Design and assembly of a standard compliant testing facility for locally manufactured industrial valves

Abstract

The greatest challenge facing the valve industry, is the access to affordable raw material. With the expected valve increase in South Africa, the industry identified the need for an increase of locally manufactured industrial valves that can reach the required quality at a competitive cost. The quality of valves could only be ensured by the availability of required (necessary) testing facilities. Currently, these facilities are not generally available and the test procedures are not well known. The aim of this dissertation was to review international valve testing procedures, based on standards. Furthermore, the aim was the design and assembling of a first approach laboratory set-up valve testing facility, capable of utilising the above mentioned international valve testing procedures in order to test the quality and integrity of valves. This testing facility was designed and manufactured to have the capacity of testing parallel flanged isolation valves with an outer flange diameter ranging between 165-350 mm and a pressure rating of up to ASME Class 300. To ensure that this facility conforms to the required specifications, a 2-Inch class 150 floating ball valve was subjected to standardised testing procedures (as per: API 598, ASME B16.34, ISO 5208, and MSS SP 61). The results of the tests described above concluded that this test facility is capable of performing standardised hydrostatic testing procedures. Recommendations regarding the design and the system as a whole, are included in this dissertation.