BVA - Balancing Valve Assembly
Overview
Balancing valves reduce premature wear of divider blocks by equalizing the divider block system injection point pressures to eliminate piston slap back in the divider blocks. Slap back will cause a divider block to lock up with systems typical shutting down after either a rupture disk blows or a PoPR opens.
A pressure gauge enables the operator to easily balance each low pressure injection point by simply turning the pressure regulator cap to increase or decrease pressure.
Another problem that occurs on unbalance systems is piston bypass. This is when oil flows around the high pressure pistons to the lubrication points operating at lower pressures. If left unchecked, the components in the higher pressure injection points will run in an un-lubricated state and fail prematurely. The BVA will eliminate these problems as well.
Features
- Eliminates Premature Wear of Divider Blocks: Equalizes the divider block system injection point pressures to eliminate piston slap in the divider blocks.
- Eliminates Blown Rupture Disc Problems: Balances each divider block piston to the same working pressure to ensure pistons do not bounce out of in sync and lock up the system.
- Easily Balance the Divider Block System: Pressure gauge enables the operator to easily equalize low pressure lube points to the high pressure lube points in the divider block system.
- Reduces Piston By-Passing: Assures all lube system divider block pistons operate at the same pressure, to reduce the possibility of oil flowing around the high pressure pistons to the lubrication points operating at lower pressure.
- Simple Installation: Comes complete with all connections to easily install in tubing lines of all divider block lubrication systems.
Why use balancing valves on divider block systems?
The divider block lubrication system operates efficiently, only when pressure differentials between injection points in the system do not exceed 1000 PSI with an optimum of less than 500 PSI. Differential pressure is the difference between the lowest and highest line pressures that are injecting oil into the compressor cylinders and/or rod packing. If the system is not balanced properly, when the divider block piston injects oil at the high pressure point, the excessive pressure can cause the piston to slap back to the opposite side of the piston bore causing the pistons in the block assembly to bounce out of sync. This action locks up the divider block creates excessive pressure in the system and blows the atmospheric rupture disc which will cause nuisance shutdowns. The slap action of the piston can create excessive wear between the piston and bore of the divider block causing it to wear prematurely and allow oil to by-pass oil. Even if slap action does not occur, with continued operation at high pressure the piston and bore will wear prematurely. Excessive wear of the divider block system is attributed to trash in the system, contaminated oil supply, fast cycling of the divider valve and excessive differential pressure. If the system is not balanced properly, the oil intended for the high pressure injection point will flow around the worn piston to the injection point with least resistance (lower pressure). The by-passing of oil to the lower pressure injection point will cause serious damage or premature failure to the compressor cylinders, pistons, rings, rod and packing gland.
Resources
| Play a clip about the BVA from the Product Video. |  |