Introduction

ValveExpert01wasdevelopedtotest
servovalvesandproportionalvalves.Arecent
andwellthoughtcomputertechnologyis
usedtotest4wayflowcontrolvalveswitha
flowupto60L/minandpressureupto210
bar.Theuserwillbeguidedwithgraphichelp
onthescreen.Thetestresultscanbesaved
onthecomputerandprintedout.

Shallyouhavetotestservovalvesor
proportionalvalves;thetestrigValveExpert
offersyoupracticallyafulllaboratoryina
smallspaceandatlowestcost.
Features
PlugandPlay
Thissayingdescribeswellthenatureofthisteststand.Theuserconnectsthetestrigtoahydraulicpower
supply.Hemountsaservovalvetobetested.That’sit.Fewminuteslatertestresultsareavailable,readytobe
printedoutorsaved.

Fullyautomatictest
Besidethepossibilitytotestavalvemanually,theoperatoroftheteststandcanperformafullyautomatic
test.Infewminuteshereceives3to4pagesoftestresultswhichhecansafeorprintout.

Noskills
Theuserisguidedthrugraphicdisplays.Nosophisticatedskillsarerequired.Theoperatorshallonlyhave
somebasicknowledgeinhowtouseWindowsandaswellsomeknowledgehowaservovalveworks.

Pressurecontrol
Thanktoapressurecontrolvalve,thepressurewillbesetupfairlyprecisely.

Repeatability
Pressuretransducersareused.Therepeatabilityis<±0.5%FS.Averypreciseflowmeterisusedtomeasure
flow.Itsaccuracyis±0.3%ofthemeasuredvalue.

Reliability
Theswitchingvalves,transducersandfiltersaremountedonamanifold.Veryfewfittingsdecreasethe
probabilityofexternalleakage.
Thepressuretransducershavenomovingpartsandthereforenowear.
Theflowmeterisusedwithverycleanhydraulicoilandthereforehasalonglife.

Lowcost
Theinstallationisrestrictedtotheconnectiontothehydraulicpowersupply.
ValveExpertVE01isalowcostdevice.
Configuration

Therearemanydifferentanalysesandtestproceduresforservovalvesandproportionalvalves.Forcertain
aerospaceservovalvessome20pagesofdatasheetshavetobeproduced.Thetestrigasheredescribedmay
produce4differentplotsaswellastheanalysisofthecharacteristicspecificationvaluesasbias,leakage,
symmetry,linearity,pressuregain,themaximumandminimumflowvaluesetc.
Toproducetheseplotsandmeasurementstwodifferenthydraulicconfigurationscanbeselected:







Opencontrolports
Withopencontrolportstheflowoftheservovalvewillbedetermined.Formostservovalvestheflowis
definedforavalvepressuredropof70bar(correspondingtotheAmerican1000psi).Fortheflowtest,the
flowmeterisconnectedtothecontrolportsandthesystempressurewillbesetat70bar.Valvesequipped
withapositiontransduceronthespoolandinternalelectronics,thespoolpositionwillbemeasuredatthe
sametimeastheflow.

Closedcontrolports
Tomeasurethedifferentialpressureandtheinternalleakage,thecontrolportswillbeclosed.Valvesequipped
withapositiontransduceronthespoolandinternalelectronics,thespoolpositionwillbemeasuredatthe
sametimeasthedifferentialpressureandleakage.Alltwoorthreeplots,differentialpressure,leakageand
spoolpositionwillbeobtainedbyasingletestrun.
Hydraulic


Allcontrolvalves,pressuregauges,theflowmeterandthefilteraremountedonasinglemanifold.Thisway,a
minimumofpipesandfittingsareusedwhichreducetheprobabilityofexternalleakage.
Afilterwitha10micronhighpressureelementisusedasa“lastchance”filter.Indeed,thetestrigwillbe
connectedtoapowersupplywhichshallbeequippedwithafiltrationsystemassuringthepollutionclass5of
NAS1638orbetter.
Miniaturefittingconnectionsareavailabletoaccessthesupplypressureandthetwoloadpressures.Sucha
miniaturefittingconnectioncanalsobeusedtofeedaseparatepilotstagewithsupplypressure.

Allmaintenanceworkonthehydraulicequipmentcanbeperformedfromthreesidesofthetestrig.
Verificationofthecontrolpressurevalveorloadvalve,exchangeofthefilterelement,verificationofvarious
pressuresviaminiaturefittingsetc.,allthisisofeasyaccess.
Electronics

SMDtechnology
The„surfacemounted“technologyenabledthesmallsizeoftheelectroniccard,whichismountedina
Phoenixhousing.ThecoverofthehousingismadeoftransparentPlexiglassotheLED`scanbeobserved,
whichshowthestatusofthevariousfunctionsofthetestprocess.


Connectors
Alltheconnectionstomeasurementanddatatreatmentdevicesaremadewithshieldedcables.The
connectorsarealsoshielded.The100pinconnectorassurestheI/Odatatransfertothecomputer.


Relays
Thedifferentconfigurationsfortheservovalvecontrolsignalinseries,parallelorindividualconfigurationare
realizedwithrelaycircuits.Thisfeaturewillsavetimetotheoperatorasheneedsonlyonesinglecableand
thedesiredconnectionwillbeobtainedbysimplemouseclicks.


Currentamplifier
Thecurrentamplifierfortheservovalvecontrolsignalismountedonagenerouslydimensionedradiator.The
amplifierisdimensionedforanoutputcurrentof500mAbutforsafetypurposesitislimitedto120mA.


LED
Alltheimportantfunctionsofthetestrigasfunctionalityoffilter,pulsesfromflowmeter,positiveornegative
servovalvecontrolsignalareshownwithLEDindicators.Thisallowseasytroubleshootingincaseofa
malfunction.


ALTERA
ThenecessarydigitalcircuitsarerealizedonaprogrammableAlterachip.Thischipallowseventuallymodifying
thedigitalcircuitbysimpleprogramming.Aconnectorfortheprogrammingfunctionhasbeenforeseen.
ManualTest


Bycallingthemanualtest,the19“screenshowsthepicturebelow.Youhavevirtuallyafulllaboratoryatyour
disposal.

x Threemanometerwhicharenotleakingandwhichcannotbedestroyedbyhydraulicshocks.Each
manometercanbeindividuallychangedtoadifferentscale….250bar,100baror20bar.Belowthe
manometerisadigitaldisplayofthepressure.
x Aninstrumentforflowmeasurement.Herealsotheinstrumentcanbeconfiguredtoadifferent
sensitivity.Alsodigitaldisplayoftheflowvalue.
x Twovoltmeter/amperemeter,onefortheservovalvecontrolsignal,theotherforthespoolposition
signalofvalveswithelectricfeedback.Alsomouseclickfordigitalindication.
x Twodifferenthydraulicconfigurationscanbeselectedascontrolportsopenorclosed.
x Thecontrolpanelallowssettingtheservovalveconnectionwhetherseries,parallelorindividual
configuration.Selectionofthesensitivityoftheservovalvespoolpositionsignal.
x Therangeforvoltageorcurrentcanbeselectedin6differentranges.
x Theservovalvecontrolsignalcanbeenteredbyadigitalvalueorper“potentiometer”onthescreen.
x Acontrolsignalgeneratortoallowflushingtheservovalve.




Automatictest

TheDataBase
Inthedatabasearememorizedthevariousservovalvespecifications.Forrecentservovalvesorproportional
valves,thevalvespecificationusuallyfiguresonavalvelabelinakeyformandwithhelpoftheproduct
cataloguethevalveparameterscanbedefined.Ifthelabelorthecatalogueisnotprovidingthisinformation,it
hastobeaskedforfromthevalvesupplier.





Inadditiontothevalvespecification,theresolutionofthetesthastobedefined.Onthefigurehereshown,
theresolutionwasdefinedas0,002Volt.
Automatictest 

Theoperatorcallsuptheprogram.Heentersthemodelnumberofthevalvetobetested.Thespecificationof
thevalvewillbeloadedfromthedatabase.Onthecommand“Autotest”,thetestproceedsautomatically.
Afterfewminutestheprogramterminatesandtheoperatorcananalysethetestresults.
Duringthetestprocess,theresultsofthemeasurementsareshownonthescreenastheyareobtained.If
eventuallytheresultsshownonthescreendonotsatisfythevalvespecifications,thetestcanbeabortedby
theoperator.





Thisfigureshowsthescreenwhilethetestisperforming.Thewhitecurveisthediagramofthedifferential
pressure,theredonethatoftheleakagediagramandthegreenoneoftheservovalvespoolposition.During
thistest,theloadvalveisclosed.

Automatictest 

Tomeasuretheflowdiagram,theloadvalvemustbeopened.Astheflowmeterisnotintheloadline,the
flowdiagramisinaVform.Theleftpartoftheflowdiagramcanbeconsideredasthenegativeone.The
leakageflowisincludedintheflowdiagram.Thedistancebetweenthenulllineandthelowestpointofthe
diagramrepresentsthemaximumleakageatnull.





Thisfigureshowsthescreenduringthetestperformance.Thewhitediagramshowsthedifferentialpressure,
theredonethatoftheflowandthegreenonethatoftheservovalvespoolposition.Thethreediagramsare
measuredatthesametime.Forthistesttheloadvalvemustbeopened.
Diagnose(printoutofthetestresults)
AllmeasurementsareloadedintoanExcelfile.TheseExcelfilescontainalsothetemplatesfortheprintoutsas
shownherebelow:


Flowtest
Thisdiagramshowstheresultsoftheflowmeasurement.Suchacurveallowsidentifyingsomemalfunctionof
theservovalvelikenonlinearity,highhysteresisduetocontaminationorabnormalwearofthefeedbackball
(inspecialistjargon:ballglitch).



Leakagetest
Thisdiagramshowstheleakageflowoftheservovalveinrelationtotheinputsignal.Theaugmentationofthe
leakagearoundzerocorrespondstotheleakageofthevalvespool.Ahighervalueofthisincreasedleakage
flowgivesindicationonwearofthespooledges.Thelowvaluesonrightandleftcorrespondtotheleakage
flowofthepilotstage.Anonsymmetryofthefirststageleakageisanindicationofadamagedseal
Diagnose(printoutofthetestresults)




Differentialpressure
Thisdiagramshowsthepressuregainoftheservovalve.Thisinformationisseldomused,andifrequired,then
usuallythecurvearoundzero.



Spoolposition
Thisdiagramshowsthespoolpositionofavalvewithelectricfeedback.Thisisanimportantdiagram.For
largerservovalvesorproportionalvalvesthespoolpositionofthevalveisoftencontrolledinaclosedloop
positionmode.Apositiontransducerisusedofwhichtheoutputsignalisforeseenontheconnectorofthe
valve.Asbigvalvesusuallyhaveaveryhighflowwhichwouldrequireveryhighhydraulicenergytobetested,
itissufficienttocontroltheproperfunctionoftheaccuratespoolpositioning.Forsuchvalves,flowwillonlybe
checkedaroundzero(upto60L/minwithValveExpertVE01).