I bought a "Valve Handbook", at some expense, I think from McGraw-Hill. It did a good job of explaining how a ball valve differs from a gate valve, for example, and it was a help in understanding and using the proper terminology for valves of all kinds, but it was of absolutely zero help in (re)designing ball valves.
... which is what I was attempting to do at that time.
A manufacturer of very small ball valves had made a large number of sweeping changes to their valves under the leadership of a previous engineer. After doing innumerable tolerance stackups and manufacturing capability assessments and measurements and physical tests, I slowly came to the realization that their 'old' design was better in almost every measurable way from their 'new' design.
When I left, The Big Guy was forcing evolution of Yet Another New Design, which was headed for trouble because his manufacturing guys wouldn't tell him that it couldn't be manufactured as he wanted to on the machines that he had already bought for it.
... and he had grown tired of hearing Yet More Bad News from me.
Their latest catalog suggests that the Yet Another New Design valve has been made to work well enough for sale, but you can't tell from outside how much pain was/is involved.
My advice: Listen politely to whatever the local experts and manufacturing people have to say. Do not argue with them. Measure everything. Try to understand the science underneath whatever assertions are made, especially the bizarre ones. Make changes a little at a time, keep measuring everything, keep detailed records, and be honest with yourself.
Unfortunately it is not this easy. There are many different types of ball valves. Floating versus trunnion. Full bore, reduced bore, soft seated, metal seated, and even ceramic seats. Ball valves for on-off and those that are used in control.
You can learn the design requirements in the standards such as ASME B16.34, API 608, ISO 7121 or ISO 17292, MSS or DIN ball valve standards, or maybe AWWA standards are applicable.
You can get some good design information from the Valve Designers Handbook or The Valve Book
Then look ay various manufacturers catalogs and any engineering data they provide on their websites.
After all this, you will still need to rely upon good machine design practice and testing experience in order to properly design a ball valve.
Sorry, wish it could be easy, but it is not. People spend careers constantly learning how to design better valves, and that is how much time you need to dedicate to learning how to do it right. You will not find the complete answer in any book.
![[bigears]](/data/assets/smilies/bigears.gif "[bigears] [bigears]")
