Ease of maintenance lies behind York Marine’s decision to replace traditional globe valves with Worcester V-Flow ball control valves from Invensys in the design of its new VSM 151 refrigeration units, used to supply air conditioning on board passenger ferries. The Worcester V-Flow is a metal-seated ball valve which uses laser-cut characterised seats to give a rangeability of up to 375:1. Explains Mats Thoren, Technical Manager of York Marine, a Norrkoping, Sweden-based specialist subsidiary of the giant York International HVACR group: “Flow characteristics of the V-Flow may be altered simply by changing seats. With our equipment the process requires 1′ valves with both 30º and 60º seats. Adaptation of the CV now requires only replacement of the seats, not the entire valve, as with globe valves, and this greatly reduces the need for – and cost of – spares.” “Equally important,” says Mats Thoresen, “is the bubble-tight shut-off quality of the V-Flow. This means we have been able to dispense with the need for an isolation valve, previously required with globe valves and that gives us additional space, weight and cost savings”. According to Worcester Controls, as well as maintenance benefits, the V-Flow is also lighter and more compact than traditional control valves.
