6.

5 Advanced Stem Packing Designs

J. B. ARANT (2005)

Designs and Sizes: Chevron or V-rings, and rectangular rings. All valve and stem sizes available commer-
cially. Special packing can be designed for any and all rotary or linear valve sizes.

Design Pressures: Up to 2500 PSIG ANSI

Design Temperatures: –450 to 1000°F (–268 to 538°C), depending upon the materials of construction and
configuration of the packing system, and valve design. Teflon with a cooling bonnet
can be used up to 850°F (454°C).
® ® ® ®
Packing Materials: Teflon , Kalrez , Zymaxx , and Expanded Graphite

Cost: The costs of Teflon and Expanded Graphite packing sets and rings are moderate.
The KVSP packing is more costly on first costs. However, they are more economical
overall due to their greatly reduced maintenance needs, longevity, and overall per-
formance, with regard to “fugitive emissions” and the resulting valve dynamics.

Partial List of Suppliers: Teflon, Kalrez, Zymaxx, and KVSP are all registered trademarks of E.I. Du Pont
Co. (now, Du Pont- Dow Elastomers); Expanded or Flexible Graphite is a registered
trademark of Union Carbide Co.

INTRODUCTION and pressure ranges. They can be used in applications involv-

Similarly to most industrial products, control valve packing
has also evolved over time. The two main requirements of
control valve stem packing are that 1) it should seal the valve
stem to eliminate or minimize leakage, and 2) it should not
influence the performance or dynamics of the control valve.
The ability of a control valve to respond to small control
signal changes without overshooting and cycling is inversely
proportional to packing friction. Therefore, the ideal packing
would be one that is as tight (as leakage free) as a bellows
seal and yet completely friction free. Real packings do have
some emissions (Figure 6.5g) and do have some friction. The
lower the friction, the smaller the dead band (resolution) and
the shorter the response time of the packing (Table 6.5h).
Prior to 1950, stem leakage was a constant problem with
these older packing designs. Today, both of the above require-
ments can be met. Modern seals can be extremely tight,
providing performance approaching that of a bellows seal,
and they can also be low friction. This guarantees not only
the good dynamic response of the control valve, but also low
maintenance and a long service life.
Today’s packing is no longer just a packing, but it is a
well-engineered part of the control valve and its sealing sys-
tems. They can be installed to operate under wide temperature
ing temperatures from cryogenic to very high temperatures.
They can also operate under process pressures from vacuum
to several thousands of PSIG.
History
The early control valves were provided with only one type
of packing, which consisted of braided asbestos rings. These
rings were formulated with various braiding designs, utilizing
various types of asbestos, binders, and lubricants. For control
valves, the best versions were used, such as Blue African
asbestos with premium binders and braid lubricants.
These rings were installed in a very smooth, finished well
inside a valve bonnet. The valve stem was well polished. The
valve bonnet was fitted with a lubricator assembly that
included a shut-off isolation valve and a “ram screw.”
Depending on the process fluid, the appropriate choice of
“grease sticks” was inserted and the lubricant was forced into
the packing area by the ram. After this, the isolating valve
was closed to prevent the pressurized process fluid from
escaping.
By today’s standards, this was system, yet it was very
workable. All instrument maintenance mechanics, and many
of the instrument engineers and supervisors, routinely carried

1144

© 2006 by Béla Lipták


FIG. 6.5a
Valve stem packing made out of PTFE V-rings with internal coil
spring located below the packing.
boxes of lubrication sticks in their pockets so as to be able
to control stem leakage while guaranteeing a well-lubricated
packing. It was a never-ending chore.
Teflon V-Rings In the mid- to late 1940s, the Du Pont Co.
® Graphite packing consisting of die-formed ribbons and braided
developed a fluorocarbon polymer, Teflon , and it occurred
to the control valve manufacturers that this material could be
made into packing rings. These rings not only had the poten-
tial of providing a good seal, but were also inherently self-
lubricating and resistant to essentially all process fluids. So
the Teflon V-rings, or chevron rings, as they came to be
known, were born (Figure 6.5a).
Because of its corrosion resistance to almost any process
fluid, its self-lubrication, easy manufacturing via molding,
and good temperature and pressure ratings, Teflon rapidly
replaced asbestos as a packing material in many industries.
Essentially the only problem that arose was that this pack-
ing material was so “slick” and had such low friction that the
control valve had a tendency to overshoot and oscillate at
times. This was partially because these early valves were
designed for use with the higher friction asbestos packing.
The solution to this problem was to add some friction back
into the Teflon packing. So, the packing gland was tightened
a little, and the instrument mechanics learned when to do it.
Graphite Later, Union Carbide developed the Expanded
®
Graphite , or flexible carbon, materials that could be formed
into shapes such as packing rings (Figure 6.5b). This
increased the choice of packing.
Graphite can be used at higher operating pressures if the
process fluids are the nonoxidizing-type fluids, although
Teflon, by far, provided a superior control valve packing.
Teflon could be used at temperatures up to 850°F, if the valve
was provided with an extended cooling bonnet.
© 2006 by Béla Lipták
6.5 Advanced Stem Packing Designs 1145
Die-formed
ribbon
flexible
graphite
Braided
filament
graphite
FIG. 6.5b
filament graphite rings.
Graphite packing works very well with manually oper-
ated valves, but it gives poor performance on control valves,
because it affects their dynamics and resolution. This happens
because it tends to “plate out” on the valve stem. This further
increases stem friction and necessitates increased loading of
the packing in order to seal the stem. In addition, there can
also be a fugitive emission problem with graphite packing.
The Enviro-Seal and the Dual Packing Another early devel-
opment in the history of leak-resistant packing systems was
®
one developed by Fisher Controls, using its Enviro-Seal stem
packing system (see Figures 6.5c and 6.5d).
While the development of the Enviro-Seal was a big step
forward in valve stem sealing and in coping with leakage and
fugitive emissions, it required about the same amount of
packing seal maintenance as did the older packings. In addi-
tion its friction was much higher than that of Teflon, which
negatively impacted its performance. This was reported in
ISA (Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society)
75.25 Appendix A, which evaluated the link between packing
friction and valve performance.
Nevertheless, the Enviro-Seal helped to “hold the fort” until
better packing designs eventually came onto the marketplace.
Another interim and early improvement in the field of
packing designs was the use of dual Teflon packing sets, with
a lantern ring between the sets. The lantern ring could be
1146 Control Valve Selection and Sizing

peratures and were just as vulnerable to fires. In the chemical

industry a woven graphite ring was added at the top of the
Packing
follower (stainless Teflon stack, with which these packings passed the API 607
steel) valve fire test. With such packing designs, the chemical indus-
Springs
try had years of experience with no particular problems.
(N07718- Lantern rings
inconel 718) This difference in philosophies between the two indus-
(stainless
steel) tries persisted until recent years when the Federal Clean Air
Anti- Anti-extrusion Act changed everything. Asbestos was phased out by the
extrusion ring federal government as a “hazardous” material, and the petro-
washers (filled PTFE) leum industries were left with few packing options other than
Packing ring Expanded Graphite, plus some unsuccessful attempts at
(PTFE)
Packing box developing synthetic fibers as “asbestos substitutes.”
ring Anti-extrusion
ring
(stainless
steel)
(filled PTFE) Development of the KVSP Packing In the late 1980s, the Du
Enviro-seal PTFE Pont Co. and industry in general, came under pressure from the
Federal Clean Air Act. The response was to again develop a
FIG. 6.5c new valve stem packing based on the use of forming chevron
®
The Enviro-Seal was developed by Fisher Controls and included rings out of Kalrez . This was a fluroelastomer material that
a PTFE packing ring and external Belleville disc springs. had all of the corrosion-resistance properties of Teflon, plus a
higher temperature rating along with the elastomeric character-
istics. At that time, the primary use of Kalrez was in O-rings
used for sealing greases, or to allow piping to a leakage and other sealing shapes.
disposal system. While this design worked to some degree, During these years, because of air pollution concerns, the
it was also a somewhat clumsy and high maintenance system. federal government was trying to eliminate or to minimize more
of the “fugitive emissions” from valve and pipe joint seals. There-
Industrial Practices In general, chemical and most other fore, extensive tests were conducted and it was found that Kalrez
industries favored the Teflon packings, while the petroleum Valve Stem Packing (KVSP), this new valve stem packing, did
industry continued to favor asbestos and Expanded Graphite, an excellent job in reducing emissions far below the levels of the
because of their suitability for high-temperature and “fire federal and state (California) clean air standards. According to
safe” services, which are common in that industry. Their the testing per the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation
rationale was that “fire safety” should be their main concern, Society 75.25.01 and 75.25.02 KVSP performed essentially as
because they handled flammable fluids at high temperatures. well as Teflon. Thus was born the KVSP (Figure 6.5e).
This logic was questionable, as the chemical industries After very extensive testing, using helium to simulate the
also handled highly flammable fluids along with high tem- most severe process plant leakage conditions, both the pro-
cess industries and the control valve manufacturers started to
use KVSP packing as a premium packing for solving their
valve stem fugitive emission problems while still maintaining
the dynamic response of Teflon packing. By replacing non-
Springs Packing Teflon valve stem packing with KVSP, process plants and
(N07718) follower
(stainless
even California refineries in populated areas were able to
steel) meet EPA and Federal Clean Air Act fugitive emission stan-
Guide bushing
(carbon) dards.
Packing ring
(composite)
Figure 6.5f illustrates the improvement that KVSP rep-
Packing resents in terms of packing friction relative to graphite. As
washers Packing ring
(PTFE) (flexible graphite) can be seen from the figure, the variability has been more
than cut in half by using KVSP.
Guide bushing Packing ring
(carbon) Further testing, development, and field experience with
(composite)
Guide bushing the KVSP packing led to the “fire-safe” design, per the API
(carbon) 607 Standard, in addition to the high-temperature (KVSP 500)
Packing box ring and the creep- and extrusion-resistant (KVSP 400/500) vari-
®
(stainless steel) ations. Specific combinations of Kalrez, Teflon, Zymaxx (a
Enviro-seal graphite
high strength Teflon composite reinforced with long carbon
fiber structural composites), and expanded woven graphite
FIG. 6.5d rings provided the solutions to many specific applications.
Fisher’s Enviro-Seal provided with flexible graphite packing rings While Teflon and Expanded Graphite rings are still exten-
and external Belleville disc springs. sively used for control valve packing, KVSP packing is making

© 2006 by Béla Lipták

 6.5 Advanced Stem Packing Designs 1147

Die-formed
flexible
V-ring seals graphite

Teflon
or Zymaxx
components
Kalrez

KVSP 400 Series Kalrez/Teflon

KVSP 500 Series Kalrez/Zymaxx
KVSP Fire-Safe Kalrez/Zymaxx/graphite
Note: consists of Kalrez and Teflon PTFE/Zymaxx
Maximum continuous temperature use 204°C (400°F)/288°C (550°F)

FIG. 6.5e
The KVSP packing system consists of Teflon or Zymaxx components and Kalrez V-ring seals below a flexible graphite ring.

20

Graphite KVSP
18
Avg. friction, Ib 113 39
Max. friction, Ib 124 50
16
Min. friction, Ib 87 39
Spring rate, bfm. 935 856
14
Total travel, in. 0.865 0.857
Actuator net pressure, psig

12
Closed

10

8 Graphite packing
process variability

6 KVSP packing
process variability
4
Graphite packing 1000 ppm Ideal valve travel
KVSP packing 1 ppm
2

0
−0.01 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Valve actuator travel, in.

FIG. 6.5f
In addition to better controlling fugitive emissions, KVSP also reduces the packing friction effects on process control (variability). The
curves compare the variability of the valve travel in response to increasing actuator pressure, when graphite and KVSP packing is used.

© 2006 by Béla Lipták

1148 Control Valve Selection and Sizing

10,000 Peaks to
10,000
5,000 Kalrez packing system (live loaded) ppm

PTFE packing system (live loaded)

Emissions, ppm
1EPA
1500
requirement – 1990 Clean Air Act amendment

250
2State
2100
regulation (Calif.)

50
3Company

standards
310

0
1st 2nd 3rd
Three temperature swings up to 177°C (350°F)
20 M–30 M full stroke cycles

FIG. 6.5g
Emissions caused by creep and cold flow during temperature swings are much reduced when Kalrez packing is used instead of PTFE.
These emissions satisfy both EPA’s Clean Air Act and the California state regulations.

rapid inroads in many areas due to its superior capabilities and A major performance advantage of KVSP over Teflon is
lower overall “ownership costs.” One could say that KVSP is that it is far less sensitive to leakage caused by thermal
the nearest thing to a “universal” valve stem packing material cycling at high temperatures. Figure 6.5g shows the emis-
today. sions resulting from temperature swings when using KVSP
This packing works well on both linear and on rotary and Teflon. It can be noted that because of creep and cold
stem control valves, and is suitable to practically all process flow, the emissions using KVSP (Kalrez) are much reduced.
fluids. Some users have adopted it as their primary packing, Table 6.5h provides a summary of the performance testing
which is used in all applications except for the more benign results that was published in Instrumentation, Systems, and
and innocuous ones such as water, where Teflon is more Automation Society 75.25. From the table one can see that
economical. Field retrofitting kits are available for valves to the ability of a control system to respond to small control
upgrade spring-loaded Teflon packings in existing valves signal changes is inversely proportional to packing friction,
with KVSP. and the lower it is, the better control dynamics can be expected.
This is because with lower packing friction, the valve’s step
® response is faster and its dead band (resolution) is smaller.
KVSP Performance The major attributes of this packing,
Kalrez and PTFE V-rings are effective not only on control
patented by Du Pont-Dow Elastomers, are as follows:
valves, but also for the stem packing of automatic on/off and
manual valves, if fugitive emissions are to be minimized. As
• When using it, the emissions are not measurable and
exceed both the federal and California State Clean Air
emission standards. TABLE 6.5h
• Its resistance to HAPS and toxins is equivalent to that Performance of Leading Packing Designs
of Teflon.
Dead Band or Step Response
• Its leakage containment is almost as good as that of a
Packing Type Resolution Time
bellows.
• Its packing friction is very low. Fisher’s Graphite Enviro-Seal 0.6–1.2% 0.5–7.7 sec
• Its dynamic response is equivalent to that of Teflon. Fisher’s PTFE Enviro-Seal 0.2–0.4% 0.5–4.4 sec
• Its process variability of 0.1% is also equivalent to that PTFE V-Packing 0.0–0.1% 0.5–4.4 sec
of Teflon. KVSP Packing 0.1–0.2% 0.4–2.9 sec
• When using it, the plant yield and throughput
increases, because it has as little impact on process Data Based on ISA 75.25 Control Valve Performance Testing
control dynamics and resolution as does Teflon. Summary

© 2006 by Béla Lipták


to the number of packing rings, five-ring packing sets are the
norm. Three-ring packing can be used in many rotary stem
valve applications, because the rotary stem movement is eas-
ier to seal against leakage than are the linear stems. Yet, for
reasons of convenience and standardization, the five-ring
design is the most often used.
Bibliography
ANSI/ISA 75.25.01-2000, “Test Procedure for Control Valve Response Mea-
surement from Step Inputs,” 2000.
ANSI/ISA-TR75.25.02-2000, “Control Valve Response Measurement from
Step Inputs,” 2000.
© 2006 by Béla Lipták
6.5 Advanced Stem Packing Designs 1149
Brestal, R. et al., “Control Valve Packing Systems,” technical monograph
38, Marshalltown, IA: Fisher Controls, 1971.
Control Valve Dynamic Specification, EnTech Control Inc., Toronto,
Canada.
Coughran, M. T., “Measuring the Installed Dead Band of Control Valves,”
ISA TECH/97–1114.
ISA S26, 1968, and ANSI MC 4.1, 1975, “Dynamic Response Testing
of Process Control Instrumentation,”
Langford, C. G., “A User’s View of Process Control and Control Valve
Positioners,” ISA 1996–Paper #96-076.
“Packing Selection Guidelines for Sliding Stem Valves,” Bulletin 59.1:062,
Marshalltown, IA: Fisher-Rosemount, March 2005.
Senior, K. A., “Technical Guidelines and Design Information, Using KVSP
Packing Systems for Improving Process Control And Minimizing Fugi-
tive Emissions,” white paper, DuPont Dow LLC, 2000.
Senior, K. A., “Valve Packing Systems Improve Process Control,” Chemical
Processing, June 1997.