Edgeless valve spool design with variable clearance

• Main Authors: Bean, Sunil J, Hazari, Shivangini Singh
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 04.06.2019
• Subjects: ACTUATING-FLOATS; BLASTING; COCKS; COMBINED OPERATIONS; DETAILS OF FLUID-PRESSURE SYSTEMS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; DEVICES FOR VENTING OR AERATING; ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; FLUID-PRESSURE ACTUATORS; FLUID-PRESSURE ACTUATORS, e.g. SERVO-MOTORS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVEFUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; HEATING; HYDRAULICS OR PNEUMATICS IN GENERAL; LIGHTING; MACHINE TOOLS; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; OTHER WORKING OF METAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SYSTEMS ACTING BY MEANS OF FLUIDS IN GENERAL; TAPS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL; TRANSPORTING; UNIVERSAL MACHINE TOOLS; VALVES; WEAPONS

A valve spool may include a cylindrical spool body having a spool longitudinal axis, a first spool body end wall and a second spool body end wall disposed axially opposite the first spool body end wall, and a spool outer surface. The spool outer surface may include a first spool guide region proximate the first spool body end wall and having a spool guide region outer diameter, a second spool guide region proximate the second spool body end wall and having the spool guide region outer diameter, and a spool tight clearance region disposed between the first spool guide region and the second spool guide region. The spool tight clearance region may have a spool tight clearance region outer diameter that is greater than the spool guide region outer diameter.