That’s why we want you to send in your ideas for blog posts. All you need to do is e-mail submissions@valves.co.uk with your ideas and we’ll do our best to get it posted.

While we appreciate every submission we receive, we can’t guarantee that we’ll write a post for all of them. However, all received submissions will be read and reviewed by our team.

Oliver ValveTek Ball Valve

These tests included a cycle test using Methanol as the test fluid, followed by a 1000 operation endurance test, followed finally by a 200 operation test in a hyperbaric chamber which was set to the same working depth as the subsea field.

The valve functioned with no problems throughout all the tests. Upon completion of the qualification tests, the valve was put through a normal API 6A PSL3G factory acceptance test and passed. All testing being witnessed by the client.

In addition to the extra qualification tests, since the valve body and end connectors were manufactured from 22Cr duplex material, the valve design had to be independently reviewed by Det Norse Veritas to a relatively new set of requirements called DNV-RP-F112, which was prepared to reduce the risk of hydrogen embrittlement of the duplex material when subjected to cathodic protection.

For more information about Oliver Valvetek’s subsea ball valves, click here

The fire test in progress

Oliver’s R&D department recently put a 22Cr duplex steel 8″ class 1500 trunnion mounted Twinsafe valve through a fire test programme in line with the requirements of ISO 10927-5:2004 and API 607 rev5.  Previously, Oliver have only tested a carbon steel 8″ class 1500 Twinsafe.  The requirement for the alternative material came about due to Oliver Twinsafe Valves Limited winning an order for a number of duplex valves which includes an 8″ class 1500.

The test involved making a spare valve in duplex and putting it through the rigorous test regime specified within the fire test standards.  This includes enclosing the valve in a fire environment for 30 minutes, during which time the area surrounding the valve reaches in excess of 750 degC.  At the end of the test, the valve is force cooled to ambient temperatures at which time a series of seat and body tests are performed to ensure that any leaks caused by the fire test are well within acceptable standards.  The testing was carried out using our inhouse facilities and independantly witnessed by a surveyor from Lloyds Register.  Needless to say the valve passed with no problems and a leakage rate far below the maximums permitted in the standards.

The following product groups are now available certified to ISO 10927-5:2004 and API 607 rev5:

Flanged Style Three-Piece DBB Valves
Cartridge Style One Piece Ball Valves

The ordeal is second only to the Navy S.E.A.L.S. “Grinder” training programme and will see our digital die-hards almost certainly succumbing to hypothermia as they swim through icy mud lakes, scale electrified barbed wire obstacles and run through flaming fields.

Oliver’s IT team will have to sign a ‘death warrant’ disclaimer before facing challenges with such confidence inspiring names as Stalag Escape Razor Wire, Vietcong Tunnels of Fear and the electrifying Anaconda Sting.

“We’re training already but we’re at a slight disadvantage,” said Kevin. “We’re from Cheshire, which is flat by nature so we really need to get used to competing on hills, ideally hills that are on fire.

“Gary and I are seasoned triathlon athletes so we are used to competition, although this time instead of a cycling event there is an assault course submerged beneath a rancid freezing lake. Really, it’s the probability of contracting Weil’s disease that concerns me more than the hypothermia” said Kevin.

“I’ve got a tyre from a scrap yard so I’m going to start training by dragging that behind me,” said Gary.

“But we don’t need to be able to do that for the race, do we?” said Kevin. “You should practice swimming through it.”

The third member of the Oliver Valves IT team, Tim Walton, issued a statement on Friday before leaving for a holiday in Egypt. In it Tim said simply; “I’m not doing it.”

“We have every faith in our IT department making us proud and getting through the Tough Guy challenge in one piece,” said HR Manager, Sharon Inch, “however if anybody has a strong IT background we might be inviting CVs early next year.”

Days when contenders for the World Water Speed Record were propeller-driven are long gone. Modern-era record holders have all been powered by jet engines, which are much more efficient. Quicksilver has the biggest and most powerful engine ever installed in a World Water Speed Record challenger. Its Rolls-Royce Spey Mk.101 turbofan develops 10,000 horsepower – more than a dozen Formula 1 racing cars running at full throttle.

The Spey Mk.101 engine was developed for the Buccaneer bomber – a sleek, swept-wing aircraft renowned for its scintillating low-level performance and immortalised as, “The last all-British strike aircraft”. Showing its commitment to the Spey, the Quicksilver team purchased a Buccaneer (pictured here) as part of its engine development programme.

The Buccaneer that has given its all to bring the WSR home

Selection of the Spey to power Quicksilver was a crucial design decision taken by the man who, much earlier in his career, co-designed Donald Campbell’s iconic Bluebird; Ken Norris. As Quicksilver’s chief designer, Norris felt that high-speed stability would be much enhanced if the new craft had a significantly greater length than previous water-speed contenders. The resulting larger, heavier vessel would clearly need much more thrust than a Bluebird-sized craft, if record speeds in excess of 300 mph were to be challenged.

Thus, Quicksilver has well over twice the thrust of Donald Campbell’s famous boat. Its Spey turbofan delivers 11,030 pounds (5,008 kilograms) of thrust, compared to the 4,750 pounds (2,156 kilograms) delivered by the Bristol Siddeley Orpheus turbojet in Bluebird.

The competition will see students from across the country competing in a series of races in classroom built electric go carts, culminating in the final at glorious Goodwood on October 18th.

The Oliver Valves sponsored Go Kart ready for the track

The team from Pensby have already hit upon a winning formula beating 12 other schools and colleges to take the Best Club award at the North West Science and Engineering festival at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry in July.

Judges at the Museum of Science and Industry were impressed by the engineering skills and team work displayed by the students in the construction of their competition go kart. Needless to say, the team opting to arrive at the competition by driving the kart through reception, into the lift and up into the exhibition hall must have made a winning impression.

Northwest Science and Engineering Festival Best Club Award

The next step for the college is a four hour endurance event at Aintree Race Course on 22nd September.  The race will see six team members taking turns at the wheel in an attempt to secure a place on the grid for the Goodwood final.

All the team at Oliver Valves are rooting for the Pensby Sports College Go Kart Team and we wish them the best of luck.

We’ll post a full race report soon so please remember to check back.

The Spey in the Oliver Valves-sponsored boat originally came from a Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer bomber aircraft. To work on the engine when it was installed in a Buccaneer was a relatively simple matter – you simply opened large access hatches on the underside of the aircraft and reached up.

Now, with the engine mounted low in Quicksilver’s sleek hull – where there are no low-level access hatches, for obvious reasons – the challenge has been to adapt the engine so that everything that was previously accessed from below can now be accessed from above.

The oil system, for example, has been modified so that oil can be pumped in through a new connection near the top of the engine, rather than the two standard connections (primary and emergency) at the bottom – as Quicksilver propulsion specialist Graham Pool, a Rolls-Royce veteran of nearly 40 years standing, is pictured doing here. And the oil-level indicator glass, which is sited at the bottom of the engine, can now be viewed via a miniature digital camera mounted on the end of a “wand” lowered down into the boat’s carbon-fibre bilge.

Starting the Spey in a Buccaneer involves attaching an air-line from an external turbine unit to a connection at the bottom of the engine. On Quicksilver, the air-line attaches to an easily-accessible connection situated high on the side of the trimaran craft’s port hull, and internal pipe-work carries the flow of high-pressure starter air to its destination.

The functioning of the engine itself is not effected in any way by these modifications.

For more information on the Quicksilver project and to learn how you can get involved visit the Quicksilver website.

A key part of optimising the Spey for ultra-high-speed marine use has been to remove unnecessary weight from the 1.2-ton engine. Several hundred kilograms have been pared away.

The 10,000 horsepower heart of the Quicksilver WSR attempt

Quicksilver’s Spey – a Mk.101 variant which originally powered the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer bomber aircraft – had two hydraulic pumps which drove the aircraft’s ailerons, elevators, rudder and so forth, and facilitated fuel delivery and other functions. There was, in addition, a heavy, high-output, three-phase alternator and constant-speed hydraulic drive on the engine to generate electrical power for the aircraft.

In order to save weight, Quicksilver’s designers elected to do away with hydraulics on the boat completely, thereby allowing the hydraulic pumps to be removed from the Spey. They then developed a system which replaces the three-phase alternator and hydraulic drive with a much lighter, more compact, electrical power generation system.

Electrical power is required for Quicksilver’s control systems, which comprise two rudders, an engine throttle and a water-brake. The power generation system developed by the Quicksilver team is the subject of an upcoming blog.

Among the other modifications made to Quicksilver’s Spey engine in the interests of weight-saving are the removal of the external ducting which diverted air to flow over the Buccaneer’s flight control surfaces, and the removal of most of the anti-icing system hardware.

Oliver Valves is developing an emergency fuel shut-off valve for the Quicksilver craft. Full details will be revealed shortly.

For more information on the Quicksilver project and how you can get involved visit the official Quicksilver website.

Traditionally engineers would bolt a flange onto a single isolate valve, be it a ball valve or a gate valve. The flange would incorporate a takeoff that would lead to an instrument pipe and on to a traditional block and bleed instrument.

Whilst this system does boast two isolates – a primary block and a secondary block on the instrument, from a safety point of view, it is much better if the piping isolation valve is a true double isolation valve.

What you end up with is a joint where the flange is, a joint where the instrument connection is and a joint at the instrument valve all of which are leak points. You also face a concern in that whilst the piping has been designed to specific industry standards, the instrument tubing does not meet the same criteria.

Our aim was to make the primary isolate into a proper double isolation valve with the minimum of possible leak paths.
Early block and bleed valves basically contained the two ball valves but they still had a lot of joints and were of a bolted construction. Whilst they were a smaller alternative to two single isolates bolted together, they still presented a number of potential leak paths and were still cumbersome units.

Oliver Valves weren’t the first company to come up with the idea of bolting two valves together but where we broke new ground was by inserting the primary isolation ball valve in through the flange side of the double block and bleed assembly. Unlike the earlier examples that had multiple forgings bolted together, all we needed was a one piece body forging.

We retained the two primary isolation valves and they could still be classed as piping engineering ball valves and we had incorporated a bleed valve on the side of the unit so we could evacuate the area between the two isolates.

This breakthrough meant that we could greatly reduce the number of leak paths and it meant that the valve was now a lot more compact and, in my opinion, considerably safer.

The drive to change, from a customer’s point of view was Lord Cullen’s report following on from the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. The report made a recommendation that double barriers where to be used on takeoffs from pipelines.

Forward thinking engineers picked up on our double block and valves very quickly, particularly in the North Sea where, in many cases, operators began to discover that our double block and bleed valves were actually smaller than the single isolate unit that they replaced.
Double block and bleed valves were initially developed primarily for instrument take-offs but the technology has quickly been adapted for other applications. For example, vents and drains on vessels, tanks and liquid level gauges that are to be connected to relatively low pressure points often require double isolation for safety reasons.

As companies move away from conventional oil rigs and begin to embrace inclusive technologies such as Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels, the Oliver Double Block and Bleed valve continue to find new markets keen to utilise their space and weight saving properties.

This is achieved by a force which is created by the line pressure acting on the two areas created by the difference between the inside diameter of the O ring and the seat to ball contact diameter.

Because the sealing forces are proportional to the areas, a large cross section O ring needs to be used. There are a large number of companies that limit the maximum section of the O ring because of the higher possibility of explosive decompression occurring whilst in service.

To minimise the risk of explosive decompression it is suggested by seal manufacturers that the smallest cross sectional O ring should be used in a groove which provides a minimum of 85% fill.

This then causes a second problem for double piston effect seals. Because the O ring slides a considerable distance, depending on the direction of operation, between the body and the seat, a groove fill of this proportion cannot be achieved.

There are other considerations to take into account when using double piston effect seats. Because the double piston effect seats seal the ball in both directions simultaneously, the pressure in the ball cavity cannot escape which could lead to an increase in torque and possible lock-up of the valve.

If the pressure in the ball cavity increases due to thermal expansion then the pressure cannot escape. As the temperature increases the pressure also increases and the material strength of the valve and bolting decreases. With the mechanical characteristics of the valve and media moving in an opposite direction, there could be a potential for the body or bolting to fail.

So whilst double piston effect seats do provide a cheap means to provide both upstream and downstream sealing, to perform a true double block function we have to utilize two independent isolating balls in series.