Abstract
Pressure reducing valves are widely used to maintain the pressure of gas reservoirs to specific values. When highly pressurized air passes through the orifice structure, considerable noise occurs at the downstream side. To solve this problem, we have developed a radial slit structure. The radial slit structure reduces the noise by suppressing the generation of turbulence and shock wave at the downstream. In this paper, we newly develop a pressure reducing valve applied the concept of the slit structure. At the former slit structure, the height of the radial slit was fixed. In the new valve, we proposed an improved slit structure that the height of it is variable. Coned disk springs are installed between the disks and the height of it is controlled from 0 to 50m with a pneumatic cylinder. As a result, the new structure can successfully control the flow rate and control the pressure in a reservoir. The performance of the valve is investigated experimentally and confirmed that noise can be reduced with the radial slit structure.
