Electronic flow control valves serve various purposes in industrial, engineering, manufacturing and process industries.

The primary purpose of a flow control valve is to control the flow of a medium through the system. Generally they start, stop or throttle the flow to perform the safe and accurate operation of the machinery. The output of the flow control valve is directly proportional to an electronic input. Working of a proportional flow control valve is a bit technical. Lets see the working:

General Working:

The working of an electronic pneumatic flow control valve starts with a source that provides the electrical current. The source can be a potentiometer, a PLC or joystick. When the electrical current is supplied from the source then it regulates the electrical signal to the solenoid coil of the valve. Now this coil turns the electrical signal into mechanical force. This force will allow the armature to move and resultantly, it will input a force to the spool. Hence a controlled amount of the fluid will pass through the regulator. 

The Role of Proportional Flow Control Valve:

Here we have listed some roles that a digital flow control valve performs in heavy machinery:

Controls the Regulation of  Medium:

An electronic flow control regulates the amount of the medium flowing through the hydraulic system. An internal feedback informs about the position of the valve spool and the amount of the fluid passing through it.

The feedback allows the amplifier to know the exact position of the spool and let it provide the proper voltage to move the spool as per the need of the system. Keep remember that the accurate positioning of the spool is very vital in controlling the flow of the fluid. 

Maintains a Constant Pressure:

A proportional flow control valve makes it possible for you to accurately control and maintain the applied or relieved pressure. It is done by changing throttling cross sections in the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic adjustments.

Relieving the pressure is very convenient with the aid of the control valve. They are designed as when they enhance the size of the orifice then the pressure also increases gradually and when they close it then the pressure falls down. A proportional flow valve is perfect to reduce the high pressure and maintain a constant state of pressure in the system or equipment. 

Direction of the Flow:

A proportional flow control valve lets you start, pause, decrease and do changes in the direction of flow. With the help of it, one can easily handle the stroke of the directional valve spool while matching the metering to control the flow and to provide the directional control to the actuator. 

Final Words:

Several types of flow control valves are available in the market to fulfil the needs of all the users. While choosing a valve for your equipment or hydraulic systems you should consider the functionality, requirements and the specification of the system. These factors ensure whether the proportional flow control valve you are going to buy will be able to optimize the performance of the system or not? 

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