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What CONVAL Actually Is (and What It Isn't)

TL;DR: If you searched for "CONVAL" and landed on a page about globe valves made in Connecticut, you found the wrong company. CONVAL (written in capitals, with a registered trademark: CONVAL®) is calculation and sizing software for process and instrumentation engineers, developed by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH in Wermelskirchen, Germany. It sizes and verifies control valves, orifice plates, thermowells, pressure relief valves, and a wide range of other plant components against published international standards. It is not a valve brand; it is the software engineers use to specify, size, and evaluate valves and instruments from any manufacturer.

The Name Confusion: Two Very Different Companies

Type "conval" into a search engine and the first results are almost certain to belong to Conval, Inc., a US manufacturer of forged steel globe and gate valves headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut. The name is short for "CONnecticut VALves." Founded in 1967 by Chester A. Siver around the CLAMPSEAL® valve product line, Conval Inc. is a respected severe-service valve manufacturer with a genuine following in the power and process industries (Conval, Inc., 2026).

That company and this software have nothing in common except a collision in a search results page.

CONVAL® the software is a German product. It is published and maintained by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (Gesellschaft für technisch-wissenschaftliche Softwareanwendungen mbH), based in Wermelskirchen in the Cologne/Düsseldorf area of North Rhine-Westphalia. F.I.R.S.T. GmbH was founded in 1989 specifically to develop and market CONVAL, although the software's origins go back to 1985, when a team of experienced instrumentation, chemical process, and mechanical engineers joined forces with software developers to build a proper calculation tool for plant engineers (F.I.R.S.T. GmbH, 2017). The very first version, CONVAL® 1.0, was presented at INTERKAMA '89 in Düsseldorf.

The current release is CONVAL® 12.

What CONVAL Does

At its core, CONVAL is a sizing and verification tool. An engineer specifies a fluid, a set of process conditions, and a device type; CONVAL applies the relevant published standards and returns whether the device is correctly sized, how it will behave at different operating points, and what the critical parameters are. Every calculation is traceable to a named standard edition.

The range of device types covered is broad. CONVAL 12 includes modules for:

  • Control valves - sizing and flow coefficient calculation, noise prediction, cavitation analysis, and two-phase flow at the inlet, all to IEC 60534, ISA 75.01, and related standards
  • Steam conditioning units - steam cooling valves and combined pressure/temperature reduction
  • Actuated valve assemblies - actuator force and torque calculations to ISO 5115 and ISO 5211
  • Differential pressure flow elements - orifice plates, venturi tubes, nozzles, annubars, cone meters, wedge meters, and more, calculated to ISO 5167, ASME MFC, AGA 3, and other standards
  • Restriction orifice plates - single- and multi-stage designs, multi-hole configurations
  • Thermowells - wake frequency, stress analysis, and dimensional sizing to ASME PTC 19.3 TW and DIN 43772
  • Pressure relief valves - sizing to ISO 4126, API 520/521/526, and ASME Section VIII
  • Rupture discs - to ISO 4126-2, API 520, and ASME codes
  • Pressure loss calculations - pipes, fittings, and resistance networks
  • Heat exchangers and condensers - shell-and-tube sizing
  • Pipe wall thickness and compensation - to EN 13480, ASME B31.3, and DIN 2413
  • Tank depressurisation, pressure surge, pump and compressor output
  • Analysers - from CONVAL 12 onwards, probe lag time and vibration analysis to IEC/TR 61831 and ASME PTC 19.3

That breadth is the point. An instrumentation or process engineer does not use one calculation tool for valves, a different one for flow elements, and a third for thermowells. CONVAL provides a single environment with a common fluid property database, common unit-of-measurement handling, and a common file format across all those device types.

The Standards It Works To

One of the distinguishing features of CONVAL is the sheer number of calculation standards it implements, and the depth of version coverage for each. The control valve module, for example, supports IEC 60534-2-1 in the 2011, 1998, 1994, and 1978 editions, so engineers working on older installed equipment can recalculate against the standard that was current when the plant was built, then compare against today's edition (F.I.R.S.T. GmbH, 2023).

The differential pressure flow element module covers more than twenty standards, including ISO 5167 parts 1 through 6 in their 2022 editions, ASME MFC-3M, ASME PTC 6, ASME PTC 19.5, and AGA 3. The pressure relief valve module covers ISO 4126, API 520 (2020 edition), API 521, API 526, and ASME Section VIII and Section XIII.

This matters in practice. When an engineer submits a sizing calculation to a client, an EPC, or a regulatory authority, the calculation needs to be accompanied by a reference to the standard and edition used. CONVAL makes that straightforward because every calculation is tied to a specific standard; the output documents include the reference automatically.

The software also maintains independence from individual device manufacturers. Engineers can perform sizing calculations using generic parameters, then cross-check against data from specific manufacturers using CONVAL's built-in device databases. Those databases cover control valves, pressure relief valves, pitot tubes, flow resistances, rupture discs, part-turn actuators (pneumatic, electric, and hydraulic), and standard motors. The independence means the calculation itself is neutral; the engineer brings the manufacturer data to it, rather than the tool steering towards a preferred vendor (F.I.R.S.T. GmbH, 2024).

Who Uses It and Why

The software is used across three broad categories of organisation.

Owner-operators of process plants use CONVAL for troubleshooting, turnaround planning, revamp calculations, and technical bid evaluation. When a valve is misbehaving, or when a plant is being re-rated for different throughput, the question is always whether the existing device is correctly sized for the new or actual conditions. CONVAL answers that in minutes rather than hours of manual calculation.

Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors use CONVAL from front-end engineering design (FEED) through to detailed engineering. The software integrates with CAE systems such as COMOS and SmartPlant Instrumentation, which means calculated data flows directly into project databases rather than being re-entered by hand. Batch processing allows a team to run large populations of devices through a recalculation in one operation.

Instrument and valve manufacturers use CONVAL to respond to requests for quotation (RFQs) efficiently. A supplier who can return a technically documented sizing calculation alongside a commercial offer is at an advantage. CONVAL provides the calculation; the manufacturer brings the product data.

The software has operated across the process industries since 1989: oil and gas (upstream and offshore), refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, fertilisers, power generation (nuclear and thermal), pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage (F.I.R.S.T. GmbH, 2017). Several thousand users worldwide, according to the company's own literature.

CONVAL 12: The Current Version

The current major version is CONVAL® 12, released in early 2024 with ongoing service builds through 2025. Key changes in CONVAL 12 relative to earlier versions include:

  • A redesigned user interface with tabbed calculations, contrast-optimised forms, and improved support for high-resolution displays and multiple monitors
  • New licensing options, including CONVAL 365, a subscription model that delivers new calculation modules and standard updates as they become available, rather than waiting for the next major release
  • An expanded substance database, including additional viscous oils and the ability to calculate melting temperatures, dew point temperatures, and Wobbe indices for gas quality characterisation
  • A new Analyser module covering probe lag time and vibration/stress analysis to IEC/TR 61831
  • Updated standards coverage, including ISO 5167 in its 2022 editions, ISO 4126-10:2024 for two-phase flow through relief valves and rupture discs, and ASME PTC 19.5 in its 2022 edition (F.I.R.S.T. GmbH, 2025)

CONVAL 12 is available as a traditional perpetual licence (network or named-user), as a cloud-hosted personal licence, and under the CONVAL 365 subscription arrangement. A 14-day trial requires no installation.

Where DP-Flow Comes In

DP-Flow are UK-based specialists in flow, pressure, and temperature measurement. The team works with CONVAL in sales and practical support for licensing in : sizing differential pressure flow elements, verifying control valve selections, and supporting engineering teams who need independent calculation support rather than manufacturer-supplied sizing.

That practical familiarity is why this content series exists. The articles that follow this one will go deeper into specific modules, common sizing pitfalls, and how CONVAL is used on real instrumentation projects. This first post exists simply to clear up the confusion: CONVAL® is calculation software, made in Germany, by engineers who have been doing this since 1985. It has no connection to the Connecticut valve company whose name appears above it in most search results.

References

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2017) Press release: New version 10 of CONVAL® is now available. Wermelskirchen: F.I.R.S.T. GmbH. Unpublished document, supplied by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH [Accessed 16 June 2026].

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2023) Standards used in CONVAL 12. Wermelskirchen: F.I.R.S.T. GmbH. Unpublished document, supplied by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH [Accessed 16 June 2026].

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2024) CONVAL® 12 Editions. Wermelskirchen: F.I.R.S.T. GmbH. Unpublished document, supplied by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH [Accessed 16 June 2026].

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2025) Overview of the CONVAL® 12 service releases (CONVAL History). Wermelskirchen: F.I.R.S.T. GmbH. Unpublished document, supplied by F.I.R.S.T. GmbH [Accessed 16 June 2026].

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2026) CONVAL® 12 - the instrumentation and process technology software. Available at: https://conval.de/en/home [Accessed 16 June 2026].

F.I.R.S.T. GmbH (2026) CONVAL software overview. Available at: https://software.firstgmbh.de/en/conval [Accessed 16 June 2026].

Conval, Inc. (2026) History. Available at: https://www.conval.com/about/history/ [Accessed 16 June 2026].