Valve Working Group

Our first meeting of the year was held at Goodwin International, Stoke-on-Trent on March 7th 2019 and followed on from the now well-established social event the evening before. These contribute greatly to making our ever-expanding group a cohesive and co-operative team.

As a continuation from 2018, the meetings feature an enhanced agenda which includes a quality moment and a short technical paper. Goodwin’s Foundry gave an excellent technical presentation looking at the advances in large section super duplex stainless-steel castings.

These were pioneered by Goodwin and - unsurprisingly - were extremely relevant and well received by the working group. The meeting finished with a very interesting tour across multiple sites, taking in the Goodwin machine shop, foundry, valve assembly and a surprising and very interesting finish at Easat radar systems, part of the Goodwin group of companies.

Our second meeting was on October 9th and hosted by Koso Kent Introl at Brighouse. A full house of some twenty-five members ensured an intense day of discussion and debate.

KKI raised the bar with respect to presentations, by adding to safety and quality moments with an environmental moment too. For the new decade, it is fitting that the environmental moment is continued and a call to members to actively participate to share safety, quality and environmental moments is encouraged for future meetings.

KKI gave a thought-inspiring presentation on Adaptive Layer Manufacturing with particular reference to the manufacture of a complex control valve trim, which would not be possible or cost effective by conventional means.

The meeting concluded with a tour of the valve assembly and manufacturing shops. Again a fantastic venue and tour showcasing British manufacture.

Both meetings had updated reports from leaders of the Technical Expert Groups (TEGs – our life-limited task groups) and Mike Gray reported on safety device standards.

A persistent theme has been Brexit and its effect on standards and legislation. Ron Strang has kept us updated as to potential effects of Brexit alongside his updates on the PED and ATEX Directives. Martin Greenhalgh – BVAA’s Technical Consultant – has throughout the meetings provided in-depth updates and commentary on industrial valve standardisation.

The Valve WG for 2020 and beyond will continue to focus on previous subject areas, plus look at introducing new topics based around advanced valve design and manufacturing. Closer integration with the Actuator Working Group and a possible resurrection of elements of the Seals WG is also envisaged.

Building on advanced manufacturing, our first meeting of 2020 is slated to be a triple event on March 3rd/4th in Glasgow. Firstly BVAA Member visits to the Advanced Forming Research Centre, University of Strathclyde and TUV SUD NEL, East Kilbride, followed by a Valve WG proper at the James Walker Devol facility with tour.

Published: 18th February 2020