The ball valve is evolved from a plug valve. It has the same rotational 90-degree lifting motion, and the difference is that the plug body is a sphere with a circular through hole or passage through its axis.

The ratio of spherical and channel ports should be the same, that is, when the ball rotates 90 degrees, at the inlet and outlet should all render the spherical surface, thus truncating the flow. The ball valve can be closed strictly with a rotating 90-degree operation and a small rotational torque. The fully equal valve body cavity provides a small, straight flow channel for the medium.

Ball valves are generally considered to be the most suitable for open and closed use, but the recent development of the ball valve has been designed so that it has throttling and control flow. The main characteristics of the ball valve is its compact structure, easy to operate and repair, suitable for water, solvents, acids and natural gas and other general working medium, but also suitable for poor working conditions of the medium, such as oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, methane and ethylene.

Ball valve body can be whole, also can be modular. Now, depending on the needs of consumers, the ball valve has been given more functions, more comprehensive classification. According to the different connection way, the ball valve is divided into the wire smash valve, PPR ball valve, welding ball valve, flange ball valve, aluminum plastic pipe ball valve. According to functional classification, ball valves are divided into temperature-measuring ball valve, filter ball valve. The classification is various and the function is more complete.