Manufacturers of industrial control valves face the challenge of increasing internal and external complexity. The customers craving for simple, plug-n-play, products that fulfil exactly his needs leads to a steadily increasing number of different products.
Classical methods of product development provide two approaches: functional separation to reduce internal complexity and functional integration to reduce external complexity. We use these methods to develop the concept of an innovative control valve, reducing both, the internal and external complexity, compared to a standard globe valve.
The derived concept is shown, explained and then evaluated in regards to function, effort, availability and acceptance. The function is the primary objective a customer is looking for, making it a boundary condition. The effort is measured in installation space and energetic losses. The availability is expressed as uncertainty within the design. The customer acceptance is ensured by sticking to industry conventions and increased by an easy way to individualize the valve characteristics. The evaluation yields, that the design concept is promising
