May 10, 2016 - Flowserve Corporation, a provider of flow control products and services for the global infrastructure markets, announced the release of the forged Equiwedge gate valve design.
The forged Equiwedge gate valve features the increased wall thicknesses found in critical areas of valves designed in accordance with U.S. standards, while capitalizing on the reduced weight benefits of equivalent European standards. This allows the valve to perform under the difficult pressure and temperature conditions typical of supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plants. The key features include:
- Streamlined hybrid design which selectively increases wall thicknesses in critical areas to improve reliability and lower the chance of equipment failure
- Single-piece body to eliminate fabrication welds and reduce the chance for accidents
- Flexible split-wedge gate design to minimize thermal binding and stress on valve components
Supercritical and ultra-supercritical power plants operating at up to 290 bar (4200 psig) and over 600°C (1100°F) now account for 35 percent of installed global coal-fired generating capacity and account for over half of all new plant construction. These plants operate at thermal efficiencies of up to 45 percent (LHV) which is a 7-10 percentage point improvement over older subcritical plants which generally operate below 185 bar. This efficiency improvement results in a corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 15 percent per GW generated.
