A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps

Steam traps are vital part in most steam systems in order to prevent the passage of the hot vapor while allowing water condensate to flow. A conventional steam trap is simply a self-actuating valve that opens in the presence of condensate and closes in the presence of steam. These traps all have mov...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sulaiman, S. A., Jamaludin, S. E.
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/
http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/1/ICPER_Shakawi.pdf
_version_ 1848659281159651328
author Sulaiman, S. A.
Jamaludin, S. E.
author_facet Sulaiman, S. A.
Jamaludin, S. E.
author_sort Sulaiman, S. A.
building UTP Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Steam traps are vital part in most steam systems in order to prevent the passage of the hot vapor while allowing water condensate to flow. A conventional steam trap is simply a self-actuating valve that opens in the presence of condensate and closes in the presence of steam. These traps all have moving parts, which, in time will fail. Another non-conventional type of steam trap is known as orifice plate steam trap. The design consist a plate with small hole at the middle to allow condensate to pass through it. The trap uses the condensate within its orifice to hold back steam, rather than any valve arrangement. Orifice plate steam traps have no moving parts that can malfunction, and thus it has minimal problems that are related to mechanical failure. Under certain circumstances, orifice steam traps could function better than the conventional traps. However the performance of orifice plate steam traps is not well understood. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of fixed orifice plate steam traps over variable loads. This is achieved by conducting experiments that measure the rate of steam loss under different condensate loads. It is found that fixed orifice plates are only suitable for a steam system with constant condensate load.
first_indexed 2025-11-13T07:27:56Z
format Conference or Workshop Item
id oai:scholars.utp.edu.my:2664
institution Universiti Teknologi Petronas
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-13T07:27:56Z
publishDate 2010
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling oai:scholars.utp.edu.my:26642017-01-19T08:24:58Z http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/ A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps Sulaiman, S. A. Jamaludin, S. E. TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery Steam traps are vital part in most steam systems in order to prevent the passage of the hot vapor while allowing water condensate to flow. A conventional steam trap is simply a self-actuating valve that opens in the presence of condensate and closes in the presence of steam. These traps all have moving parts, which, in time will fail. Another non-conventional type of steam trap is known as orifice plate steam trap. The design consist a plate with small hole at the middle to allow condensate to pass through it. The trap uses the condensate within its orifice to hold back steam, rather than any valve arrangement. Orifice plate steam traps have no moving parts that can malfunction, and thus it has minimal problems that are related to mechanical failure. Under certain circumstances, orifice steam traps could function better than the conventional traps. However the performance of orifice plate steam traps is not well understood. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of fixed orifice plate steam traps over variable loads. This is achieved by conducting experiments that measure the rate of steam loss under different condensate loads. It is found that fixed orifice plates are only suitable for a steam system with constant condensate load. 2010 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/1/ICPER_Shakawi.pdf Sulaiman, S. A. and Jamaludin, S. E. (2010) A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps. In: International Conference on Plant Equipment and Reliability (ICPER), June 2010, Kuala Lumpur.
spellingShingle TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Sulaiman, S. A.
Jamaludin, S. E.
A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title_full A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title_fullStr A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title_full_unstemmed A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title_short A Study on the Use of Orifice Plates as Steam Traps
title_sort study on the use of orifice plates as steam traps
topic TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
url http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/
http://scholars.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/2664/1/ICPER_Shakawi.pdf