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Introduction
Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) is one of safety devices in oil and
gas production facility, which ensure that pipes, valves, fittings,
and pressure vessels can never be subjected to pressure higher
than their design pressure. Therefore, the selection of PSV to
be installed must be conducted in a careful and proper manner.
These are the questions worth to be asked when you are going
to specify details of PSV.
How does the PSV work? Figure 2 is a simple sketch of pressure relief valve which shows the disc held
in the closed position by the spring. When system pressure reaches the desired opening pressure, the
pressure force of the process fluid pass through the inlet and then it is acting over Area A1equals the
force of the spring, and the disc will lift and allow fluid to flow out through the outlet. When pressure
in the system returns to a safe level, the valve will return to the closed position.
Certain area of the disc and nozzle will allow certain amount of the gas/liquid volume. The area of the
nozzle (so called as Orifice) needs to be calculated in order to have proper amount flow of the
process fluid. This certain area has been standardized in API 526 (Flange Steel Pressure Relief Valves)
and designated into certain alphabetic as shown on Table 1.
Since PSV will most likely to be in closed position, it is a good idea to choose some kind of seal
between disc and the nozzle to keep the process fluid from leaking to the outlet of the PSV.
Conventional, Bellows or Pilot type?
Backpressure considerations
Types of PSV are created due to existence of backpressure. The effect of backpressure can be depicted
by Figure 3 which incorporate forces from spring (Fs), process fluid from the pressurized system
(PVAN), and backpressure (PBAN). The PV is the pressure due to the changes over the pressurized
system, and the PB is the pressure which exist in the outlet of the PSV, we recognize this as a back
pressure. As you may see, that the spring denotes with the Fs is having main contribution to the
force balance, and have a positive direction along the PB. The overpressure in the pressurized system
will increase the magnitude of the PV, and eventually it will affect the balance of the pressure force,
and hence the sum of the PBAN and the Fs will be less than the PVAN. The spring, which holds the disk
and isolates the pressurized system into the outlet of the PSV, is moving upward and the disk will not
contain the pressurized system anymore.
Figure 3. Effect of Backpressure to the set pressure (Taken from API 520 part 1)
An extreme example, in the closed position, if backpressure is high enough to compensate the force
pressure of process fluid, the force resultant will be zero, in other words the PSV will remain close. In
this condition, the PSV is not successfully to fulfill its function. We will examine types of PSV.
Conventional type
This type of PSV is the simplest one as you may see on Figure 4. Usually, this type of PSV is used
whenever the existence of back pressure is relatively small (less than 10% of set pressure), or nearly
zero. Due to its low immunity to back pressure, the conventional type outlet is vented into
atmospheric, and mostly, the fluid to be vented is non-hazardous fluid i.e.: water steam.
Figure 4. Conventional Pressure Safety Valve (Taken from API 520 part 1)
Bellows type
PSV with bellows type or balanced-bellows type is used when the backpressure does not exceed than
50% of set pressure. This type of PSV is almost the same with the conventional ones, but there is
additional bellows in it as you may see on Figure 5. The bellows itself has a function to reduce the
effect of the backpressure force (PBAN) over the disk as you may clearly see on the forces diagram on
Figure 3. The bellows contained the upper side of the disc and the rod which connected to the spring
from pressure force of process fluid/pressurized system in which connected through PSV outlet
and the inside chamber of the bellow will be vented to the atmospheric, which obviously has constant
pressure. Commonly, this type of PSV does not have a wide range of PSV, hence, it is not so flexible in
alteration of set pressure.
Figure 5. Bellows Pressure Relief Valve (Taken from API 520 part 1)
Pilot type
A pilot-operated pressure safety valve consists of the main valve, which normally encloses a floating
unbalanced piston assembly, and an external pilot as shown on Fig.6. The piston is designed to have a
larger area on the top than on the bottom. Up to the set pressure, the top and bottom areas are
exposed to the same inlet operating pressure. Because of the larger area on the top of the piston, the
net force holds the piston tightly against the main valve nozzle. As the operating pressure increases,
the net seating force increases and tends to make the valve tighter. This feature allows most pilotoperated valves to be used where the maximum expected operating pressure is higher than 90% of
MAWP
The pilot type has a sensing line and its function is transmitting the built-up pressure that may exist in
the pressurized system to the pilot valve. As the pressure in the pressurized system is increasing and
reaching the set pressure, the pilot valve will actuate the PSV spring inside the main valve to pop up
the PSV. Due to the actuator has no direct contact with the venting system the valve will not relatively
be affected by backpressure. Moreover, this type of PSV has a wide range of spring setting, it will be
an advantage if we want to change the set pressure on a wide range alternatives.
For comprehensive understanding between types of PSV, Table 2 is describing the advantages and
disadvantages each one of them.
Is there any chance that we can size PSV easier? The answer is yes. But you must be careful then,
wise people said that: its not about the gun, its about the man behind the gun. Software is only
calculating what is coming through it, and do what we told. In another word: garbage in, garbage out.
You can use specific software, which made special for it. The useful software tool for PSV sizing I ever
had is Instrucalc Version 5.1, the user interface is as shown in Fig.7. I will use Instrucalc Version 5.1
as description-purposed only, even there are other software which have the same capability.
Compatibility with the process fluid is achieved by careful selection of materials of construction.
Materials must be chosen with sufficient strength to withstand the pressure and temperature of the
system fluid. Materials must also resist chemical attack by the process fluid and the local environment
to ensure valve function is not impaired over long periods of exposure. The ability to achieve a fine
finish on the seating surfaces of the disc and nozzle is required for tight shut off. Rates of expansion
caused by temperature of mating parts is another design factor.
Comparison among Vendors
We have some basic knowledge about basic of PSV selection, lets do some real job here.
Correctness of calculation
We require to pay attention for process data. Mostly, they are root cause of incorrect calculations,
wrong data will lead you to some confusing results, so be careful then. Having the process data
correctly, we need to see the result and compare them (vendors and ours), are they different badly?
We need to see, whether the discrepancies are critical or not. As example, the calculation of orifice
area from each vendor can be different with the same process data and method of calculation (API520), but you must pay attention that vendors will refer to the same orifice designation. The same
way if vendors offer 1.5 inch of inlet size, while according to our own calculation we need 2 inch. That
would be fine if the valve capacity is capable to handle our data process with the size of inlet/outlet
pipe is not too large or too small compared to our own calculation.
Material
Material is another important issue since we need the PSV to be seated for some years and most
probable to handle bad fluid process characteristics.
The most critical parts are the spring, seat and disc. We need to pay attention on their material to be
proposed by your vendors. The internal part of the PSV is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Internal part of the PSV (Taken from API 520 Part 1)
Springs material is one of the important consideration, since it is muscle of the PSV. There are
many alternatives for the springs material, i.e : chrome steel, inconel. Different material will be
impacted to the overall price, you should select the material properly.
Seating surface or seat for short has a function to contain the pressurized system and the vented
system, since it is clutching the disc. Usually, we have a soft seated and hard seated options. The
hard seated means that it is made from the metal material, i.e : steel. While the soft seated means
that it is made from the non-metal material, i.e : kalrez, viton. The advantage of having soft seated
that it will have a good isolation, because it is softer than the hard seated, so its shape is more
flexible to clutch the disk, which the disk is commonly made of stainless steel.
The most exposed part to the process fluid is the disk. That would be a reason that we have to choose
a good material of it. Usually the disk is made of stainless steel because of its properties to be able
stand on the harsh environment.
Price criteria
In most cases, money talks. High price means high quality, low price means low quality, but you
should remember, it is not always true. You shouldnt believe, for instance, with the low price of the
PSV also will has low quality, either with the high price. There must be some overheads over the price
components or even low quality of the materials. You should examine vendors proposal very carefully
and thoroughly, you must go into as detail as possible. If you have any doubt about some points, you
must ask to vendor for explanations until you have satisfaction on the answers and you have confident
to determine whether or not you are going to accept vendors proposal.