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Miniature Flow Control Valve
Beswick Engineering's miniature valve is both small and capable of accommodating pressure differentials
Joseph Ogando, Senior Editor -- Design News, September 21, 2008
FLUID POWER CONNECTORS & COMPONENTSULTRA-MINIATURE PRESSURE COMPENSATED FLOW CONTROL VALVE WITH LOW FRICTION DIAPHRAGM,
BESWICK ENGINEERING CO. INC.
Some applications need flow control valves that are both tiny and flexible. And they can now take advantage of Beswick Engineering's patent-pending, ultra-miniature pressure compensated flow control valve.
Featuring a new low-friction-diaphragm design, the 48-gram PCFCD-1N1 valve maintains a constant, user-adjustable flow rate even with upstream and downstream pressure variation. And according to Gary Treadwell, the engineer who came up with the new design, that kind of flexibility is unusual. Typical flow controls will fluxuate with variations in downstream pressure, he says.
Beswick had a similar piston-style valve in the past, a one-off model designed for a dental equipment OEM. But with the diaphragm design of the PCFCD-1N1, the envelope of pressures capabilities has been expanded. Treadwell reports that the original valve was good from 40 to 80 psi, had flows of 100 ml/min and kept flow variations within 10 percent.
The new valve goes down to 15 or 20 psi and offers flows to 200 ml/min, depending on the application. It keeps flow variation to within 3 percent. “We saw a need for tighter flow control and lower differential pressures,” says Treadwell. “This valve addresses that need off-the-shelf.”
