Flow control valves play a vital role in process industries. They enable you to get the optimum output from the fluid systems. That’s why it is necessary to choose the accurate type and size of control valve. The use of a proper electronic flow control valve reduces cost, and decreases the need of the labor. Control valves regulate the flow of the fluid and restrict or expand the passage to get the precise flow or pressure according to the need. By doing that the flow rate of the fluid passing through the valve changes and hence the pressure also changes. Resultantly, you get a steady flow or pressure to perform the specific task.
What’s the Function of a Flow Control Valve?
These digital flow control valves perform various functions in the hydraulic and pneumatic systems. Mostly, they are used to regulate the speed of motors or cylinders in a system. They are perfect to perform that functionality because of their capability of changing the rate of energy at a given point by changing the flow rate of the fluid. Numerous benefits are associated with the ability to increase or decrease the pressure in a system. They are widely used in consumer applications such as showers, faucets and in lawn watering systems to get a reduced and constant supply of water.
Nowadays, they have got a lot of popularity in the general public because of their reliability and having a long operational life. If you focus, then you will find a wide use of these valves around yourself such as in material handling, food processing and in automated factories.
Control Valve Selection Considerations:
Various types of proportional flow control valves are available in the market, each type contains different designs, configurations, materials and sizes. Choosing the right valve is a daunting task from a huge collecting of control valves. But if you have the knowledge of all the parameters then you can select the right digital flow control valve.
Below we have listed some key considerations:
- What is the type of the fluid? Is it inert or reactive fluid?
- The standard and maximum pressure that the flow control valve will bear.
- Determine the value of the minimum and the highest temperature that the valve will bear in the system.
- What flow rate will the proportional flow valve manage?
- Check the parameters that let you determine the accurate size of the digital flow control valve such as the flow coefficient and the flow rate for a pressure drop of 1 PSI.
- Determine the pipe size, upstream, downstream and valve mounting and the restrictions of the system.
- Check out the requirement of the system that which type of the electronic air flow control valve will be perfect to perform the task efficiently, a straight valve or a globe one?
Final Words:
To obtain the precise optimal performance of a pneumatic or hydraulic system it is vital to choose the right type, design and size of the digital flow control valve. Otherwise you will not be able to get the expected results from the system.
