Flow rate analysis of high-pressure carbon dioxide through a combinational flow regulator

Flow control is essential in high-pressure CO2 systems. Flow regulators are widely used for flow adjustment in piping systems. In this paper, a novel combinational flow regulator is proposed, which contains four parallel branch channels, and each channel is arranged with a solenoid valve and an orifice plate. In order to analyze the internal flow characteristics of high-pressure CO2 and flow adjustment performance of the proposed flow regulator, a numerical model of the regulator is established, and the validation of numerical model is verified by experimental results. Then, the pressure and velocity characteristics are studied numerically. Finally, the flow adjustment performance is investigated numerically and experimentally from three aspects: variation of flow rate with differential pressure, variation of the product of flow coefficient and throttling area, and dynamic variations of pressure, temperature and flow rate of the flow regulator. This paper serves as a valuable reference for researchers utilizing flow regulators to adjust the flow rate of CO2 or other fluids.