A gate valve serves to cut‑off the medium. When fully open, it provides a straight‑through flow passage, resulting in low‑pressure loss for flowing media. Gate valves are generally applied to working conditions where frequent opening and closing is unnecessary and the gate remains fully open or fully closed. They shall not be used for flow regulation or throttling purposes. For high‑velocity flowing medium, partial opening of the gate plate may trigger vibration, which in turn damages the sealing surfaces of the gate plate and valve seat.
A globe valve works by delivering downward pressure onto sealing surfaces through stem torque. With the pressure from the valve stem, the sealing faces of the disc and valve seat fit tightly so as to block medium flow or adjust flow speed. The opening‑closing component of a globe valve is a cylindrical disc with flat or conical sealing surfaces, and the disc moves linearly along the central line of fluid.
Gate valves differ from globe valves in structure and sealing performance. A gate valve features a more complicated structure with a shorter length and higher height compared with a globe valve. In terms of sealing surfaces, gate‑valve sealing faces tend to wear during opening and closing, while the disc of a globe valve suffers less mechanical wear on its sealing surface when opened. As for flow resistance, the resistance coefficient of standard gate valves ranges from 0.08‑0.12, whereas that of regular globe valves is about 3.5‑4.5.