Abstract
Impedance characteristics of hydraulic components have a significant effect on pressure ripple levels in hydraulic circuits. These pressure ripples lead to vibration of pipework and associated fittings and are a source of unreliability and noise. This paper describes an experimental investigation of restrictor and flow control valves using a specially designed circuit. For a restrictor valve, it was found that the impedance characteristics were influenced by fluid compressibility, fluid inertia, valve vibration and downstream impedance effects. When these effects were taken into account, the valve could be modelled as a simple orifice.
The impedance characteristics of a flow control valve were found to be more complex and wave propagation within the valve fluid passageway had a dominant effect on behaviour.
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