Systems and methods for determining set pressure and lift of a spring-operated relief valve

A spring-operated relief valve comprising:

• a valve housing;
• a valve seat;
• a disc assembly configured to seal against the valve seat to close the spring-operated relief valve;
• a spindle that extends from the disc assembly to guide movement of the disc assembly relative to the valve seat;
• a main spring arranged to bias the disc assembly towards the valve seat to define a set pressure of the spring-operated relief valve;
• and
• a load cell that, during operation of the spring-operated relief valve, is one of immovably secured within the valve housing or immovably secured outside the valve housing;
• wherein the load cell is in mechanical communication with the main spring directly or via a rigid intervening component, the load cell being thereby configured to measure a force exerted by the main spring on the disc assembly as the disc assembly and the spindle move relative to the valve seat and the load cell, and
• wherein, during operation of the spring-operated relief valve, the spindle is movable relative to the load cell to open and close the spring-operated relief valve relative to fluid flow across the valve seat and the load cell is not in mechanical communication with the disc assembly via the spindle to measure the force exerted by the main spring.

A method of installing or calibrating a spring-operated relief valve, the method comprising:

• using a load cell to directly measure a force applied by a main spring of the spring-operated relief valve, the main spring being arranged to bias a disc assembly of the spring-operated relief valve towards a valve seat of the spring-operated relief valve to define a set pressure and a crack pressure of the spring-operated relief valve;
• pressurizing a valve inlet of the spring-operated relief valve;
• adjusting the compression of the main spring among a plurality of compression loads;
• using the load cell to measure the compression load of the main spring at a select adjustment of the compression of the main spring;
• identifying a valve-opening movement of the spring-operated relief valve that corresponds to the select adjustment of the compression of the main spring;
• and
• upon identifying the valve-opening movement, determining a current set pressure or crack pressure based on the measured compression load;
• and
• one or more of:
• determining a valve lift for the spring-operated relief valve based on the measured force;
• monitoring a current set pressure or crack pressure of the spring-operated relief valve based on the measured force;
• or
• setting a desired set pressure or crack pressure of the spring-operated relief valve by:
• determining a target load on a main spring of the spring-operated relief valve, the target load corresponding to the desired set pressure or crack pressure;
• and
• adjusting a bias of the main spring of the spring-operated relief valve until the force measured by the load cell corresponds to the target load.