Study on Cavitation in a Water Hydraulic Spool Valve

Abstract

This study is focused on cavitation phenomenon in a spool valve for water hydraulic system. Some servo valves have been developped and used in Aqua Drive System (ADS). Cavitation is one of the most serious problem for ADS devices especially for valves and pumps. To obtain knowledge of cavitaion in ADS devices from practical point of view is very important. In this study, visualization study was conducted under various pressure conditions upstream and downstream a spool model. The model is made of transparent acrylic resin for easy optical access. As a results, it is clarified that cavitation jet pattern issuing from a control orifice changes with differential pressure between the orifice and setting downstream pressure.