5 Things You Need To Know About Directional Valves

5 Things You Need To Know About Directional Valves

Directional valves are mostly small devices that are used to regulate the flow of material in a system or engine. They are designed to start, stop or change the direction of flow of material in compressed air applications. Directional valves are one of the most essential parts in pneumatic and hydraulic machinery. They regulate the flow of fluids into different paths from one or more sources.

Usually, a directional valve has an electrically or mechanically controlled spool inside a cylinder. The movement of this spools allows or restricts the flow of fluid in the valve. There are several types, models and classes of directional valve available.

So, if you’re looking to get a directional valve, here are 5 top things you should know about these valves:

Multiple Actuation Modes

Not only can directional valves be used for more than one application, they can also be actuated or controlled in multiple ways. There are several types of directional valves and each has a different actuation method which may be manual, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic or spring.

Different Types Of Spool

The spool is a very important cog in a directional valve as it works to regulate the flow of fluid. Basically, there are two spool types – Rotary and Sliding. Rotary spools have lands and grooves with holes drilled through them which makes them look sphere-like. Sliding spools on the other hand are cylindrical and their lands and grooves are also cylindrical.

Specification

Directional valves are devices that can be generally specified by using the number of ports they have connected to them and the number of switching positions. Generally, specifications of directional valves can be represented in this form,n_p/n_s. Where n_p is the total number of ports that are connected to the directional valve and n_s is the number of switching positions.  

Symbolic Representation

It is a tedious task to draw actual pictures of every valve or other components while working with layouts of hydraulic machinery. Instead, the functional aspects of the several components in a hydraulic system are highlighted by symbols. For directional valves, their symbol is made of a https://www.kp-lok.com/product/purge-valves/ number of square boxes that are placed adjacent to each other based on the number of positions.

Multiple Types

There can be multiple types of directional valves based on the connection and number of positions it has. Based on this, there are three major types:

Two-way two-position directional control valve

Four-way two-position directional control valve

Four-way three-position directional control valve

Conclusion

Directional valves are small devices, but they can be used for multiple complex applications.These valves are versatile and they can be controlled in different ways like manually, mechanically or electrically. So, if you need one of these valves for a project, or perhaps you want to replace a damaged one, it is important for you to have some basic knowledge about these valves.