Butterfly Valve vs Globe Valve

Butterfly valve and globe valve have a common similarity which is to control the flow in the pipeline. Globe valve has a disk that moves in a straight line along the seal’s central line to open and close the valve.

There is a stem axis of the globe valve perpendicular to the valve seat’s sealing surface. The good thing about the globe valve is that the stem’s opening or closing distance is relatively shorter. Therefore, these valves are suitable and perfect for cutting off or adjusting, and throttling as the flow.

If we talk about the butterfly valve, then the disc is placed, which rotates around its axis in the body. The butterfly valve has a simple structure, light in weight, and small volume. Butterfly valves are comprised of rapid opening and closing of the valves by rotation of only 90 degrees.

They give you rapid control of fluid media. Most surprisingly, these valves can also be used for media with suspended solid particles and even powdery media. Let’s discuss the difference between butterfly valves and globe valves in detail.

Difference in structure

If we talk about the globe valves, it consists of disc, stem, seat, handwheel, packing gland, bonnet, etc. When the globe valve opens, there is no connection between the disc and the valve seat’s sealing surface. On the other side, the butterfly valve mainly consists of the stem, butterfly plate, valve body, and sealing ring.

The valve body is cylindrical and short in length. When it is open or closed, then it is less than 90 degrees. When the butterfly valve is fully opened, then it shows only a small flow resistance. The butterfly rod and butterfly valve are not equipped with self-locking ability.

For this purpose, a worm gear reducer must be installed on the valve system. Due to this installation, butterfly plates get the self-locking ability to stop butterfly plates in any position. It will therefore improve the operational performance of the valve.

Working principle

The globe valve and butterfly valve work differently. When the stem of the globe valve is raised, then it opens or closes. It means that at that time, the handwheel rotates and lifts along with the stem. In the butterfly valve, there is the rotation of the disc-shaped butterfly plate around its axis rotation.

This rotation is done to open and close the valve along with its adjustment. Keep in mind that the valve system drives the butterfly plate. The butterfly plate is responsible for changing the deflection angle and controls the flow of the medium.

Different functions

Globe valves are usually responsible for cutting off and flow regulations. On the other side, the butterfly valve usually controls the flow regulation, generally the throttling adjustment and mud medium. Also, the pressure loss in the butterfly valve in the pipe is relatively more significant than that of gate valves.

This pressure loss in the butterfly valve is almost three times larger than that of gate valves. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to consider the pressure loss of the pipeline system when selecting the butterfly valve. Consequently, it is also necessary to look for the resilient seat material’s operating temperature limitations at high pressure.

If we consider industrial butterfly valves, they usually have larger diameters and are mainly used for high-temperature risk.  They are mostly famous for reasonable fluid control back. The most important thing is to consider the right specifications and types of butterfly valves.  Lastly, butterfly valves are good in giving better performance and efficient work.

Conclusion

The general difference between the globe valve and butterfly valve is that we can use opening and closing and flow regulation of small diameter pipe or pipe ends. On the other side, the butterfly valves are used for opening and closing and flow regulation of branch pipes.

Globe valves show good resistance to butterfly valves. Also, the sealing performance of globe valves is better than butterfly valves. If we talk about the price, then the globe valves are more affordable than the butterfly valves except for the special butterfly valves. But still, choosing the butterfly valve or globe valve depends on the nature of work in the industry.