News: State of the Art Control Valve Technology made by ADAMS
As we strive for innovation, we are always happy to develop new technologies together with our customers. For one of them, we have recently engineered, manufactured and delivered four extraordinary control valves according to his needs – The ADAMS Type MAKO.
Based on our well-proven tight shut-off, throttle and control valve type MAK, the new MAKO offers the same outstanding reliability all ADAMS valves have. The disc design with its special shape and flow channels make it special and each of the discs is a customized design based on customer requirements.
A Spanish EPC has asked us in the end of 2020 to deliver several valves for one of their power generation projects. As all german coal-fired power plants will be closed in the next years, the energy demand has to be covered with different sources. This is the reason why some of these power plants are being modified so that they can be fired with e.g. natural gas. This will lead to less CO2-emissions and noise levels.
Our customer required four tight shut-off valves DN700, one tight shut-off valve DN1200 and four special control valves DN700 that would realize a high pressure drop without cavitation problems. We hit the ground running and started engineering. A solution for the tight shut-off valves was easily found. Our tight shut-off, throttle and control valve type MAK DN1200, a steam turbine isolation exhaust valve, will be mounted in the main steam and bypass system. All of the high-quality butterfly valves type MAK DN700 will operate in the district heating system. The tight shut-off valves type MAK will be used on the inlet of a condenser in the high pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP) area. Simultaneously we have started with the development of the special control valves and the special control trim. The new control valves type MAKO will come into operation at the heating condenser of the high and low pressure area. The four valves will each be mounted at the outlet and at the bypass of both the high and the low pressure area.
A requirement of the control valves has been, that they prevent cavitation, regulate the flow and minimise noises. ADAMS has accepted the challenge and designed the customized MAKO Trim within three months for this purpose. Heart of that construction is the special disc design with teeth to create flow channels. These will regulate the flow optimally, prevent cavitation and loud noises. Sounds easy but you need a lot of experience and know how supported by CFD simulations. Next to the teeth that have been cut into the discs, the back of the disc has also been adjusted. The special form creates a change of the flow chart within the first 20 degree and the last ten degree. This leads to a nearly perfect, even percentage characteristic curve during the whole flow area.
After the disc has been engineered, our mechanics have taken over and realized the machining of the special shape which is not easy as the discs had to be differently fixed on the machines in order to create the flow channels. During the original development of this valve type our sophisticated mechanics have made prototypes and enhanced the procedures of manufacturing. Due to a good mechanical preparation, it did not take long to finish the discs. Soon after, the complete valve has been assembled and ran through several functional tests. The valves were tested with zero leak having a solid seal located in the body to offer highest reliability and long term performance at extreme conditions. The MAKO is ideally suited for the use in the district heating system but also in other applications where a high pressure drop is requested. Furthermore it is an economical alternative for other typical control valves such as plug valves and others. The new design of the discs can also be adapted to our other butterfly valves.
ADAMS always strives for innovation. This project has been a new milestone in the construction of butterfly valves and has proven again, that ADAMS is able to think beyond boundaries. During the last 60 years, ADAMS has not lost its spirit of innovation. We are looking to work on your requests for special control valves.
Are you interested in one of our other control valves?
Brochures
Control valve flyer
