What is valve authority? Valve authority is an indicator of how much influence a valve has over the flow rate in the controlled system. So, if a traditional valve was excessively large for the application, there would not be a significant change in the flow rate (as the valve starts to close) and it is said to have a low authority. In pressure terms, the greater the relative pressure drop across the device when fully open (compared to the influenced system), the greater the influence of the device on the flow rate through the system. For a valve under test conditions (where the pressure drop across the valve is kept constant) the ratio of the maximum controllable flow to the minimum flow is known as the ‘rangeability’ So, for example, rangeability of 25 indicates a valve that will be able to maintain stable control down to 4% of its maximum flow. When a valve is installed in a real system, the ratio of actual design flowrate to the minimum real controllable flow is known as ‘turndown’. The higher the valve authority, the greater the tumdown. However, high authorities in traditional valves will mean that the valve will consume more pump power. Where there are significant fluctuations in system pressure traditional 2-port control valves are more likely to require high values of rangeability (and so turndown) if reasonable control is required at low flowrates.