For over 135 years Baker Hughes’s Masoneilan pressure regulators have been hard at work controlling pressure of flowing liquids, gases and steam delivered to processes of every description.
The distinctive feature of the pressure regulator is that it can control pressure without an external power source. The flowing stream itself provides the energy needed for control. A regulator is comprised of two basic elements – a valve body and an actuator. Process pressure is used by the actuator to provide motive power needed to open or close the regulator.
Regulators are a class of pressure control equipment intermediate in both cost and performance between the more complex control loop and the simple manually operated valve. Each class has a place in fluid handling. The particular choice generally depends upon such factors as initial and operating costs, control accuracy, the nature of the process fluid, and availability of external power sources.
- The pressure regulator is compact and self-sufficient; with no external power or additional instrumentation required. It can be installed quickly for immediate operation.
- The pressure regulator is powered by the process fluid. The only external connection ever needed is a remote sense line for certain categories of regulators or where conditions (such as expanded outlet piping) dictate. Otherwise it is self-contained.
- The pressure regulator is low-cost. Simplicity of design keeps its initial cost normally below that of a control valve with associated equipment; installation cost is minimized by its self-sufficient concept – no pneumatic or electric power lines to run, no associated equipment to connect and pipe; independence from external power sources minimizes operating cost.
Pressure regulators are available several types to suit the application requirements:
Pressure Reducing – to control downstream pressure,
Back-Pressure or Relieving - controls upstream pressure and
Differential Pressure - where the controlled pressure must be maintained at a certain offset to the sensed pressure, such as is the case in compressor/pump seal oil systems.