A pressure reducing valve from steam specialist TLV Euro Engineering has been installed at King’s College Hospital in London and operating on a daily basis for nearly 14 years without an overhaul or spares fitted.
The COSPECT pressure reducing valve was originally specified by TLV Euro Engineering and installed by a contractor in 2008 for the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s Ruskin Wing, the tallest building in the Denmark Hill campus and one housing many of the hospital’s neurological departments. Originally installed outside between two buildings at the site, the COSPECT valve has since been enclosed by further building works at the hospital campus.
Installed to reduce pressure in the main steam line from 8 bar to 2 bar, indirect steam is used for the hospital’s heating batteries and domestic hot water purposes, so the COSPECT valve is operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
It is estimated that the valve has achieved an average throughput of 950kg/h over its 14-year life, equivalent to 117,000 tonnes of steam. And in that time, the pressure reducing valve has never had any spares fitted, never been overhauled and has only occasionally had the operating pressures adjusted by the end user.
Commenting for TLV Euro Engineering, general manager Michael Povey says: “We were approached by Joji Abraham, the hospital’s estate officer, who was so impressed with the durability and longevity of the valve that he had no hesitation in contacting us when seeking a quote for a new plate heat exchanger system for the refurbishment of the Trust’s bone marrow ward.
“The age of the COSPECT was subsequently confirmed by our regional sales engineer during an initial site audit for the planned ward refurbishment project, with the programme since being fully commissioned and featuring two new plate heat exchangers from TLV Euro Engineering.”
When the COSPECT was first introduced in 1985, TLV had been manufacturing steam traps and related steam products for over 30 years and was well aware of the limitations and inadequacies its customers were experiencing with conventional PRV’s. Based on this feedback, TLV applied its fluid control technology to solve the many associated problems including fluctuations in primary and secondary pressures and valve hunting and vibration.
The renowned COSPECT, which many believe to be the ultimate pressure reducing valve (PRV), uniquely combines three components in a single valve – a piston-operated pressure reducing valve, a cyclonical effects separator and a free-float steam trap. This innovation not only saves space but also simplifies system layout, piping and maintenance. The COSPECT also ensures that dry saturated steam is provided at constant pressure and temperature, which helps to improve product quality.
COSPECT’s separator achieves 98% condensate separation efficiency and the strainer removes any remaining rust or scale. In addition, the condensate that is separated out is quickly removed through the built-in free float trap. All of which produces a noticeable improvement in the quality of the steam, and its heat conductivity. This can lead to increased valve life as well as increasing the service life and performance downstream equipment.
Maintenance is also simplified thanks to the COSPECT’s modular construction and use of PTFE gaskets, which makes the unit quick and easy to remove, or to maintain inline.
For further information, call TLV Euro Engineering on +44 (0)1242 227223, email sales@tlv.co.uk or visit www.tlv.co.uk.
Following an initial site audit and steam trap survey, steam solutions specialist TLV Euro Engineering has supplied and installed a number of efficient solutions on an existing steam line at Innovia Films, with energy savings from the installation already reaching 10MW per day and £80,000 per year!
Innovia Films is a major producer of highly differentiated speciality Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films for some of the world’s best-known brands across a wide variety of everyday consumer goods, including home and personal care products, food and beverage, confectionery, tobacco, luxury goods and industrial applications.
The company’s manufacturing facility houses film-making machines, with steam used throughout the 24-hour bubble and coating processes as well as for space heating during colder seasons.
For the bubble process, films are blown into a bubble to thin the material, which is then passed through one of eleven machines that convert the film into split sheets. These sheets are then passed through steam-heated rollers to reheat it, allowing it to relax before it is wound onto reels.
Steam is also used for the three machines on the coating process line, where various acrylic and latex coatings are applied to films that are subsequently reheated via steam batteries that blow warm air through fans to dry the coatings onto the film. While there are only three machines on the coating line, this process requires 3 and 10 BarG of steam pressure, consuming most of the steam raised at Innovia.
For many years, these processes have always seen a percentage of flash steam (steam formed from hot condensate when the pressure is reduced) vented to atmosphere. So Innovia invited tenders from several steam specialists that would look at engineered solutions to recover the flash steam energy rather than it simply re-entering the atmosphere.
The solution proposed by TLV Euro Engineering replaced the existing spray condenser with a pair of atmospheric heat exchangers to recover the flash steam energy and divert it back to the feedwater in the plant room. This meant more pre-heated boiler feedwater was available, which subsequently reduced the energy required for heating new, cooler feedwater. TLV Euro Engineering also installed a new electrical condensate return package and several flow meters at various locations throughout the steam and condensate lines to collect data.
Explaining the process, TLV Euro Engineering’s regional sales engineer John Lea says: “Innovia now has a higher volume of heated water going back to the plant room and boiler because the new recovery system sends treated water from the boiler plant out to the large condensers that we specified and installed.
“This warms the water with steam that’s vented off the condensate which, combined with the condensed flash steam, returns to the feedwater tank. This combination of using the steam to heat water and condensing steam to provide hot water means approximately three tonnes of steam per hour is being saved!”
Innovia had attempted flash steam recovery in the past, but the process didn’t work because the adopted open-vessel system – which sprayed water into the flash steam to condense it – couldn’t get enough water in to condense the steam effectively.
“Unlike our existing attempt at a direct injection flash steam recovery system, the TLV system adopts shell-tube condensers, which separate the water from the steam to increase the surface area and condense the flash steam more efficiently.” says Michael Edmondson of Innovia Films.
Commenting on the decisions to approve the tender from TLV Euro Engineering, Michael says: “The solution from TLV was more cost-effective than the others we received, and they were working with us to design a solution that worked for us and our processes, rather than something off-the-shelf. We were also impressed with the after-sales support TLV promised, which was something we weren’t confident of getting from the other suppliers that tendered.”
Looking at the data compiled to date, Innovia estimates a possible return on investment within two years and savings of approximately £80,000 a year. “We’re in the process of quantifying savings, but steam on site costs £26 per tonne so the predicted saving of over 3,000 tonnes of steam results in the anticipated £80,000.00.” says Michael.
For further information on the COSPECT and other steam solutions, call TLV Euro Engineering on +44 (0)1242 227223, email sales@tlv.co.uk or visit www.tlv.co.uk.
Through a process of continued development and product enhancements, the renowned three-in-one COSPECT pressure reducing valve from steam system specialist TLV Euro Engineering has been upgraded and is now being offered with integrated pressure gauges as standard across the range.
Commenting for TLV Euro Engineering, general manager Michael Povey says: “By upgrading and offering the pressure gauges as standard across the range, we have enhanced the COSPECT to make it even more of a unified steam system solution. The integrated gauges also mean no additional pipework modification is required before or after the PRV, which reduces installation time and minimises process downtime.”.
Originally launched over 35 years ago, the COSPECT is a combined pilot-operated pressure reducing valve (PRV), cyclone separator, strainer and steam trap in a single component that overcomes the limitations and inadequacies of conventional PRVs and solves their many associated problems – including fluctuations in primary and secondary pressures and valve hunting and vibration – to provide improved-quality dry steam at a constant pressure and temperature.
By eliminating the conventional arrangement and combining four separate components into a single valve, the COSPECT delivers numerous engineering benefits by incorporating fewer gaskets, spool pieces and fixings, improving moisture separation and providing accurate and stable pressure control. It is also more sensitive to downstream pressure fluctuations, is reliable in operation and its unified, modular construction facilitates easy, in-line maintenance.
In addition to the engineering benefits, the single component design of the five-model COSPECT makes it faster and easier to install, is lighter than the sum of using separate components, reduces the amount of insulation required and reduces the requirement for pipe support brackets, etc.
For further information on the COSPECT and other steam solutions, call TLV Euro Engineering on +44 (0)1242 227223, email sales@tlv.co.uk or visit www.tlv.co.uk.
