liquids, steam, gas, and for slurries and semi-solid materials flowing through the system.
Basic Options
Most ball valve suppliers have the standard sizes of valves in stock. These are the valves used in residential and commercial types of plumbing systems or processing systems in plants and facilities.
The standard valves fit with standard pipe and are designed to work within specific operational ranges. These factors include temperature and pressure, taking into account both the ambient factors as well as the actual system temperatures and pressures.
Typically, ball valve suppliers provide these valves in steel, brass and some plastics, with or without an actuator. These may include the full, standard, reduced or V-port options.
Beyond the Basics
Industrial ball valve suppliers offer a greater selection in both the sizing options as well as the types of ball valves in stock. These are the suppliers with the large size ranges in stock, which are only used in large-scale processing and waterworks types of industries.
Most commonly, these complex systems, including those using multi-port ball valves, use actuators to control the valve in response to changes within the system. Often these types of valves are not available through general suppliers, but a specialized PVF company carries them in stock for immediate shipment.
