Gate valves 

– These valves work by raising a gate or barrier out of the

way of the flowing fluid. The gate valve has the positive quality that,
when fully open, the fluid flow is totally unobstructed. Two major types
of gate valves are generally used. These are (i) parallel, and (ii) wedge
gate valves. The wedge gate valve, in which the closure member has a
wedge shape, provides the advantage of sealing against low pressure
flow, as well as high pressure flow. Gate valves have the ability to
open very quickly.

Advantages of gate valves are that they have a high capacity, have
good seals, relatively inexpensive, and do not have very much
resistance to flow. Some disadvantages of gate valves are that (i) they
sometimes can have poor control, (ii) they can cavitate at lower
pressures, and (iii) they cannot be used for throttling.