Maloney Sphere Advantages:
Maloney Spheres will pass through short bends, properly designed tees and full-opening conduit type valves. They will pass through out-of-round pipe, will wear evenly, and can be wear-compensated by adjusting the diameter by inflating.
General Recommended Service Applications:
Low-Friction SLC Spheres are available in the above
materials, stainless steel valves, and valve plates.
Spheres For Mechanical Displacement Meter Provers:
The efficiency of Maloney Spheres in the evacuation or displacement of liquids in pipelines is well proven by the fact that they are the most popular spheres used for mechanical displacement meter provers.
Line Testing & Cleaning:
During the hydrostatic testing of pipelines, spheres are inserted ahead of the water column. As the spheres move through the line, being pushed by the water, they purge all air from the line. During the testing phase the sphere remains in the line and is unaffected by the test pressures. Following the test, the sphere can return to the starting point, evacuating the test water. In addition, if the line must be freed from all traces of moisture, the same spheres can be used to contain a slug of alcohol between them, absorbing all remaining traces of moisture as they travel through the line. In cleaning pipelines, the use of spheres to confine the batch of cleaning solution permits moving the solution back and forth through the line by alternately applying pressure at each end of the line.
Liquid Batch Separation:
Maloney spheres are used for batch separation in lines carrying two or more products. The use of multiple spheres is one of the methods of decreasing the potential of mixing of the product batches. Spheres are used between different grades of gasoline, crude and other liquid petroleum products.
Arrival of the spheres at check points is registered by detectors (See Maloney Series III Detector Brochure). The signals from the detectors may be used to activate the operation of various types of valves to accomplish a variety of functions.
Liquid Fillers:
Inflatable spheres must be filled with liquid and sized to proper diameter. Recommendations are a guide only, experience will allow more accurate sizing for any given line under actual operating conditions.
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