FLANGE JOINTS AND VALVES EMISSION DETECTION

ISO 15848-1 specifies testing procedures for evaluation of external leakage of valve stem seals (or shaft) and body joints of isolating valves and control valves intended for application in volatile air pollutants and hazardous fluids. End connection joints, vacuum application, effects of corrosion, and radiation are excluded from this part of ISO 15848.

Testing medium.
Spetech testing service in field of ISO15848 consists in determining the helium tightness or methane tightness of pressured valve. On customer request we can also use Hydrogen as testing medium taking into consideration growing request for Hydrogen applications.

Tested valve types
As already mentioned there are two types of valves which are subject of emission tests acc. 15848 which are: control valves and isolating valves. For every of valve type corresponding endurance class is specified as testing.

Leak measurement methods
There are also several leakage measurement methods specified. The first is called ‘vacuum method’ and involves the use of the vacuum chamber, in which the whole of the tested fragment of the installation or its part is closed in a sealed container. A helium/methane/hydrogen spectrometer used to measure emission creates a vacuum in the container and catches helium particles that pass through parts of the pressure equipment. The second ‘sniffing method’ consists in sniffing the device at places that can potentially cause leaks (joints, cleanouts, lubricators, welds, etc.). A helium/methane/hydrogen spectrometer is also a leak detector. Another method is called ‘bagging method’ which may be find as combination of two classic way of leakage detection.

For each tests, a detailed report is prepared containing information on the locations and volume of the leak.

More information you can find in below pdf presentation and if you need more support from us concerning other testing protocols for gasket, packings of pressure equipment click here to see full testing possibilities offered by our LAB.