178 Chapter Four Although the principle of operation is very similar, a wide variety of check valve designs exist. The it check valve uses a free-moving clo sure clement (similar to a globe valve's plug head without a stem) that is placed above the seat. ‘The swing check valve uses a hinged closure clement that is similar to 2 common door arrangement (where the hinged area is located outside the seating area). The tilting disk check valve has a closure element much like a butterfly disk that has two pivot points located on each side of the seat, The split disk check valve uses two half-circle disks hinged together that fold upon positive flow and retract to a full circle to stop reverse flow. The diaphragm check valve uses a preformed clastomeric closure clement that opens with upstream flow and returns to its preformed closed shape with reverse flow, Diaphragm check valves can also use an elastomeric diaphragm that forms against a seat 4.1.2 Common Check-Valve Applications Check valves are used for two main purposes: first, to prevent back- flow, and second, to maintain pressure. Check valves are oftentimes installed in a process system to maintain pressure in a line after a sys- tem pump has stopped or failed. Check valves are also important in the correct function of compressors and reciprocating pumps. Check valves may be a requirement for secondary systems where pressures ccan exceed that of a primary system. They also prevent any damage associated with reversal of rotary pumps and compressors. Ifa system is apt to pulsate or create some fluctuations, the check valve is commonly placed as far away as possible from the portion of the system causing the fluctuations. Ifthe check valve is installed close to the source of the fluctuations, it could further aggravate the tion by continually opening and closing, increasing the magnitude of the fluctuation, and causing wear on the moving parts and seating sur- faces of tho valve, A nons lamming check valve has a tendency to dampen pulsating flow and can sometimes be placed close to th source for that purpose. Nonslam designs aside, the speed by which the closure element clos- es is often a measurement of the distance between the full-open and full-closed position of the closure clement. In most cases, this is @ fun tion of the size of the check valve: the smaller the closure element, the smaller the travel from open to closed. Therefore, in smaller-sized applications, the check valve would be expected to close much faster than in larger-sized applications, ita Check Valves 179 Generally, check valves can be used in both horizontal and verti pipelines, although the use of a typical check valve in a vertical pipeline requires a spring to close the closure element (since gravity has a minimal effect on the piston, poppet, ball, disk, ete.). In vertical pipelines, flow must always rise up under the closure clement. Otherwise, the check valve would have to have enough pressure rever- sal to lift the closure clement into the seated position against its weight, which is unlikely in most cases. 1 4.2 Lift Check Valves 4.2.41 Introduction to Lift Check Valves ‘A.common lift-cheek-valve design is the piston check vahe (Fig. 4.1), which uses a globe body design with either a piston or a ball installed above the seat. The piston is pushed up by the flow (flow-under-the- seat) until the flow reverses when gravity and downstream pressure close the closure element against the seat, A nonslamming piston is. a special design that is vented to allow it to move slowly to the closed position. Another design variation of the lift check valve is the ball ype, which uses a spherical ball instead of a piston or poppet Figare 4.1 Nonslam piston-type check valve (Courtesy of Valiek International)