OPTIMAL ORIFICE GEOMETRY FOR A HYDRAULIC PRESSURE-REDUCING VALVE

In this paper, the flow gain of a hydraulic pressure-reducing valve is examined It is noted that classical linear-analysis is typically used to optimize the flow gain of hydraulic control-systems and that in pr actice this parameter is usually nonlinear. For this reason, it is imp ortant that a designer know how to reconcile the optimization using li near analysis with the implementation of the nonlinear physical design . In particular; this paper concerns itself with the steady-state flow gain and the shape of the flow passage that contributes to the nonlin ear flow-gain characteristics. The shapes of a circle, a rectangle, a diamond and a triangle are discussed and it is shown that a triangular shape provides an optimal flow passage compared to other shapes of si milar size.