The purpose of a butterfly valve is to regulate or isolate the flow of different type of fluid, gas or solid material and they have applications across several industries.
What characterizes most of the butterfly valves used on dams and hydroelectric plants is their significant dimension and subsequently the very high pressure that the valves have to withstand.
These characteristics require a state-of-the-art manufacturing production to ensure the safe functioning of the valve during its operation.
Applications of Butterfly Valves
Independently on the applications, the butterfly valve is used to interrupt the flow of a product. The main applications of these types of valves are in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry or in the water flow control in dams and hydroelectric power plants. In the latter two applications, butterfly valves are either used with a control function or a protection function.
These valves are used with a control function in the regulation of the water intake at the bottom of outlet lines on the water side of dams or in gravity lines leading to hydro-power plants.
Alternatively, these valves are used as a safety protection to allow maintenance to other sections of the site of the dam or the power plant thanks to their on-off effect to the water flow. More specifically, butterfly valves are frequently exploited as a protection for the penstock, the turbine and the water discharge line.
How They Work
The flow control happens through the rotation of a disc that is positioned on the center of the pipe. The rotation is achieved by the action of a mechanical or electric actuator that rotates a lever connected to the trunnion which moves the shutter. The rotation of the trunnion entails the turn of the disc which can be either perpendicular or parallel to the flow.
Vortex Hydra’s BF Valves
Our mission is to create top quality custom solutions to guarantee the safest and most flawless functioning achievable.
The three main factors that influence the design choice of the butterfly valves are the dimension, flow rate and the water pressure involved. Depending on the requirements, we produce either a mono-plane or a bi-plane disc of the butterfly valves with a main service seal. In addition, a maintenance seal system can be implemented as a secondary option for maintenance purpose.
For what concerns the operating system we offer versatile solutions with one or two hydraulic cylinders with a single or double operating action.
The single action system operates through pressurized oil in the opening phase, while the closing phase exploits the counterweight.
The double action systems on the other hand are differentiated in the ones using pressurized oil for both the opening and the closing phase, and the operating systems that use the penstock’s water for the closing phase.