CLASS 300 VALVE DESCRIPTION

• Bi-directional Knife Gate Valve
  
• Standard sizes from NPS 3” to 48”
  
• Smooth transition from upstream to downstream
  
• Compliant to:
  
  • ASME B16.34; Valves—Flanged, Threaded, and Welding End
    
    • Class 300 (740 psig MAWP (maximum allowable working pressure))
      
  • MSS SP 135 (long face-to-face)
    
• Flow surfaces
  
• Two styles of rotatable, replaceable, hardened flow surfaces
  
• Multiple actuation
  
  • Hydraulic cylinder
    
  • Pneumatic cylinder
    
  • Manual (handwheels and gearboxes)
    
• Has Canadian registration (CRN)
  
• Valves are designed to suit flanges compliant to ASME B16.5 and B16.47, and gaskets designed to ASME VIII-1 Appendix 2, and ASME B16.20 and B16.21.
  

Knife Gate Valves

In August 2012, a large industrial valve manufacturer approached Emberdyne Engineering Group PLLC about working with their product managers and engineers to develop a Class 300 (740 psi MAWP) Knife Gate Valve (see description below) for oil sands service in Canada.  Initially the project was to look at a single size to determine what would be involved.  That turned into a full preliminary design for that valve size with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) being run on all structural components.  The effort included the design of castings, machined castings, fabricated weldments, machinings, and the selection of fasteners and valve actuation components.  The valves were designed to be actuated with hydraulic cylinders, air cylinders, or manually (handwheels and gearboxes).  Since each valve size can have several port diameters and the actuation is dependent on the port diameter, the number of permutations became quite extensive.

While the initial valve was being prototyped, a Master Design Record was created to specify design parameters for the entire valve line from 3 inch through 48 inch nominal pipe size (NPS).  Emberdyne Engineering helped this manufacturer apply for, and ultimately receive a Canadian Registration Number (CRN) for the entire line using this approach.

While coordinating with the manufacturer, Emberdyne Engineering used ASME and ASTM standards, including the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, in the development. Emberdyne Engineering received training from the Alberta Boilers Safety Administration (ABSA) in the CRN application process.

The project then expanded to include more refined design of two other sizes.  Here, the team worked on refinement of casting designs; manufacturability; dimensional and tolerance analysis; and developed design records for each size.  The line of valves needed to have a “family look” and meet the same specifications.  Once that was in place, it was time to distribute the design of the balance of the line among the team of engineers, each member being assigned several valve sizes and/or certain components to focus on. Finally, Emberdyne Engineering also similarly participated in the development of a Class 150 (285 psi MAWP) Knife Gate Valve series, from sizes NPS 2 inch through 48 inch.

From the beginning, this team was international with components in the US, Australia, and India.  Meetings were held weekly and at times daily in order to coordinate this development effort and to expedite decision making. The project concluded in April 2015.