Pressure Drop Analysis of Pilot-Control Globe Valve With Different Structural Parameters

Abstract

Pilot-control globe valve (PCGV) can use the pressure drop caused by fluid flowing through the orifice located at valve core bottom to open or close the main valve using a small pilot valve. In this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is adopted to analyze the pressure drop before and after valve core of PCGV and minor loss of orifice under different structural parameters and inlet velocities, and the simulation results show a good agreement with the experimental results. It turns out that the valve diameters, orifice diameters, and pilot pipe diameters have great influences on the pressure drop and the loss coefficient. Moreover, an expression is proposed which can be used to calculate minor loss coefficient, then to estimate the pressure drop and driving force of a PCGV within limited conditions. This paper can be referenced as guidance for deciding the dimension of structural parameters and spring stiffness during design process of a PCGV.