Pressure relief valves

1/51
Causes of Overpressure
1. Operating Problem
Operating problems or mistakes such as an operator mistakenly opening
or closing a valve to cause the vessel or system pressure to increase. An
operator, for example, may adjust a steam regulator to give pressures
exceeding the maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of a steam
jacket.
2. Equipment Failure
For example a heat exchanger tube rupture that increases the shell side
pressure beyond the MAWP. Although the set pressure is usually the
MAWP, the design safety factors should protect the vessel for higher
pressures; a vessel fails when the pressure is typically several times the
MAWP.
3. Process upset; for example a runaway reaction causing high
temperatures and pressures.
4. External heating, such as, a fire that heats the contents of a vessel
giving high vapor pressures, and
5. Utility failures, such as the loss of cooling or the loss of agitation
causing a runaway reaction.
2/51
Causes of Underpressures
Cooling. This could condense vapour and/or lower
the pressure by reducing the gas temperature.

Flow out of the vessel. This could be either by

gravity, or to a source of sub-atmospheric
pressure.

Chemical reaction. This could either remove a

reactant gas/vapour

3/51
 Pressure Terminology
 Operating pressure
 MAWP
 Design pressure
 Set pressure
 Accumulation
 Overpressure
 Blowdown

4/51
 Pressure Terminology
 Set pressure: The inlet pressure at which a valve begins to open as required by
code.
 Operating pressure (Working pressure): is the gauge pressure existing at normal
operating conditions within the system to be protected.
 Design pressure: The most severe conditions of coincident temperature and
pressure expected during operation. If Maximum Allowable Working Pressure has
not been established then design pressure is often used instead.
 MAWP:The maximum pressure allowed in a vessel at its designated temperature.
 Reseat pressure: The pressure at which a valve closes or reseats.
 Accumulation: Pressure above the Maximum Allowable Working Pressure
(MAWP) of a vessel during discharge through a pressure relief device.
Accumulation is expressed either in pounds per square inch or as a percentage. 
 Blowdown: The difference between the set pressure of a valve and the pressure
at which the valve reseats. Expressed as a percentage of set pressure.

5/51
Relief systems
Combination of pressure relief device and the
associated line and process equipment that are
required to safely handle the fluid.
Relief Design Methodology
LOCATE
RELIEFS
CHOOSE
TYPE
DEVELOP
SCENARIOS
SIZE RELIEFS
(1 or 2 Phase)
CHOOSE
WORST CASE
DESIGN RELIEF6/51
SYSTEM
Locating Reliefs – Where?
 All vessels
 Blocked in sections of cool liquid lines
that are exposed to heat
 Discharge sides of positive
displacement pumps, compressors,
and turbines
 Vessel steam jackets
 Where PHA indicates the need

LOCATE
7/51
RELIEFS
Choosing Relief Types
 Spring-Operated Valves

 Rupture Devices

CHOOSE
8/51
TYPE
 Backpressure considerations

 Pressure relief valves on clean non-toxic, non-corrosive systems

may be vented directly to atmosphere.
 Pressure relief valves on corrosive, toxic or valuable recoverable
fluids are vented into closed systems.
 Valves that vent to the atmosphere, either directly or through short
vent stacks, are not subjected to elevated back pressure conditions.
 For valves installed in a closed system, or when a long vent pipe is
used, there is a possibility of developing high back pressure.
 The back pressure on a pressure relief valve must always be
evaluated and its effect on valve performance and relieving capacity
must be considered.

9/51
The effect of backpressure can be depicted by Figure 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.

10/51
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.
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. 11/51
Spring loaded or conventional pressure relief valve

This is a sketch of a spring-loaded pressure relief valve.

As the pressure in the vessel or pipeline at point A

exceeds the pressure created by the spring, the valve
opens.
The relief begins to open at the set pressure which is
usually at or below the MAWP; this pressure is usually
set at the MAWP.

12/51
Spring-Operated Valves
 Conventional Type

CHOOSE
13/51
TYPE
Picture: Conventional Relief
Valve
Conventional
Relief Valve

CHOOSE
14/51
TYPE
Balanced bellows safety valve
This type of PSV is almost the same with the conventional ones,
but there is additional bellows in it .
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.
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.

15/51
Spring-Operated Valves
 Balanced Bellows Type

CHOOSE
16/51
TYPE
Picture: Bellows Relief
Valve
Bellows
Relief Valve

CHOOSE
17/51
TYPE
 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.

18/51
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.

19/51
Pros & Cons:
Balanced Bellows Valve
 Advantages
+ Relieving pressure not affected by back pressure
+ Can handle higher built-up back pressure
+ Protects spring from corrosion

 Disadvantages
– Bellows susceptible to fatigue/rupture
– May release flammables/toxics to atmosphere
– Requires separate venting system
CHOOSE
20/51
TYPE
Pros & Cons:
Conventional Valve
 Advantages
+ Most reliable type if properly sized and operated
+ Versatile -- can be used in many services

 Disadvantages
– Relieving pressure affected by back pressure
– Susceptible to chatter if built-up back pressure is
too high
PRV chatter is a phenomenon where, for various reasons,
the valve opens and closes in a rapid fashion.
CHOOSE
21/51
TYPE
 Chatter
 Chattering is the rapid, alternating
opening and closing of a PR Valve.
 Resulting vibration may cause
misalignment, valve seat damage and, if
prolonged, can cause mechanical failure
of valve internals and associated piping.
 Chatter may occur in either liquid or vapor
services
22/51
 Chatter - Principal Causes
 Excessive inlet pressure drop ( This will result
in considerable decrease in pressure by the
time it reaches the PSV and the PSV shall
close and not relieve the excess fluid. Then the
fluid will go back to the vessel and then to the
PSV and back and front and cause damage).
 Excessive built-up back pressure
 Oversized valve
 Valve handling widely differing rates
23/51
Causes of Chatter
Excessive Inlet Pressure
Drop
 Normal PRV has
definite pop and
reseat pressures
 These two pressures
can be noted on a
gauge as shown.

24/51
Chatter Mechanism
Excessive Inlet Pressure Drop

25/51
Rupture Devices
 Rupture Disc

 Rupture Pin

CHOOSE
26/51
TYPE
 Rupture disc
This is a sketch of a rupture disc. In this case the disc ruptures when the
pressure at A exceeds the set pressure. Recognize, however, that it is
actually the differential pressure (A-B), that ruptures the disc.

27/51
Conventional
Metal Rupture Disc

CHOOSE
28/51
TYPE
 Buckling pin
This sketch shows a buckling pin pressure relief valve. As shown, when the pressure
exceeds the set pressure, the pin buckles and the vessel contents exit through the open
valve.
The rupture disc and the buckling pin relief valves stay open after they are opened.
The spring operated valves close as the pressure decreases below the “blowdown” pressure.
The blowdown pressure is the difference between the set pressure and closing pressure.

29/51
Conventional
Rupture Pin Device

CHOOSE
30/51
TYPE
When to Use a Spring-
Operated Valve
 Losing entire contents is unacceptable
– Fluids above normal boiling point
– Toxic fluids
 Return to normal operations quickly

CHOOSE
31/51
TYPE
When to Use a Rupture
Disc/Pin
 Capital and maintenance savings
 Losing the contents is not an issue
 Benign service (nontoxic, non-
hazardous)
 Need for fast-acting device

CHOOSE
32/51
TYPE
 Relief Event Scenarios
 A description of one specific relief event
 Usually each relief has more than one relief event,
more than one scenario
 Examples include:
– Overfilling/overpressuring
– Fire
– Runaway reaction
– Blocked lines with subsequent expansion
 Developed through Process Hazard Analysis (PHA)

DEVELOP
33/51
SCENARIOS
An Example: Batch Reactor
 Control valve on
nitric acid feed line
stuck open, vessel Raw
Material
overfills Feeds
 Steam regulator to Organic substrate
Catalyst
jacket fails, vessel Nitric Acid

overpressures
 Coolant system Reactor ~ 100 gallons
fails, runaway Product
reaction
DEVELOP
34/51
SCENARIOS
Installation, Inspection, and
Maintenance
 To undermine all the good efforts of a
design crew, simply …
1. Improperly install relief devices
2. Fail to regularly inspect relief devices,
or
3. Fail to perform needed/required
maintenance on relief devices

35/51
36/51
?? Reduced Inlet Piping
Reduced
Inlet Piping

Anything wrong
here?

37/51
?? Plugged Bellows, Signs Failed
of
Anything wrong
Inspection,
here? Maintenance
Maintenance
Issues

Bellows plugged
in spite of sign

Failed
Inspection
Program
38/51
?? Discharges Pointing
Down
Anything wrong
here?
Anything
Discharges
Pointing
wrong
here?Down

39/51
?? Long MomentLongArm
Moment Arm

Anything wrong
here?

40/51
?? Will these bolts hold in a
relief event
Will these
bolts hold
in a
relief event?

Anything wrong
here?

41/51
Mexico City Disaster
Major Contributing
Cause:
Missing Safety
Valve

42/51
Temperature control

Manual temperature control

43/51
Automatic control
ON/OFF Control
An on-off controller is the simplest form of temperature
control device.

The output from the device is either on or off, with no

middle state.

An on-off controller will switch the output only when the

temperature crosses the setpoint.

For heating control, the output is on when the temperature

is below the setpoint, and off above setpoint. 44/51
Closed loop control is far more sophisticated than open loop.
In a closed loop application, the output temperature is constantly
measured and adjusted to maintain a constant output at the desired
temperature.
Closed loop control is always conscious of the output signal and
will feed this back into the control process.
45/51
Proportional Control
Proportional controls are designed to eliminate the
cycling associated with on-off control.

Proportional control or simply P-controller produces

the control output proportional to the current error.

Here the error is the difference between the set point

and process variable (i.e., e = SP – PV).

This error value multiplied by the proportional gain (Kc)

determines the output response. 46/51
Illustrated below, a strictly proportional controller will
also experience "droop".
Because the heater is given 0% power when the
process and set point temperatures are equal, the
process will generally stabilize somewhere below the
set point.
The amount of droop increases with larger proportional
bands.
Term ‘P’ is proportional to the actual value of the error. If the
error is large, control output is also large and if the error is
small control output is also small

47/51
 Integral control
 Integral controller or I-controller is mainly used to reduce
the steady state error of the system.
 The integral component integrates the error term over a
period of time until the error becomes zero.

48/51
 PID Control

 The equation for the PID control algorithm is

shown above, where each of the three parts of
the equation are given a constant, K.
 However, most PID controllers have the integral
and derivative constants represented as shown
below:
49/51
The role of derivative control is to reduce or eliminate
overshoot and undershoot. Derivative control, also
called "rate", measures the rate of temperature change
in the process value.
If the temperature rises too fast, it will switch the heater
off to prevent overshoot.
If the temperature is falling too quick, more power will be
provided to the heater to reduce undershoot.
The result of derivative action added to proportional and
integral control is illustrated below.

50/51