Gas Control Valve Geometry for Precise Low-Loss Throughflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control valves are not optimized for small pipe diameters (DN 50 to DN 200), leading to suboptimal control precision and increased pressure losses, which affects the efficiency and accuracy of gas flow control in applications like flotation installations.
Innovation Solution
A control valve design featuring an elongated housing with a gear mechanism, a round slider element, and a spherical-cap-like flow element that minimizes turbulence and pressure losses, allowing precise control and measurement of gas flow through a circular-ring-like flow channel, with a conical configuration and non-linear control contour for linear operating characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional control valve design is used, then the structure is simple, but the control precision is insufficient for small pipe diameters (DN 50 to DN 200)
Solution Approach 1:
The control valve is divided into distinct functional segments: an inflow portion with a flow element, a drive portion with a gear mechanism and round slider element, and an outflow portion. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently for its specific function, enabling precise control in small pipe diameters while maintaining manageable structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs curved and spherical geometries throughout the valve design, including a spherical-cap-like flow element, a round slider element with circular cross-section, and annular gaps with curved flow paths. These curved surfaces optimize fluid dynamics for small diameters and enable precise control characteristics that linear geometries cannot achieve.
2Reliability
If the round slider element closes against the flow pressure, then the sealing is effective, but the drive torque increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the slider element close against the flow pressure from upstream, the design inverts the closure direction: the round slider element closes in the flow direction from downstream, allowing the flow pressure to assist rather than resist the closing action. This dramatically reduces the required drive torque while maintaining effective sealing through the annular gap between the slider and outflow portion.
3Productivity
If the gas flows directly through the control region, then the flow path is short, but turbulence increases and pressure losses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces straight flow paths with curved annular gaps throughout the control region. The gas flows through curved passages defined by the spherical-cap-like flow element and the round slider element, which eliminate sudden direction changes and turbulence. This curved geometry maintains short flow paths while significantly reducing pressure losses by keeping the flow laminar.
4Measurement precision
If a measurement region is added for throughflow measurement, then measurement precision improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The measurement region is merged with the existing drive portion of the valve. The annular gap between the gear mechanism device and the internal face of the drive portion serves dual purposes: as a flow control passage and as a measurement region where flow characteristics can be precisely observed and measured. This integration achieves accurate throughflow measurement without adding separate measurement components.
Data Source
AI summary
A control valve for controlling a gas throughflow having an elongated housing which delimits a flow channel and which is divided into an inflow portion, a drive portion, and an outflow portion. A gear mechanism device has a drive shaft and a round slider element which is arranged in a displaceable manner along the longitudinal axis and which has an external valve seat face which closes an annular gap between itself and an internal face of the outflow portion, and a flow element that faces the inflow portion and has a spherical cap-like external face which directs the gas which comes from the inflow portion into an annular gap between the gear mechanism device and the internal face of the drive portion. A flotation installation having at least one such control valve and the use of such a control valve in a flotation installation are also disclosed.