Numerical Simulations on Flow Characteristics of a Nozzle-Flapper Servo Valve With Diamond Nozzles

Nozzle-flapper servo valves are widely used in modern electro-hydraulic control systems of many engineering applications. Flow cavitation in the nozzle-flapper pilot stage could produce noise and cavitation erosion, reducing the performance stability and reliability of the servo valves. In this paper, diamond nozzles are proposed to replace the traditional circular nozzles to reduce the flow cavitation in the nozzle-flapper stage. Numerical simulations using CFD software ANSYS/FLUENT were conducted to explore the flow characteristics of the nozzle-flapper pilot stage. Mass flow rate and image measurements were performed to verify the simulation results. Vapor fraction, lateral velocity, pressure distribution, and flow force are compared in detail between the pilot stage with the traditional nozzles and with the diamond nozzles. It is found that the vapor fraction is greatly reduced under the effect of the diamond nozzles. Finally, to explore the effect of the diamond nozzles on the performance of the nozzle-flapper servo valve, the pressure-flow characteristics and time step response of the load flow rate are examined using the software AMESim. The simulation results show that the pressure-flow characteristics and time step response of the load flow rate almost remain the same. This suggests that the diamond nozzles could suppress the cavitation in the nozzle-flapper servo valve without varying its performance.