Solutions for R&D to Design

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Control Valve Characteristics

July 1, 2017
PreFEED Corporation
Katsumi Yokoyama 1
All rights reserved, preFEED Corporation

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Introduction
• A control valve adjusts a flow rate by obtaining a control signal
and changing the valve opening position. The valve sizing is
determined by considering the following three factors: the Cv
value, the flow characteristic, and the rangeability.
• Typical flow characteristics are the linear characteristic and the
equal percentage characteristic. These characteristics differ
greatly with respect to the valve opening position.
• In this document, we will discuss control valves and their design,
and examine the linear and equal percentage characteristics.

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Control Valve Structure
• The control valve has a structure as shown in the figures below, and is divided
into a drive part and a body part.
• The diaphragm type as shown in the right figure is generally used for the drive
part. The left figure is a cylinder type. Air pressure is applied to the diaphragm
and piston to open and close the valve in balance with the spring.

Cylinder
ダイアフラム式駆動部
Diaphragm Type Drive Unit
Fail Spring Direct正動作型
Operation Type Reverse
逆動作型 Operation Type
Drive Part
Piston

Yoke

Actuator Stem Bonnet

Gland Packing
Plug

Body Part

Seat Ring Body

“Purosesu Seigyo” in Japanese: “Process Control”, P.37 “Keiso Seigyo Shisutemu” in Japanese: “Instrumentation
Solutions for R&D to Design Control System”, P.336 3

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Control Valve Types
The body portion is the core section of the valve, and various valves are used
depending on the temperature, the pressure, the viscosity, and the properties,
such as slurry conditions, of the fluids that are handled.
• Globe valve: A valve with a hemispherical plug that squeezes the fluid passage as
shown on the previous page. It is most commonly used as a control valve from low
pressure to high pressure and at high viscosity.
• Angle valve: The channel makes it easy to flow at a right angle, and it is used for
slurries and high viscosity fluids.
• Diaphragm valve: Also called a Saunders valve, a diaphragm is provided at the
center of the valve and the flow path is opened and closed by the diaphragm. It is
used for corrosive fluids and slurries.
• Gate valve: A valve that opens and closes a partition plate provided in the flow path.
It is used for relatively low cost large diameter valves.
• Butterfly valve: A valve that adjusts by rotating a disc about an axis perpendicular to
the flow path. It is used for large diameter valves.
• Ball valve: A valve that has a through hole as a flow path in the valve body and is
adjusted by rotating it. It is used for slurries and high viscosity fluids.

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Control Valve Operation
• A control valve can have either a direct operation where the drive shaft goes
down as the air pressure increases, or conversely, a reverse operation where
the drive shaft goes up as the air pressure increases. For both types it can be
thought that the valve will be automatically brought to the safe side in the
open (fail-open) or closed (fail-close) direction when an air pressure drop
problem occurs, and either is selected according to the process conditions
(fail-safe concept).
• There are forward plugs that close when pushed down on the valve body, and
conversely, there are reverse plugs that will open in the same situation.

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Three Elements of Sizing (1)
There are three elements to consider when designing (sizing) control valves: the
Cv value, the flow characteristic, and the rangeability.
• Cv Value (Capacity Coefficient or Flow Coefficient)
This is an index that represents the maximum flow rate that can pass though the valve
(a factor that represents the volume of the valve).
It is defined as “the flow rate in USgal/min when fresh water at 60F (15.6C) flows at
the maximum position at a differential pressure of 1 psi”. For example, if Cv = 20, it
represents 20 gal/min (4.542 m3/h) of water that can flow at a pressure drop of 1 psi
(6.897 kPa) when the valve is fully open.
For liquids, the following equation is used:

G Q : Flow Rate [m3/h]

Cv  1.17Q (1)
PV G : Specific Gravity [-]
ΔPV : Pressure Drop [kg/cm2]

“Nyumon Kagaku Puranto Sekkei” in Japanese: “Introduction to

Chemical Plant Design”, P.178, Baifukan (1998)

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Three Elements of Sizing (2)
• Flow Characteristic
The flow characteristic is the relationship between the valve opening position and the
Cv value when the valve opening position is changed from 0% to 100%.。
① Equal-Percentage Characteristic (or Equal-Percent Characteristic)
The ratio of the change in flow rate to the change in valve opening position is
proportional to the flow rate before the change, and is expressed by the following
equation. Here, L is the valve opening position, and K is a constant.
dCv
 KCv Cv  e K ( L 1) (2)
dL
② Linear Characteristic
With the linear characteristic, the valve opening

CV Value [%]
position and the flow rate are proportional to each
other.
Cv  KL (3)
③ Quick Open Characteristic
Also known as the on-off characteristic, this is a
characteristic that is efficient when switching the
Stroke [%]
flow rate between a maximum and a minimum,
such as on-off control。 “Purosesu Seigyo” in Japanese:
「プロセス制御」、P.42 “Process
（コロナ社、2003）
7
Solutions for R&D to Design Control”, P.42

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Three Elements of Sizing (3)
• Rangeability
The rangeability is the ratio of the maximum flow rate to the minimum flow rate that
can be controlled by the valve.
Maximum Controllable Flow Rate Cvmax
Rangeability R  
Minimum Controllable Flow Rate Cvmin
The true minimum flow rate is often zero when completely closed, but the flow rate
becomes unstable and uncontrollable near the closed position. For that purpose, a
distinction is made between the minimum controllable flow rate and the minimum flow
rate at complete closing.
Using the rangeability R, the flow characteristics are expressed as follows.
Linear Characteristic F 1 R R  1  1
  F (4)
1 1 R R
log F
Equal Percentage Characteristic    1  F  R  1 (5)
log R
Where F is the flow coefficient ratio (Cv/Cvmax) and ℓ is the stroke ratio (valve opening
position, L/Lmax).
“Nyumon Kagaku Puranto Sekkei” in Japanese: “Introduction to Chemical Plant Design”, P.179-180
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 Relationship between Valve Opening Position
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• Let us calculate the flow rate when changing the valve opening position for
control valves that have linear and equal percentage flow characteristics.
• Here, we will consider the flow adjustment by combining an orifice flowmeter
and a control valve as shown in the figure. The control valve changes its
pressure drop as the valve opening position changes. Thus, the flow rate is
adjusted, but in this study, a so-called piping resistance that changes the
pressure drop depending on the adjusted flow rate is required, and an orifice
flowmeter was introduced for that purpose.
• Also, since the purpose of this study is to investigate flow characteristics, it is
assumed that the pressure drop of this combination of units is constant.

PV  PO  PT （Constant） (6) FC

PO PV

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Control Valve Pressure Drop
• If Eq. (1) is solved for the pressure drop, and if the flow coefficient ratio
F(=Cv/Cvmax) is used, the pressure drop can be derived as follows.
2
 1.17Q  Cv
PV    G, F
 Cv  Cvmax
2
 1.17Q 
PV    G
Cv F
 max  (7)

• Given the rangeability R, F can be obtained from the valve opening position
(L/Lmax) using Eqs. (4) and (5) for flow characteristics.
• Given Cvmax, which represents the volume of the control valve, the pressure
drop can be obtained from the flow rate Q.

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Flowmeter Pressure Drop
• The pressure drop ΔPO [Pa] of the orifice plate of the orifice flowmeter is
expressed as follows.
2PO Q : Flow Rate [m3/h]
Q  CS Dp : Inner Diameter of Piping [m]

Do : Orifice Hole Diameter [m]
2
 Q  ρ : Liquid Density [kg/m3]
 PO   
2  CS 
C  0.597  0.011m  0.432m 2
(8)
m  DO DP 
2


S DO2
4
• Here, the pressure drop can be calculated from the flow rate Q.

“Kagaku Kogaku Binran” in Japanese: Chemical Engineering Handbook, revised 7th ed., p. 188

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Calculation by Excel
• The relationships between the valve opening positions and the flow rates
were calculated using Excel.
• The calculation procedure is as follows.
1. Give Cvmax, R and the density (specific gravity) of the fluid.
2. Specify the valve opening position.
3. Calculate the flow coefficient ratio F from the valve opening position using Eqs.
(4) or (5).
4. Assume a flow rate Q and calculate each pressure drop with Eqs. (7) and (8).
5. Correct the flow rate Q so as to satisfy Eq. (6) and repeat step 4 iteratively (the
Excel solver was used for this convergence calculation).
• The following values were used. The fluid was assumed to be water.
Cvmax=100～500、 R=50
ρ=1000 [kg/m3]、G=1.0 [-]
DP=0.0807 [m] 、DO=0.040 [m]
ΔPT=200 [kPa]

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Comparison of Characteristics
• The following figure was calculated and plotted by Eqs. (4) and (5). It
represents the change in the flow coefficient ratio (Cv/Cvmax) to the valve
opening position. It corresponds to the figure on page 7.

0.8

0.6
CV Ratio

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Valve Opening Position

EQ% Characteristic Linear Characteristic

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Comparison of Characteristics
• The figure shows the relationship between the valve opening position and the
flow rate. With the linear characteristic, the flow rate rapidly increases as the
valve is opened. On the other hand, with the equal percentage characteristic the
flow rate increases almost linearly, which is advantageous for controllability.
70

60

50
Flow Rate [m3/h]

40

30

20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Valve Opening Position

CVmax：200 EQ% Characteristic Linear Characteristic

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Linear Characteristic
The influence of the flow coefficient Cvmax was investigated. With the linear
characteristic, as the value of Cvmax becomes larger, it is understood that the flow
rate rapidly increases with the increase of the valve opening position and that
flow rate adjustments can hardly be performed when Cvmax is 300 or more.
70

60

50

40
Flow Rate [m3/h]

30

20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Valve Opening Position
CVmax 100 200 300 500

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Equal Percentage Characteristic
• As the valve opening position becomes large, the curve will flatten out, and the
controllability will deteriorate. It can be understood that it is better to avoid
operation at large valve opening positions when a valve with a large Cvmax is
selected.
70

60

50

40
Flow Rate [m3/h]

30

20

10

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Valve Opening Position

CVmax 100 200 300 500

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Conclusion
• The relationship between the valve opening position and the flow rate was
investigated for different control valve characteristics.
• The linear characteristic will saturate as the flow rate rapidly increases with the
valve opening position. On the other hand, the equal percentage characteristic
is advantageous for controllability because the flow rate increases relatively
linearly with the valve opening position.
• However, even with the equal percentage characteristic, it was found that, for
larger valve opening positions, the flow rate levels off and the controllability
worsens.
<References>
• Satoshi Sagara: “Nyumon Kagaku Puranto Sekkei” in Japanese: "Introduction to Chemical
Plant Design", Baifukan (1998)
• Dale E. Seborg et al.: “Process Dynamics & Control”, Wiley (1989)
• Takatsu Haruo Ed: “Purosesu Seigyo” in Japanese: “Process Control”, Corona Publishing
(2003)
• Yasushi Ishii: “Keiso Seigyo Shisutemu” in Japanese: “Instrumentation Control System”,
Denki Shoin (1973)
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