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Flow characteristics of a hydraulic cone-throttle valve during cavitation

Jian Zhang (Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China)

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

ISSN: 0036-8792

Article publication date: 16 August 2019

Issue publication date: 21 November 2019

236

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to resolve the cavitation problem encountered in cone throttle valves concerning fluid flow performance and pitting from cavitation luminescence, the author studied the flow field within a cone throttle valve set with various valve openings, inlet pressures and outlet back pressures.

Design/methodology/approach

The flow and cavitation distribution in the valve under different pressure conditions were obtained in simulations. To confirm these results experimentally, a hydraulic cavitation platform was constructed. The valve was made of polymethyl methacrylate material with high transparency to observe the cavitation directly, as well as cavitation luminescence. The flow characteristics of this valve were measured under various working conditions.

Findings

With increasing cavitation strength, a reduction in cavitation on the throttle capacity was more evident. Increasing the back pressure and reducing the working pressure of the valve appropriately improves the flow capacity of the valve, which subsequently improves the performance of the valve. The cavitation luminescence is also linearly related to cavitation intensity. That is, the stronger the flow capacity of the valve, the less likely the luminescence is produced. Moreover, a stronger luminescence intensity worsens the flow performance of the valve.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to the limitation of experimental means and lack of research on bubble shape, the subsequent research will complement this aspect.

Practical implications

With a view to providing theoretical and experimental support, cavitation luminescence is also studied to gain a deeper understanding of the cavitation mechanism in hydraulic valves.

Originality/value

The innovation of this paper is to study the cavitation luminescence in the hydraulic system.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Richard Haase, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Declaration of conflicting interests.

Funding: This project was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB2001201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51805108), the Youth Innovative Talents Training Program of Regular Colleges and Universities in Heilongjiang Province, China in 2017 (Grant No. UNPYSCT-2017205) and the 111 Project (Grant No. B18017).

Citation

Zhang, J. (2019), "Flow characteristics of a hydraulic cone-throttle valve during cavitation", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 71 No. 10, pp. 1186-1193. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-10-2018-0394

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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