Finite Element Numerical Simulation and PIV Measurement of Flow Field inside Metering-in Spool Valve

The finite element method （FEM） and particle image velocimetry （PIV） technique are utilized to get the flow field along the inlet passage, the chamber, the metering port and the outlet passage of spool valve at three different valve openings. For FEM numerical simulation, the stream function ψ-vorticity ω forms of continuity and Navier-Stokes equations are employed and FEM is applied to discrete the equations. Homemade simulation codes are executed to compute the values of stream function and vorticity at each node in the flow domain, then according to the correlation between stream function and velocity components, the velocity vectors of the whole field are calculated. For PIV experiment, pulse Nd： YAG laser is exploited to generate laser beam, cylindrical and spherical lenses are combined each other to produce 1.0 mm thickness laser sheet to illuminate the object plane, Polystyrene spherical particle with diameter of 30-50 μm is seeded in the fluid as a tracing particles, Kodak ES 1.0 CCD camera is employed to capture the images of interested, the images are processed with fast Fourier transform （FFT） cross-correlation algorithm and the processing results is displayed. Both results of numerical simulation and PIV experimental show that there are three main areas in the spool valve where vortex is formed. Numerical results also indicate that the valve opening have some effects on the flow structure of the valve. The investigation is helpful for qualitatively analyzing the energy loss, noise generating, steady state flow forces and even designing the geometry structure and flow passage.

Flow field simulation and establishment for mathematical models of flow area of spool valve with sloping U-shape notch machined by different methods

Precise function expression of the flow area for the sloping U-shape notch orifice versus the spool stroke was derived. The computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the flow features of the sloping U-shape notch on the spool, such as mass flow rates, flow coefficients, effiux angles and steady state flow forces under different operating conditions. At last, the reliability of the mathematical model of the flow area for the sloping U-shape notch orifice on the spool was demonstrated by the comparison between the orifice area curve derived and the corresponding experimental data provided by the test. It is presented that the bottom arc of sloping U-shape notch （ABU） should not be omitted when it is required to accurately calculate the orifice area of ABU. Although the theoretical flow area of plain bottom sloping U-shape notch （PBU） is larger than that of ABU at the same opening, the simulated mass flow and experimental flow area of ABU are both larger than these of PBU at the same opening, while the simulated flow force of PBU is larger than that of ABU at the same opening. Therefore, it should be prior to adapt the ABU when designing the spool with proportional character.

Investigation into the Independent Metering Control Performance of a Twin Spools Valve with Switching Technology-controlled Pilot Stage

In hydraulic area,independent metering control(IMC)technology is an effective approach to improve system efficiency and control flexibility.In addition,digital hydraulic technology(DHT)has been verified as a reasonable method to optimize system dynamic performance.Integrating these two technologies into one component can combine their advantages together.However,few works focused on it.In this paper,a twin spools valve with switching technologycontrolled pilot stage(TSVSP)is presented,which applied DHT into its pilot stage while appending IMC into its main stage.Based on this prototype valve,a series of numerical and experiment analysis of its IMC performance with both simulated load and excavator boom cylinder are carried out.Results showed fast and robust performance of pressure and flow compound control with acceptable fluctuation phenomenon caused by switching technology.Rising time of flow response in excavator cylinder can be controlled within 200 ms,meanwhile,the recovery time of rod chamber pressure under suddenly changed condition is optimized within 250 ms.IMC system based on TSVSP can improve both dynamic performance and robust characteristics of the target actuator so it is practical in valve-cylinder system and can be applied in mobile machineries.

Coupling behavior between adhesive and abrasive wear mechanism of aero-hydraulic spool valves

Leakage due to wear is one of the main failure modes of aero-hydraulic spool valves. This paper established a practical coupling wear model for aero-hydraulic spool valves based on dynamic system modelling theory. Firstly, the experiment for wear mechanism verification proved that adhesive wear and abrasive wear did coexist during the working process of spool valves. Secondly coupling behavior of each wear mechanism was characterized by analyzing actual time-variation of model parameters during wear evolution process. Meanwhile, Archard model and three-body abrasive wear model were utilized for adhesive wear and abrasive wear, respectively. Furthermore, their coupling wear model was established by calculating the actual wear volume. Finally, from the result of formal test, all the required parameters for our model were obtained. The relative error between model prediction and data of pre-test was also presented to verify the accuracy of model, which demonstrated that our model was useful for providing accurate prediction of spool valve's wear life. (C) 2016 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FLOW FIELD INSIDE HYDRAULIC SPOOL VALVE

The finite element method of computational fluid dynamics was applied to simulate the internal flow field in hydraulic spool valve which is one of the most important components in hydraulic technique. The formation of the vortexes with time was investigated under two different flow conditions. Two kinds of flow descriptions including streamline patterns and velocity vector plots were given to show the flow field inside the spool valve clearly, which is of theoretical significance and of practical values to analyze energy loss and fluid noise in the valve and to optimize the intermal flow structure of the valve.