valve, in mechanical engineering, device for controlling the flow of fluids (liquids, gases, slurries) in a pipe or other enclosure. Control is by means of a movable element that opens, shuts, or partially obstructs an opening in a passageway. Valves are of seven main types: globe, gate, needle, plug (cock), butterfly, poppet, and spool.
In the globe valve shown in the Figure (far left), the movable element M may be a tapered plug or a disk that fits a seat on the valve body; the disk may carry a replaceable rubber or leather washer, as in a household water faucet. In a gate valve, the movable element is a wedge-shaped disk that seats against two tapered faces in the valve body. A needle valve has a long tapered needle fitting in a tapered seat.
A plug valve, or cock, is a conical plug with a hole perpendicular to its axis fitting in a conical seat in the valve body at right angles to the pipe. By turning the plug the hole is either lined up with the pipe to permit flow or set at right angles to block the passage.
A butterfly valve is a circular disk pivoted along one diameter; the solid lines in the Figure (left centre), show one in the closed position. In the fully open position, shown dotted, the disk is parallel to the direction of flow. The damper in a stovepipe or a warm-air heating system is of this type, which is also used in the intake passage to carburetors on gasoline engines. On hydraulic turbines such valves may be 20 feet or more in diameter.
Some valves operate automatically; check (or nonreturn) valves, for example, are self-acting and permit flow in one direction only. They are made in several types. If the movable element in the globe valve in the Figure were kept on its seat by gravity or a spring, it would permit flow from left to right but not from right to left.
Safety valves, which are usually of the poppet type, open at a predetermined pressure. The movable element may be kept on its seat by a weighted lever or a spring strong enough to hold the valve closed until the pressure is reached at which safe operation requires opening.
On gasoline engines, poppet valves are used to control the admission and rejection of the intake and exhaust gases to the cylinders. In the Figure (right centre), the valve, which consists of a disk with a tapered edge attached to a shank, is held against the tapered seat C by a compressed spring. The valve is raised from its seat by the action of a rotating cam that pushes on the bottom of the shank, permitting gas flow between region A, which leads to the intake or exhaust pipes, and region B, which leads to the cylinder.
In hydrostatic fluid-power systems, in which the working medium is usually pressurized oil, spool valves are employed to regulate the oil flow. The valve shown in the Figure provides two flow paths for the output from a pump. In the extreme upper position, as shown, active flow is from the pump port P to the working, or load, port B; discarded fluid from the load passes from port A to the tank or sump port T. In the extreme lower position, the functions of ports A and B are reversed. In the mid or neutral position of the spool, ports A and B are blocked. The movement of the spool may be manually or electrically controlled.