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 Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686
www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x
DOI 10.1007/s12206-015-0127-9

Design verification methodology for a solenoid valve for industrial applications†

Chang-Dae Park*, Byung-Ju Lim and Kyung-Yul Chung
Environment and Energy Systems Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daejeon, 305-343, Korea

(Manuscript Received February 4, 2014; Revised September 26, 2014; Accepted November 12, 2014)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abstract

Solenoid operated valves (SOV) are widely used in many applications due to their fast dynamic responses, cost effectiveness, and less
contamination sensitive characteristics. In this paper, we tried to provide a convenient method of design verification of SOV to design
engineers who depend on their experiences and experiment during design and development process of SOV. First, we summarize a de-
tailed procedure for designing SOVs for industrial applications. All of the design constraints are defined in the first step of the design, and
then the detail design procedure is presented based on design experiences as well as various physical and electromagnetic relationships.
Secondly, we have suggested a verification method of this design using theoretical relationships, which enables optimal design of SOV
from a point of view of safety factor of design attraction force. Lastly, experimental performance tests using several prototypes manufac-
tured based on this design method show that the suggested design verification methodology is appropriate for designing new models of
solenoids. We believe that this verification process is novel logic and useful to save time and expenses during development of SOV be-
cause verification tests with manufactured specimen may be substituted partly by this verification methodology.
Keywords: Design; Verification; Solenoid valve; Attraction force; Electromagnetic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are various types of solenoid valves used in industrial

1. Introduction
applications. They can be classified as shown in Table 1 ac-
A solenoid is an electromagnetic device in which a coil of cording to port number, operation mechanism, usage purpose,
wire (⑧ in Fig. 1) surrounds a steel rod (⑨ and ⑩ in Fig. 1) applications, etc. The special application in Table 1 indicates
and induces a magnetic field that moves the rod (⑩ in Fig. 1) special valves that are used in harsh environments, such as
into and out of the coil [1]. The solenoid operated valve those encountered in nuclear power plants, cryogenic facilities,
(SOV) in Fig. 1 is a valve in which the actuation occurs by and chemical plants. The 2-way solenoid valve has one inlet
passing an electric current through a circular coil that is con- and one outlet pipe connection. They are used to allow or shut
centric to a cylindrical steel core and/or plunger [2]. The cur- off fluid flow. The normally open type valve is open when
rent running through the coil generates a magnetic potential deenergized and closed when energized. The 3-way valve has
difference across the air gap. This magnetic potential differ- three pipe connections (pressure, cylinder, and exhaust port)
ence produces an attractive force between the opposing core and two orifices. The normally closed 3-way type valve ap-
and plunger, which moves the plunger to cause closing or plies pressure through the cylinder port when the solenoid is
opening of the valve. These SOVs are widely used to control energized and exhausts pressure through the exhaust port
fluid flow in almost every industrial field. They are usually when the solenoid is de-energized. The internal pilot operated-
used for pilot controls of diaphragm and cylinder actuated solenoid valve has a pilot and bleed orifice that enables this
control valves or pressurizing/venting cylinders. valve to use line pressure to assist the valve in its operation.
A solenoid valve is a combination of two basic components. This pilot solenoid valve is suited for high or moderate flow
One is a solenoid that consists of coil and a magnetic plunger and quick exhaust applications in power plants.
(or core), and another is valve body containing an orifice (⑦ Many previous studies related to the design and develop-
in Fig. 1) in which a valve disc (⑪ in Fig. 1) is positioned to ment of SOVs have been performed. Tao et al. [3] proposed
stop or allow flow. The solenoid is mounted directly on the an optimal design method for the magnetic field of the sole-
valve, and the core/plunger assembly is enclosed in a sealed noid valve by considering the effects of three soft magnetic
tube inside the solenoid coil. materials’ properties and geometries on the performance of
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 42 868 7931, Fax.: +82 42 868 7355 the solenoid valve. Their design method can achieve a larger
E-mail address: parkcdae@kimm.re.kr magnetic force and lower power consumption only by adjust-
†
Recommended by Associate Editor Gang-Won Jang
© KSME & Springer 2015
ing the structural parameters of the solenoid, such as the num-
678 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686
Table 1. Classification of solenoid valve.
Classification Type
Port number 2-way, 3-way, 4-way
Operation mechanism Direct-acting, pilot operated
Usage purpose Instrumental, process
Applications General use, special use
Fail mode Open, close, universal
Power DC, AC
Fig. 1. Schematics of direct-acting solenoid operated valve.
ber of coil windings and the coil length. Yehia [2] introduced
a detailed design for a solenoid valve without a diaphragm for
a selected size. He focused on the design of the valve body
and did not address the process of the coil design, which is a
core part of the design of a solenoid valve. Sung [4, 5] have
developed a design program for ON/OFF type solenoid actua-
tors. Their design summarized 22 input parameters and 18
design parameters based on electromagnetic theories, experi-
mental values, and their experiences. He proved the propriety
of his design program by experiments with manufactured
prototypes, because a theoretical verification of the design has
not considered yet. Kajima [6] focused on the electrical cir-
cuits that he had developed for the purpose of energizing the
solenoid valve in an effort to develop high-speed solenoid
valves. Kajima and Kawamura [7] performed simulations and
tests based on a mathematical model to develop a high-speed
solenoid valve. They demonstrated the effects of design pa-
rameters, such as the solenoid dimensions and the number of
coil turns, on the switching time. Vaughan and Gamble [8]
presented a method for predicting the electromechanical be-
haviors of solenoid actuated proportional valves, paying par-
ticular attention to solenoid modeling. This model predicted
both the dynamic and static responses, such as those in the
current and the plunger position of the valve, to voltage inputs.
Ferreira et al. [9] proposed a semi-empirical model for predict-
ing the spool position and flow-rate in a hydraulic propor-
tional valve. A nonlinear dynamic model of a pneumatic pro-
portional pressure valve was formulated to analyze and design
valves with similar structures by considering the mechatronic
structure of this type of valve and the integration of electronic,
pneumatic, and mechanical devices [10]. Two models of a
pneumatic PWM (pulse width modulated) solenoid valve for
engineering applications were proposed by Ye et al. [11],
which also analyzed the instantaneous and equivalent mass-
flow rates across the valve. Recently, Liu et al. [12] presented
a method to design the parameters of the direct action solenoid
valve based on computational intelligence. They focused on
obtaining the biggest electromagnetic force by optimizing the
design parameters and showed that the current is the most
important parameter affecting the electromagnetic force.
Most previous work on solenoid valve has focused on the
static and dynamic behaviors of solenoid actuators and only
on its design, especially the coil and plunger. There are not
enough technical studies that describe the whole range of the
design process for SOVs. Moreover, suitability check of the
design has not been considered into design process and has
been performed only by experiments which are time- and
expenses-consuming works.
In this study, we have attempted to review and summarize
the detailed design procedures of SOVs for convenient use in
industrial fields. Special attention has been given to the verifi-
cation logic of the design procedure for the DC 3-way nor-
mally closed valve. The suggested verification methodology
can check the designed values for coil wire diameter, coil
resistance, attraction force, and hence optimum safety factor
for the attraction force.
2. Design input parameters
The concept design process for SOVs is often disregarded
by design engineers because most of the design concept is
done by experiences based on reverse engineering or conven-
tional products. However, this way of approaching the design
is apt to miss important design factors, and it cannot be ex-
pected to produce a creative design or outcome. To remedy
this common oversight, identification of all design constraints
is the first and most important step of the design process.
Table 2 shows examples of design input parameters for the
SOV and some example values, which must be clarified be-
fore the SOV basic design begins. The parameters in Table 2
consist of 32 data points on service conditions, valve bodies,
and solenoid actuators. Some are related to design targets,
such as “Quality class”, “Seismic category”, and “Coil class”,
which can be determined from the user requirements and the
design concept. The selection of the non-metallic materials of
the SOV components is strongly dependent on the type of
fluid and the quality class, which is related to the environ-
mental conditions. Most valve failures are attributed to the
sealing parts, which are the most vulnerable component in the
valve. Therefore, the selection of non-metallic materials is the
most important consideration and must consider the thermo-
elastic properties, irradiation, coil temperature increases and
 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686 679

Table 2. Design constraints of SOV. The flow coefficient can be calculated for a certain flow rate
Q [m3/h] from Eq. (1) or Eq. (2) [13]:
No Input data Description
1 Mounting location/method Room#4/hard
Q G (273 + T f ) Pi
2 Quality class Q(nuclear application) CV = for DP < (1)
287 DP ( Pi + Po ) 2
3 Seismic cat. III
4 Fluid Air Q G (273 + T f ) Pi
Service conditions

CV = for DP > (2)

5 Inlet pressure (Oper./Max) , Pi Given 249 Pi 2
6 Outlet pressure (Oper./Max), Po Given
7 Design pressure, P P= Pi- Po where G is the specific gravity (1 for air), Pi [kgf/cm2] and Po
8 Ambient temperature, Ta Given are the inlet and outlet pressures of the valve ports, and DP is
9 Fluid temperature, Tf Given the minimum operating pressure differential, Pi - Po.
10 Operation flow rate, Q Given
The size and number of ports on the valve body must be de-
cided at the concept design stage because the port number has
11 Design life Designated
an effect on the basic structure and operating mechanism of
12 Type Globe
the valve body. The response time from fully closed to fully
13 Pressure rating 2,500 lbs.# open, or vice versa, depends on the valve size, operating mode,
14 Connections S.W, B.W electrical service, media, temperature, inlet pressure, pressure
15 Material SUS drop, plunger mass, and magnetic force characteristics [3]. It
16 Class 2 can generally be obtained from user requirements and/or con-
Valve body

17 Pipe size, schedule 1”, 160 cept design. The selection of the coil class should consider the
18 Port size 1.25” maximum temperature increase of the coil and the environ-
19 No. of ports 3
mental temperature. For a conservative design, the maximum
temperature rise of the coil is regarded as the temperature
20 Characterization On/off
allowable in the coil class, which is an important design pa-
21 Type of closure Spring/plunger
rameter in calculating the coil dimensions, such as height,
22 Response time < 2 sec
width, and winding number of the coil.
23 Direct or pilot Direct List of input data in Table 2 can be added or omitted ac-
24 Housing type Sealed cording to the subsequent design process for specific cases.
25 NEMA class 4 The identification of all input parameters is very important
26 Cond. conn. type, cond. size NPT, 3/4” and may greatly shorten the time required for the subsequent
Solenoid actuator

27 Voltage, V 125 V design process. Generally, most of these constraints can be

28 DC or Hertz
29 Plain or encaps.
30 Coil class
31 Fail mode
32 Non-metallic materials
activation energy. In case of high radiation and temperature
conditions in nuclear power plants, for example, design engi-
neer can choose high performance polymer such as EPDM,
PEEK, or Viton as sealing materials.
Design pressure P may be the maximum operating pressure
differential, which is the maximum differential pressure be-
tween the inlet and the outlet sides of the valve against which
the solenoid can safely operate the valve. This pressure may
be much less than the safe working pressure, which is the line
or system pressure to which the valve may be subjected with-
out being damaged. Operation flow rate Q (or valve flow co-
efficient Cv) is sometimes obtained from the user requirements
or concept design. Q is an important parameter for the subse-
quent design process because, together with the design pres-
sure P, it affects the selection of the orifice size for the SOV.
DC obtained from user requirements, various related technical
codes/standards, and ‘procurement specifications’, including
Encaps
technical specifications.
H
Close
EPDM 3. Design procedure for SOVs
We have divided the entire design process of the solenoid
valve into five design steps relating to the solenoid actuator
and the valve body. The order of the steps as explained in this
Section is the design process that we suggest. This order and
some of the steps may generally be changed according to the
design engineer, design logic, given input parameters, or de-
sign purpose. However, it is necessary to establish the general
procedure for designing a SOV under given input parameters
from the concept design and design specifications.
3.1 Attraction force and force balance of the plunger
The design concept and/or input parameters in Table 2 give
information on the number of ports on the valve body, fail
mode, type of closure, movement direction of the closure, and
design pressure P. Then, as the first step of the SOV design,
the orifice size d of the valve body should be chosen based on
680 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686
Fig. 2. Force balance for a plunger.
the experience of the design engineer, which yields the fluid
pressure force F on the valve disc through the orifice by Eq.
(3).
pd2
F = P´ . (3)
4 and good response characteristics at a given power consump-
F is a factor that determines the design attraction force FA,
as shown in Fig. 2, which shows the free-body diagram of the
plunger in the SOV. In this work, we have designed a 3-port,
3-way, two spring closure type SOV. The cap spring force FC
and plunger spring force Fp can be calculated by the product
of the displacements (xc, xp) and spring constants (kc, kp) for
each spring. The spring displacements are obtained by com-
bining the initial spring displacements and plunger strokes x.
These initial displacements and spring constants are usually
dependent on engineering experience from typical magnitudes
of the attraction force of the solenoid. Then, the force balance
for the moving plunger in Fig. 2 gives the minimum attraction
force FA,min by Eq. (4).
FA,min = Fp - F - Fc .
The attraction force of the solenoid is an important design
parameter that significantly affects the valve performances
such as the response time and power consumption. The attrac-
tion force decreases with the degradation of the coil from ag-
ing and also with an increase of the coil temperature of the
solenoid valve during operation. Therefore, the design attrac-
tion force FA has a design margin by introducing the safety
factor sf as shown in Eq. (5).
FA = s f ´ FA,min .
The designer of the solenoid valve can have a choice of se-
lecting the spring constants by Eq. (6):
Fp = C p F
where Cp (> 1) is an empirical constant determined from the
fluid pressure force F, power consumption and response char-
acteristics when the closing element only has one spring, such
as in a 2-way solenoid valve. The valve with the larger Cp
generally requires larger Fp, FA, and, hence, power consump-
tion and a longer response time. Then, the spring constant kp
can be selected from the spring force Fp, which results in Fc
calculation based on the force balance of the plunger and in kc
selection.
It is worth noting that this design algorithm can also be used
to calculate the orifice size d of the valve body when the at-
traction force FA or FA,min is given. In addition to the orifice of
the valve, the design of other parameters related to the dimen-
sion of the valve body can be found in Ref. [2], which ex-
plains how to determine the length, height, and width of the
valve body based on simple geometry.
3.2 Electric resistance of coil
The design process of the solenoid valve must determine
the design parameters that have the maximum attraction force
tion. Therefore, the design object value for the power con-
sumption of the solenoid valve is given in many cases. Then,
the rating current I and resistance R of the coil can be obtained
from Eq. (7) and Ohm’s law Eq. (8) for a given consumption
power Pw and rating voltage V.
I = Pw / V (7)
R =V / I . (8)
The current and resistance of the coil are key parameters in
deciding the coil number of windings and, hence, the attrac-
tion force of the valve. In real SOV manufacturing, the coil
resistance is a target value to be obtained by adjusting the total
number of windings or the coil wire diameter.
(4)
3.3 Number of coil windings
The number of coil windings N affects the design of the coil
dimensions, the temperature increase inside the coil, and the
attraction force. The relationship between the magnetomotive
force f and the magnetic flux density B [T or Wb/m2] can yield
the coil number of windings N, as shown in Eq. (9) [6, 14]:
z B( x + d )
f = = NI
m0
(9)
z B( x + d )
(5) \N =
m0 I
where d is the anti-remanence gap, which is the space distance
between the moving plunger and the stationary core; z is the
equivalent coefficient (1.15 - 1.4); and m0 is the magnetic per-
(6)
meability of air (4p´10-7 H/m). The equivalent coefficient is
introduced as a correction factor for the magnetomotive force
required in the gap.
 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686 681

Electromagnetic fields are governed by the Maxwell equa-

tions. The flux density B of an actual soft magnetic material
experiences non-linearity and saturation on B-H (flux density
vs. field intensity) curves. The flux density B of materials can
be calculated by Eq. (10) [8], which can be obtained from the
experimental results of the characteristic B-H curve of the
material [15]:

F
B= = mH (10)
S

where F [Wb] is magnetic flux, and S [mm2] is the effective

cross-sectional area of the magnetic material. The flux density
B of the gap space can also be obtained from the semi-
empirical relation in Eq. (11) [16]: Fig. 3. Coil geometry for SOVs.

B = 0.4927(log N idx - 2)n (11)

where n is the correction factor (0.8 - 0.9) for the B definition,
and Nidx is the index number obtained from Eq. (12).
FA,min
N idx = . (12)
x +d
3.4 Plunger
The flux density B can also yield the information about the
plunger diameter dp through the relationship between the at-
traction force FA of the solenoid and the flux density B. The
attraction force depends on the structural parameters of the
solenoid valve, the exciting current of the coil, the permeabil-
ity of various material components and plunger position [3]
and can be expressed as Eq. (13) [6]:
2
1 B × Sg
FA =
2 m0
where tb is the thickness of the bobbin, and ds is the space
distance from the plunger to the bobbin in Fig. 3.
When the ratio of height h to width W of the solenoid coil is
fixed, the h and W of solenoid coil are obtained from the tem-
perature rise θf relationship of the coil, as shown in Eq. (17)
[5]:
2
qr æ N × I ö
qf = (17)
2lxW çè h ÷ø
where q is the duty ratio (1 for DC solenoid), ρ is the resistiv-
ity of the coil wire (1.68´10-8 W ·m for copper at 20°C), λ is
the heat diffusion coefficient of the coil [W/m2°C], and ξ is the
space factor (0.65 - 0.8) of the coil. Resistivity is an intrinsic
property of a material that is measured as its resistance to cur-
rent per unit length for a uniform cross-section. The space
factor is the ratio of the area of the coil wire conductor to the
coil sectional area and is calculated by the geometry of the coil
(13)
as Eq. (18).

where Sg is the cross-sectional area of gap, Eq. (14). Then, the p

d w2 × N
plunger diameter dp can be obtained by Eq. (15) if the diame- x= 4 . (18)
ter dp is assumed to be the same as the gap diameter. Wh

p The width of the solenoid coil W, the number of winding

Sg = d p2 (14)
4 layers Nl, and the number of turns per layer nc are all calcu-
8m0 FA lated by the geometry of the solenoid coil using Eq. (19), Eqs.
dp = . (15) (20) and (21), respectively:
p B2

3.5 Solenoid coil W = (d w + ti ) ´ N l (19)

N
The design of the solenoid coil can start by considering the Nl = (20)
nc
coil geometry as shown in Fig. 3. The inner radius of the coil,
h
ri, then can be obtain from Eq. (16), which is the same as the nc = (21)
dw
outer diameter of the bobbin, db:

dp where the thickness of the interlayer insulation material, ti, is

ri = + tb + d s (16) known. The coil wire diameter dw can easily be selected from
2
682 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686

tables of AWG (American Wire Gauge) wire sizes, and inter-

layer insulation film may be used to reinforce the insulation
performance because of its nuclear application. Substituting
Eq. (19) through Eq. (21) into Eq. (17) gives the height of the
solenoid coil, h, as Eq. (22).

qr N ×I2
h= . (22)
2lx q f d w (d w + ti )

All parameters in Eq. (22) are known values except dw and

θf. The temperature rise θf should be decided based on the
design engineer’s experiences and some experimental data,
design specifications, the insulation rating of the coil, and/or
the ambient temperature. For a conservative design, we rec-
ommend θf to be the maximum temperature difference be-
tween ambient temperature and the maximum temperature
allowable for a given insulation class of the coil. Once the
wire diameter dw and the temperature rise are fixed, the coil
height h, number of turns per layer nc, number of winding
layers Nl, and coil width W can be calculated using Eqs. (19)-
(22), respectively.
The outer radius of the coil, ro, can then be obtained from
Eq. (23), which yields information on the dimensions of the
solenoid actuator housing considering physical interference
with the coil during the assembly process.

ro = ri + W . (23)
Fig. 4. Design flowchart for SOVs.

3.6 Design algorithm

The order described in the previous Sections is similar to design algorithm and method must be verified to check their
the sequence for the design procedure of the solenoid valve, design suitability before manufacturing and testing in order to
but the order can be adjusted according to the design con- decrease trial and error in developing process.
straints and concept design. To clearly display the design
process of the solenoid valve, we have suggested a design 4.1 Theoretical verification
flowchart, as shown in Fig. 4 that includes a design verifica-
tion process and an assembly compatibility check. This flow- In Sec. 3, all the design parameters for h, nc, Nl, W, and ro
chart consists of an identification process for all design con- can be obtained after the selection of dw from the AWG tables,
straints, a calculation process for the solenoid body and actua- which strongly depends on the engineer’s experience. How-
tor, and a compatibility check process. The ‘predefined proc- ever, the selected value of dw can be verified with Eq. (25),
ess’ boxes on the right side of the main design flow are values which is derived from Eq. (24) and includes the designed val-
designated by the design engineer and/or values that are calcu- ues.
lated by related equations. The order listed in the predefined
process boxes is the sequence in the each step of the design 4 r (ri + ro ) NI
V = IR = (24)
procedure. The design verification process in the flowchart is d w2
an important step for enhancing the suitability of the design
4 r (ri + ro ) NI
methodology in this research, which is discussed in the subse- dw = . (25)
V
quent Section.

Comparison of these dw values to the values selected by the

4. Design verification for SOVs
Some of the design parameters in Sec. 3 must be designated
by the design engineer based on the data in Table 2 and their
experiences, and some are calculated by related physical and
electrical relationships. The design values resulting from this
engineer validates the resistivity of the coil wire, ρ, and the
coil dimensions, such as ri, ro and N. The design engineer must
again select dw from the calculation of h, nc, Nl, W, and ro if the
difference between dw from Eq. (25) and the selected dw is
large.
 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686
The coil resistance R obtained from Eq. (8) can be con-
firmed with Eq. (26), which is a function of the coil resistance
per unit length Ro [W/m] at a coil temperature of 20°C and a
total length of coil wire L [m]:
R = Ro ´ L
where Ro can be obtained from the AWG tables for the se-
lected dw, and L can be calculated from Eq. (27), which is
based on the geometry of the solenoid coil:
{( Nl - 1)( d w + ti ) + db }
L = nc N lp
+ N rp {2 N l ( d w + ti ) + db }
where db is assumed to be same as the inner diameter of the
coil, 2ri, and Nr is the residual layer number of the coil, the
residual of N/nc. The first term of the rightmost term in Eq.
(27) is the coil length for the Nl layer, and the second is the
coil residual length for the Nl +1 layer. This verification for the
total coil resistance R is a chance to check the suitability of the
designed results for the ri, Nl, and nc of the solenoid coil to
obtain the target value for the power consumption from Eq.
(7).
The temperature inside the solenoid coil first increases with
the operation time of the valve and is then saturated at a cer-
tain temperature. The increased temperature of the coil results
in an increase of the resistance of the coil, which reduces the
coil current and, hence, the attraction force of the solenoid
valve. Therefore, it is important to compare the design attrac-
tion force FA to the reduced attraction force FA,h caused by the
temperature increase θf. In the present design process, the
temperature rise is the difference between the maximum tem-
perature representing the insulation rating of the coil and the
ambient temperature Ta. The increased resistance of the coil,
Rh, is shown in Eq. (28) as function of R20, which is the resis-
tance of the coil at 20°C [17]:
æ 234.5 + Th ö
Rh = R20 ´ ç ÷ (28)
è 234.5 + 20 ø
where Th [°C] is the saturated temperature of the coil, which is
assumed to be the maximum temperature representing the
insulation rating of the coil. This increased resistance Rh re-
sults in a reduced current Ih through Eq. (8). Then, the de-
creased flux density Bh and the reduced attraction force FA,h
are calculated using Eq. (29) and Eq. (13), respectively.
m0 I h N
Bh = . (29)
z (x + d )
This reduced attraction force FA,h must be larger than the
minimum attraction force FA,min to properly operate the valve,
even at the elevated temperature Th. This comparison requires
a design engineer to re-designate the safety factor sf, which
683
(26)
Fig. 5. Prototype of direct-acting solenoid valves.
(27)
affects the reduced attraction force FA,h as well as the design
attraction force FA. This corrected design attraction force FA
can yield the optimized design of the valve and can also re-
designate the orifice size d, which is the very starting point of
the solenoid valve design process, as shown in Sec. 3. There-
fore, this verification logic can be regarded as a self-verified
process covering the entire process of SOV design.
4.2 Experimental verification
The design results determined by our design methodology
are examined by manufacturing and performance tests on the
prototype solenoid valves. Fig. 5 shows the prototype of the
direct-acting solenoid valves. Table 3 shows the principal
specifications of the manufactured prototypes and the design
values obtained from the design procedure suggested in this
work. Most of the specifications in Table 3 are similar to the
design values, which can be base of experimental verification.
Table 4 shows the verified values of the design parameters,
as explained in the previous Section. The coil wire diameter
dw and resistance R are in fairly good agreement with the de-
sign values in Table 3. This table indicates that selection of the
dw by the design engineer is acceptable in either case of 0.16
mm and 0.14 mm. This table also shows the effects of the
temperature increase of the coil on the attraction force of the
valve. The attraction force decreases from 21.4 N to 8.07 N
when the temperature of the coil rises to 180°C, which is the
most conservative condition considering the insulation class
(“H”) of the coil. It is important to know that this reduced
attraction force is still larger than the FA,min value (5.36 N).
This means that the safety factor sf 4 is optimal value, al-
though, in Table 5, what extent of the larger value is optimal
must still depend on the engineer’s experience.
Fig. 6 shows the experimental results of the attraction force
of the solenoid valve prototype with plunger displacement.
The maximum attraction force is 11.0 kgf (107.9 N), and the
attraction force at 2 mm displacement is approximately 2.5 kgf
(24.5 N). FA in Table 3 is 21.4 N at (x+d) = 2 mm displace-
ment of the plunger. This shows a good agreement between
the designed values and the experimental results, especially
considering the subtle differences between the design values
684 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686

Table 3. Design specification of manufactured solenoid valve. Table 4. Design verification by theoretical calculation.

Design Prototype Design parameters Verified value

Design parameters Unit
value spec. Coil wire diameter, dw 0.14 mm
Orifice size, d 4.4 ← mm Coil resistance per length, R0 0.856 Ω/m
Cap spring constant, kc 0.033 ← kgf/mm Total coil length, L 922.8 m
Plunger spring constant, kp 0.076 ← kgf/mm Coil resistance, R 789.9 Ω
Stroke, x 1.5 ← mm Maximum temperature, Th 180°C
Cap spring initial displacement, xc 12.2 ← mm Elevated resistance, Rh 1208.0 Ω
Plunger spring initial displacement, xp 16 ← mm Reduced current, Ih 0.1026 A
Min. attraction force, FA,min 5.36 ← N Reduced flux density, Bh 0.3713 T
Safety factor, sf 4 ← - Reduced attraction force, FA,h 8.07 N
Design attraction force, FA 21.4 24.5 N
Power consumption, Pw 20.9 ← W
Rating current, I 0.167 0.16 A
Coil resistance, R 747.6 744 Ω
Anti-remanence gap, δ 0.5 ← mm
Magnetic flux density, B 0.6051 ← T
Coil number of windings, N 7660 7678 -
Plunger diameter, dp 13.7 13.3 mm
Cv at sizing ᅀ P & flow 0.08 ← -
Operation flow, Q 10.9 ← m3/h
Bobbin thickness, tb 1 1 mm
Coil inner radius, ri 7.9 7.5 mm
Bobbin diameter, db 15.8 15.0 mm
Coil wire diameter, dw 0.16 0.16 mm
Max. rising temperature, Tm 180 ← °C Fig. 7. Experimental current of the prototype with operation time.
Temperature rise, θf 155 ← °C
Solenoid height, h 28.6 29.0 mm
Number of turns per layer, nc 178.7 ← turns
and the prototype specifications, as shown in Table 3.
Fig. 7 shows the experimental results for the current of the
Total layer of coil, Nl 42.88 ← layers
solenoid coil with operation time. The programmable DC
Coil width, W 11.1 11.0 mm
power supply (model: DADP-150P5DR) adjusted at V = 125
Coil outer radius, ro 19.0 18.5 mm
V and DAQ (Agilent 34970A) were used to measure the coil
current. The maximum current is approximately 0.16 A,
which is almost the same as the designed value of 0.167 A in
Table 3. The current of the coil decreases with operation time
due to the temperature rise of the coil, as shown in Fig. 7. The
experimental results show a saturated value of 0.107 A at a
coil temperature of approximately 143.6°C. It is worth noting
that the reduced current Ih shown in Table 4 is 0.1026 A at a
maximum temperature of 180°C.

5. Conclusions and discussion

The simple object of designing solenoids is to determine the
design parameters that yield the maximum attractive force and
good response characteristics at a given power consumption
and allowable temperature range. We have suggested a de-
tailed design procedure and a verification methodology for
solenoid valves for convenient use in industrial fields.
Fig. 6. Experimental attraction force of the prototype with plunger
displacement (lower line: closing stroke). First, all of the design constraints are defined in Table 2
based on user requirements, various technical codes/standards,
 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686 685

Table 5. Reduced attraction forces with safety factors. Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------

sf 2 3 4 5 6 7 B : Magnetic flux density, T
FA,min [N] 5.36 Cp : Empirical constant
FA,h [N] 4.04 6.06 8.07 10.1 12.1 14.1 Cv : Valve flow coefficient
d : (Orifice) diameter, mm
dp : Plunger diameter, mm
and procurement specifications. Clear identification of these ds : Space distance
input parameters is an important step for the subsequent de- dw : Diameter of the coil wire, mm
sign process. Secondly, the general procedure of designing F : Fluid pressure force or spring force, N
solenoid valve has been suggested based on our design ex- FA : Design attraction force, N
periences and physical/electromagnetic theories. The proce- FA,h : Reduced attraction force, N
dure includes many design parameters that are designated by f : Magnetomotive force
design engineers based on their experiences, the input data, G : Specific gravity
and physical relationships. Lastly, for a convenient approach H : Field intensity
to the suggested design logic, we have provided a design h : Coil height, mm
flowchart, as shown in Fig. 4. I : Coil current, A
First of all, we have devised the verification logic for this k : Spring constant, kgf/mm
design methodology by theoretical approaches, which in- L : Total length of coil wire, m
crease the appropriateness of the design results. This verifi- N : Number of coil windings
cation process includes calculations of the coil wire diameter Nidx : Index number
dw, coil resistance R, safety factor sf and reduced attraction Nl : Number of winding layers
force caused by the temperature increase of the solenoid coil. Nr : Residual layer number of the coil
Special attention has been paid to the reduced attraction nc : Number of turns per layer
force FA,h, which must be larger than the minimum attraction P : (Design) Pressure, kgf/cm2
force FA,min. The comparison of FA,min to FA,h results in the Pw : Power consumption, W
optimal value of the safety factor sf that is used to determine R : Coil resistance, W
the design attraction force FA. The resulting tuned attraction Ro : Coil resistance per unit length, W/m
force FA may decrease the required current through the coil, r : Radius, mm
which creates an opportunity to decrease the power con- T : Temperature, oC
sumption of the valve. As a result, this verification logic t : Thickness, mm
allows the optimization of FA, which is almost the starting Q : Operation flow rate, m3/h
point of the solenoid valve design process and thus leads to q : duty ratio
the optimization of the design. Experimental data with the S : Effective cross-sectional area, mm2
prototypes manufactured based on our design results show sf : Safety factor
that the attraction force and coil current are in good agree- Sg : Cross-sectional area of gap
ment with the designed values. V : Voltage
We have tried to arrange all design parameters, but some W : Coil width, mm
still remain, such as the valve body shape, geometry, and x : Displacement of spring or plunger stroke, mm
some materials. The plunger mass, which depends on the di-
ameter, length and shape of the plunger, should also be ac-
Greek letters
counted for in the design parameters by considering the valve
response time along with the magnetic force characteristics. d : Anti-remanence gap, mm
These depend mostly on the engineer’s experience. In the near F : Magnetic flux, Wb
future, we will try to reduce this rule of thumb as much as l : Heat diffusion coefficient, W/m2oC
possible throughout the design procedure and to systematize m : Magnetic permeability, H/m
these experiences into the design program based on theoretical n : Correction factor
relationships. qf : Temperature rise, oC
r : Resistivity of the coil wire, W m
x : Space factor
Acknowledgment
z : Equivalent coefficient
This work was supported by the Nuclear Research & De-
velopment of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Eval- Subscripts
uation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea gov-
ernment Ministry of Knowledge Economy. a : Ambient
 686 C.-D. Park et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (2) (2015) 677~686
b : Bobbin
c : Cap spring
f : Fluid
h : Caused by temperature rise of the coil
i : Inlet or inner or interlayer insulation material
min : Minimum
o : Outlet or outer
p : Plunger spring
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Chang-Dae Park received his M.S.
degree in mechanical engineering from
Seoul National University, Korea, in
1998 and his Ph.D. in mechanical engi-
neering from the University of the Ryu-
kyus, Japan, in 2004. Since 2005, he has
been a Senior Researcher at the Korea
Institute of Machinery and Materials,
Daejeon, Korea. He is the (co-)author of more than 94 articles
and 47 patents. His research interests include the development
of various solenoid valves for special applications and small
size seawater distillers including solar distiller. Dr. Park is a
Member of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
(KSME) and the Korean Nuclear Society.