1

Bulletin 1- XI



















1

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION 2
1 PIPING CONFIGURATION.......................................................................................... 2
1.1 UPSTREAM PIPING............................................................................................................... 2
1.2 DOWNSTREAM PIPING.......................................................................................................... 2
1.2.1 Layout .................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.2 Straight lengths...................................................................................................... 3
1.2.3 Piping dimension ................................................................................................... 4
1.3 FIX POINTS ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.4 PIPING FORCES AND TORQUES............................................................................................. 4
2 TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE SENSORS ......................................................... 5
2.1 MINIMUM TEMPERATURE...................................................................................................... 5
2.2 TEMPERATURE SENSOR DISTANCE....................................................................................... 5
2.3 PIPING LAYOUT ................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 PRESSURE SENSOR ............................................................................................................ 6
3 DRAINS........................................................................................................................ 7
4 PREHEATING.............................................................................................................. 10
5 PIPING INSIDE PROTECTION.................................................................................... 12
6 PROTECTION OF THERMOWELL.............................................................................. 13
7 NOISE.......................................................................................................................... 14
7.1 PREDICTION........................................................................................................................ 14
7.2 INSULATION........................................................................................................................ 14
7.3 OTHER MEASURES TO REDUCE NOISE................................................................................... 14
8 BLOW-OUT.................................................................................................................. 16
9 CLEANLINESS............................................................................................................. 17
10 LIFETIME CONSIDERATIONS................................................................................... 17




Polna documents dealing with desuperheating:
NTG 76/ 670 Enthalpic control system
NTG 76/674 Installation of variable area steam desuperheaters
NTG 76/675 1-5800 series control valves with internal injection
NTG 76/680 Acoustical treatment








2
INTRODUCTION
Recommendations outlined in this document apply both to integral desuperheating control valves
1-5000 and 1-9000 series, but some parts are also applicable to individual Polna desuperheaters
3-4000 series. Should these recommendations conflict with information provided by dimensional
drawings, the latter will prevail on the content of this document.

1 PIPING CONFIGURATION
1.1 UPSTREAM PIPING
Where two or more conditioning control valves are branched from the same header, some
measures must be taken to prevent flow instability due to pressure resonance in inlet
lines.
As shown in Fig. 1 the branches are tolerated provided they are designed with different
runs.
The straight pipe without disturbances installed upstream the control valve must be
longer than 6 times the inlet diameter of body including reducer , as shown in Fig. 2. This
recommendation accounts for noise and vibration aspects more than flow rate prediction.
Where elbow is unavoidable close to valve inlet, the minimum straight run upstream the
valve depends on the radius of the elbow, and it should be 6 times DN1 for short radius
( 1,5DN) and neglected (elbow connected directly to the body) for long radius elbow with
R 5DN. Interpolation is possible for intermediate Fig.s.


Fig. 1 Layout examples with several desuperheating stations branched from a
common header


1.2 DOWNSTREAM PIPING
1.2.1 Layout
Avoid rising piping arrangement to prevent condensate collection.
Also when accurate draining is performed, accumulation of water excess in rising pipe
may occur during start-up operations or for water supply malfunctions. Thus,
installation of angle body types 1-5700 and 1-5600 with outlet upwards, is not
permitted.





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1.2.2 Straight lengths
To prevent water/steam separation a minimum straight section of 6 meters should be
provided downstream the water injection section (the last one for two sections design)
up to the first piping bend. This apply also to variable diameter piping, provided the
steam velocity requirements are fulfilled in any section (see Fig. 2).


note 1 see also subclause 1.1
note 2 can be reduced when R is 3 DN
2
or greater but not below 5 xDN
2

note 3 see also subclause 2.4
note 4 when two or more injecting sections are provided the last one must be considered
note 5 see subclause 2.2
Fig. 2 Piping arrangement around the desuperheater minimum distances and
straight-lengths


The straight piping section can be conveniently reduced where:
- long radius bends (R3DN) are provided
- high efficiency desuperheaters Spraysat 1-4442 or fixed area 3-4500 series are
used
However straight length should never be less than 5 times the inner diameter of
desuperheater outlet connection.
Should special applications require longer straight runs they will be specified on
technical documentation.



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1.2.3 Piping dimension
The pipe installed downstream the desuperheater section must be sized to obtain a
minimum velocity and consequently a satisfactory turbulence level of flow.
Such requirement is fulfilled when the pipe size is the same of outlet connection of
desuperheating section which is properly selected by Polna. So, these
recommendations apply to larger downstream piping sections connected to the outlet of
control valve through an expander.
In the following table, the minimum steam velocity values are listed for all POLNA
desuperheaters and are calculated on downstream section taking into account flow rate
and conditions of steam upstream the water injection.
Due to the low required steam velocities the size of downstream piping must be
checked at minimum steam flow rate according to the process turndown.
The data listed in the table of Fig. 3 are applicable as well to individual desuperheating
Polna equipments described in NTG 76/67 document.

Minimum steam velocity [m/s]
Type Description
DN 6 DN 8 and 10 DN 12
LVL single nozzle 9 12 14
LVP
single and double nozzle probe
design
8 10 12
LVM multiple nozzle n.a. 10 12
Spraysat multiple nozze control valve n.a. 9 11
LF fixed area probe design 4 5 6
These values of velocity represent the minimum operating limits in the specific range of working
conditions that allow the dragging of the water drops and must be fulfilled independently from the
influence of other process characteristics.
Lower values of steam velocity can be allowed for specific application.
Fig. 3 - Minimum steam velocity upstream the injection point for different Polna
desuperheaters fitted downstream the main control valve.


1.3 FIX POINTS
- The valve body can not be used as a piping fix point
- Also outlet pipe should not be used for connecting piping to frame work but, when this
is unavoidable, measures must be taken to prevent transmission of vibrations and
noise through fixed points.

1.4 PIPING FORCES AND TORQUES
Polna control valves are designed to insure the body housing is stiffer than the pipe
connected to it. Thats means the section modulus of any body section is greater than that
of the pipe either on inlet and outlet connections.
As a result of this design rule the valve body is able to transmit stresses without suffering
any unacceptable deformations which might impair the regular operation of valve.
When evaluating the section modules, possible differences between materials
characteristics of valve body and pipe at operating temperature must be considered.
Where, for particular reasons, piping has higher section modulus than valve body
branches, customer must inform Polna of the forces and torques transmitted by piping
and a check of body resistance must be performed on the basis of these information.




5
2 TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE SENSORS
2.1 MINIMUM TEMPERATURE
The minimum temperature for a correct desuperheating is 10C over the saturation steam
temperature referred to downstream pressure. Some applications are known where a T
=6C was successfully processed.
The higher the difference T
d
- T
s
the more efficient the desuperheating process is, with
the same equipments and installation.

2.2 TEMPERATURE SENSOR DISTANCE
The minimum distance of the temperature sensor from the water injection point must not
be lower than the maximum value between Lmin(1) and Lmin(2).
(1)
tw ts
x V L

) 1 min(

(2)
p T
L L
min ) 2 min(

where:

Lmin(1)
: minimum distance between injection point and temperature sensor to allow the water
vaporization, taking into account the minimum required time for water heating and
evaporation - m
Lmin(2)
: minimum distance between injection point and temperature sensor taking into account
thermodynamic kinetics of vaporization and dragging of droplets - m
Lmin
T

: uncorrected minimum distance of temperature sensor from injection point as a function
of difference between desuperheated steam temperature and saturated steam
temperature (Td-Ts) - m (see Fig. 4)
V
: steam velocity in downstream piping at superheated conditions - m/s
x
necessary time to get the full water evaporation. Use x = 0.2 where the p across the
nozzle complies with the minimum recommended values - s
Td-Ts
: difference between requested final temperature T
d
and saturated steam temperature
T
s
at downstream conditions - C
Ts-Tw
: difference between saturated steam temperature T
s
at downstream conditions and the
injected water temperature T
w
- C

p

: correction factor for steam pressure upstream the desuperheating section (see Fig. 5)

ts-tw

: correction factor for water temperature versus the saturated steam temperature at
downstream conditions (see Fig. 6)

To avoid excessive response time of the system, the distance between temperature
sensor and the injection point must be lower than Vt
MAX
, where t
MAX
(seconds) is the
maximum allowable time for a stable process control.
For normal applications t
MAX
5 seconds is assumed and the maximum distance of the
temperature sensor with steam velocity = 20 m/s is 100 meters accordingly.

2.3 PIPING LAYOUT
straight runs are described in clause 1.2
in piping section running up to temperature sensor branches must be avoided
Isolating valves are not allowed in downstream piping as the rating of outlet section of
control valve is generally lower than the inlet side. Different installations have to be
discussed with Polna before asking for an offer. This warning is particularly important for
H.P. by-pass desuperheating groups due to the large ratings difference.


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2.4 PRESSURE SENSOR
pressure control downstream the valve is frequent in cogeneration applications where
steam is used as a process fluid.
as outlined in Fig. 2 pressure sensor should be located preferably in the straight run
section at a distance from outlet of control valve greater than the lesser between 4
times DN
2
and 4 meters.

6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
T = Td-Ts - C
L
min
(T) - m

Fig. 4 Minimum distance between temperature sensor and injection point

0.80
0.90
1.00
1.10
1.20
1 10 100
p - bar
p

0.65
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95
1.00
10 100
Ts-Tw
ts-tw

Fig. 5 Correction factor for steam pressure Fig. 6 Correction factor for water temperature


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3 DRAINS
Steam pipelines must be water-free and it is essential to provide an accurate draining.
The main sources of water inside the piping are the condensate and the non evaporated water
injected through the desuperheating equipment.
Free water in steam piping can cause severe damages to pipelines due to dragging of water at
very high steam velocities.
Also, excessive vibrations and noise do easily occur.
At least, the measurement of steam temperature is strongly affected by the presence of water.
Steam conditioning valves 1-5000 and 1-9000 series need to be protected from the damage
caused by free- water entering the body. Therefore drains are necessary both upstream and
downstream the valve.
For some piping arrangements Fig. 7 shows where drains should be located.







note 1 recommended for any orientation of upstream piping
note 2 mandatory when downstream piping is going up or not self-draining
note 3 for these arrangements the orientation of the drain connection provided on the valve body
must be agreed with Polna
note 4 mandatory for flow-to-close designs
Fig. 7 Drain arrangements around the steam conditioning control valves








8
The drain must be located at the lowest point of pipe around the valve.
To guarantee a complete collection of water, the drip-leg (or drainpot) directly welded to the
pipe should have a diameter not less than the half of pipe diameter.
Where process layout is designed with two or more parallel desuperheating groups, each
line must be separately drained, both upstream or downstream the valve as appropriate (see
Fig. 8).


Top view of a piping arrangement disposed on a horizontal plane:
on the left a poor design with a common drainage device fitted after the joining point
on the right the recommended arrangement with independent drain facilities
Fig. 8 Draining of parallel desuperheating groups



Fig. 9 Guide to application of preheating of desuperheating control valve






9


Angle body 1-5700 series desuperheating control valve






Straight-way globe type 1-5900series
desuperheating control valve












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4 PREHEATING

Preheating of the body of desuperheating control valve is recommended depending on the
following considerations:
valve location
By installing the valve above the header at a distance not exceeding 5 x DN about , where
DN is the inlet valve diameter, an adequate pre-warming is generally guaranteed and
preheating not necessary.
valve operation
The excessive thermal cycling of inlet section of valve body may occur when valve is
normally operating in the closed position (typical for turbine by-pass applications).
If an isolating valve is fitted upstream the control valve (not required for turbine
applications), it must be insured that the isolation valve will be correctly opened for
operational readiness of control valve.
thermal gradients
Provided the condensate is fully removed from the body, preheating is strongly
recommended when temperature difference between live and saturated steam is over
200C.
Fig. 9 is a simple guide to select preheating as a function of live steam conditions.
A remark: the continuous condensate draining can be considered as a preheating
procedure having the scope to insure a body temperature not less than that of saturation.

Should preheating performed, according to above considerations, different ways to perform it
can be selected depending on the type of valve and piping layout.

Here below the most usual solutions:

a) recirculation of main steam (Fig. 10)

An auxiliary line is derived from the live steam line and the steam is drawn through the
valve body and recirculated to the same steam line.
To accomplish this arrangement the pressures of the take-off points (a) and (b) of by-pass
must be slightly different (minimum 0,5 bar) and this drop could be produced by the piping
itself or by an ad hoc component (C) included with this scope (orifice, strainer ).
It is recommended to include a manual throttling valve (d) in the by-pass to control and/or
stop the flow of heating steam.

b) by-pass of control valve (Figures 11a and 11b)

The injection point is located in the downstream section of body and the differential
pressure through the nozzle is the same of the main valve.
Therefore this solution is recommended for low pressure processes only and it is typical for
L.P. by-pass applications where the outlet is connected to the condenser.
When used in high pressure processes attention must be paid to the valve(d) which
controls the heating flow because of the high involved p both in closed and open
position.
The sizing of preheating line and steam flow rate is provided by Polna and depends on the
layout arrangement and the type of valve.









11
























Fig. 10 Preheating performed by steam recirculation





Fig. 11a By-pass arrangement to preheat a
globe-type control valve
Fig. 11b By-pass arrangement to
preheat an angle-type
control valve






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5 PIPING INSIDE PROTECTION
Water dripping can cause the inside pipe surface to crack due to thermal shock.
Unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer of the desuperheater it is recommended to
protect the piping against mechanical damage.
The following solutions are usually adopted:
protective inside jacket (applicable for steam pipe diameter over 6 only)
appropriate additional thickness
See Fig. 12 for application range of such solutions.

Where over-thickness is used as a protection, minimum values of 3 mm must be adopted in
addition to design values, already inclusive of corrosion allowance.

The additional thickness value, in the temperature range plotted in Fig. 12, is:
(3) ( )
w v
T T s = 625 , 0 50
175
3

where:

T
V
: steam temperature - C
T
W
: injected water temperature - C
s : 3 6 mm

The pipe downstream section protected by jacket or additional thickness must not be shorter
than : 250 mm + inside DN.


0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 50
100
200
JACKET
ADDITIONAL THICKNESS > 3 mm
150
(from equation 3)
ADDITIONAL THICKNESS = 3 mm
T
C
water
T
C
steam



















Fig. 12 Protection to piping as a function
of T
water
and T
steam




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6 PROTECTION OF THERMOWELL
The temperature sensor protection is recommended where the distance to the injection point
is close to the minimum value and where considerable water amount is injected
(desuperheating water flow rate over 25% of steam flow rate to be desuperheated).
The protection may be performed as shown in Fig. 13 and its purpose is to obviate sensor
wetting by not evaporated water.



About 10 mm
FLOW













Fig. 13 Typical design of thermowell protection




















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7 NOISE
7.1 PREDICTION
The prediction of noise produced by a desuperheating control valve with downstream
water injection is based on IEC 60534-8-3 standard equations.
Some additional POLNA proprietary considerations concerning acoustic benefits due to
water injection (see Fig. 14), downstream silencers or other fixed restrictions, are duly
validated by numerous laboratory or on-line measurements.

7.2 INSULATION
Thermal insulation usually fitted on desuperheating valves and adiacent piping is an
effective means to reduce noise produced by valve, depending on layout of downstream
piping. This benefit is especially important for L.P: by-pass control valve to condenser
where limited lenght of piping could be conveniently subjected to acoustical treatment.
More details on this matter are included in Polna document NTG 76/680.

7.3 OTHER MEASURES TO REDUCE NOISE
When steam velocity in outlet connection exceeds about 0,25 Mach number thick-walled
pipe should be fitted downstream the desuperheating section to reduce noise but
principally to avoid excessive vibrations.
The joining of an enlargement to reduce downstream velocity, when associated to a bend,
should follow the recommendations depicted in Fig. 15.



0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
%w
Lpw - dB





Fig. 14 Correction to noise
produced by reducing valve due
to downstream injected water.
The noise level to be corrected is
calculated downstream the
desuperheater.
The amount of correction is a
function of percentage of water
to the steam flow rate












15

Fig. 15 Downstream
arrangements with
piping enlargement
note 1 only when
space downstream the
station is limited
note 2 min straight
length according to
requirements of Fig. 2.
note 3 best solution to
be selected when
consistent with
allowable space and
min steam velocity (see
subclause 1.2.3)











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8 BLOW-OUT
Unless otherwise specified by mounting instructions, disassembling the valve before welding
into the piping is not strictly necessary.
However the piping must be cleaned upstream and free from any solid particles.
Where the piping upstream the valve shall be cleaned by blowout after welding, the valve
must be disassembled by removing internal parts except the seat ring.
Blow-through the body can not generally be performed due to the welded-in downstream
silencers and desuperheating devices. For exceptions to this rule please consult POLNA
engineering department.
After welding, a special spool must be fitted inside the body as outlined in Fig. 16. The spool
must be welded to exhausting chimney.
Pay attention to the maximum pressure of the steam used for the blow-out , as specified in
the technical documents. Usually, the max allowable pressure of POLNA spools is 30 bar for
a temperature not exceeding 400C.
The POLNA spool allows for a long steam discharge with no danger for the seating surfaces
of valve.


















Fig. 16 Blow-out of upstream piping
section



Blow-out must be carried out after welding of the valve body into the piping.
Check the cleaning of inside body cavity before reassembly, especially with non self-draining
body shapes (ex. 1-5900 series)











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9 CLEANLINESS
Throughout assembling operations actuator and valve should be protected to prevent any dirt,
dust or
foreign matter from entering the valve and actuator.
We recommend to treat all parts with an appropriate agent in the event of long dwelling time
between installation and start-up.
When hydraulic actuators are provided, the oil connections must be kept carefully closed. In
this case control units and other electric devices must be installed just before start-up
operations.


10 LIFETIME CONSIDERATIONS
The operating service which this type valves are intended to frequently shows many changes
of pressure and temperature, making critical the fatigue resistance of valve body.

Unless otherwise requested these POLNA valves are designed according to TRD 301
criteria in order to obtain the following performances:

- maximum cold start-up : 2.000
- maximum corresponding combined cycles : 10.000
- minimum allowed rate of temperature change : 2 K/min

For extreme design temperatures (above 545C) the 9% Cr steel (A 217 C12A, SA 182 F91) is
normally used for the construction of body and, in this case, the calculation leads to allowable
temperature change rates of 8 K/min or better.

Where longer lifetime is requested, the use of 9% Cr steel, or equivalent, is mandatory to
guarantee an acceptable value of temperature change rate.






















Issue 11/2002 ACA 0593