Digital Twin-Driven Mating Performance Analysis for Precision Spool Valve

The precision spool valve is the core component of the electro-hydraulic servo control system, and its performance has an important influence on the flight control of aviation and aerospace products. The non-uniform surface topography error causes a non-uniform mating gap field inside the spool valve, which causes oil leakage and leads to deterioration of the spool valve performance. However, the current oil leakage calculation method only considers the influence of size errors, which is not comprehensive. Thus, how to characterize the mating behavior of the spool valve and its effect on oil leakage with consideration of surface topography errors is the key to evaluating the performance of the spool valve. This paper proposes a new way of analyzing the mating performance of precision spool valves, which considers the surface topography errors based on digital twin technology. Firstly, a general framework for the analysis of mating performance of precision spool valve based on a digital twin is proposed. Then, key technologies of assembly interface geometry modeling, matching behavior modeling and performance analysis are studied. Finally, a quantitative correlation between the mating parameters and the oil leakage of the precision spool valve is revealed. The method is tested on a practical case. This proposed method can provide theoretical support for the accurate prediction and evaluation of the mating performance of the precision spool valve.