FLUID POWER ENGINEERING

SELF LEARNING ACTIVITY

1. HYDRAULIC COUNTER BALANCE VALVE
APPLICATION
2.PNEUMATIC SPEED CONTROL VALVE

SUBMITTED BY

GIRISH C 1JS19ME024
GIRISH S 1JS19ME025
HARSHITH KUMAR B G 1JS19ME027
HEMANTH B N 1JS19ME028
1. PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE

• The pressure relief valves are used to protect the hydraulic components from
excessive pressure.
• This is one of the most important components of a hydraulic system and is
essentially required for safe operation of the system.
• Its primary function is to limit the system pressure within a specified range.
• At no time should the relief valve be used to pass excess pressure fluid to tank.
• When excess pump flow goes to tank, it generates heat.
• The relief valve in a well-designed hydraulic circuit never relieves oil to tank, unless
there is a circuit or control malfunction.
•Think of a relief valve in a hydraulic system as a fuse or circuit breaker in an
electric circuit.
•An electric circuit never blows a fuse unless it overloads. When an electric
circuit overloads, it is inoperable until reset.
•Usually the person responsible for resetting the fuse looks for the reason it blew
and fixes the problem before restarting the machine.
•Many hydraulic circuits allow the relief valve to dump some or all pump flow to
tank all or part of the time.
• The extra power to produce that unused flow is expensive.
•Also, heat generation from excess flow requires larger heat exchangers that are
expensive to buy and operate.
 TYPES OF PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE

• There are many types of pressure relief valve, the most commonly used are:
• 1. Direct pressure-relief valve
• 2. Pressure-reducing valve.
• 3. Unloading valve
• 4. Counterbalance valve.
• 5. Pressure-sequence valve.
• 6. Brake valve.
 COUNTERBALANCE VALVE
•The schematic of counterbalance valve is shown in Figure. It is used to maintain
the back pressure and to prevent a load from failing.
•The counterbalance valves can be used as breaking valves for decelerating heavy
loads.
•These valves are used in vertical presses, lift trucks, loaders and other machine
tools where position or hold suspended loads are important.
•Counterbalance valves work on the principle that the fluid is trapped under
pressure until pilot pressure overcomes the pre-set value of spring force.
• Fluid is then allowed to escape, letting the load to descend under control. This
valve is normally closed until it is acted upon by pilot pressure source. Therefore,
a lower spring force is sufficient.
• It leads to the valve operation at the lower pilot pressure and hence the power
consumption reduces, pump life increases and the fluid temperature decreases.
 FIG: CIRCUIT SYMBOL

FIG: COUNTER BALANCE VALVE

 APPLICATION OF A COUNTERBALANCE VALVE

•Counterbalance valves are commonly used to counterbalance a weight or

external force or counteract a weight such as a platen or a press and keep it from
freefalling.
•Figure illustrates the use of a counterbalance or back-pressure valve to keep a
vertically mounted cylinder in the upward position while the pump idles, that is,
when the DCV is in its center position.
• During the downward movement of the cylinder, the counterbalance valve is
set to open at slightly above the pressure required to hold the piston up (a check
valve does not permit flow in this direction). The control signal for the
counterbalance valve can be obtained from the blank end or rod end of the
cylinder.
COUNTER BALANCE VALVE APPLICATION
•When there is no pressure applied to the full piston side of a cylinder the valve
will maintain oil in the rod side.
•The two pilot lines shown act on different areas inside the valve.
• The ratio of these areas is usually 3:1 or 4:1. For explanation we will use the 3:1
ratio.
•The line connected between the valve and cylinder's rod side acts on a small
piston area (1 square inch) inside the valve. To overcome a spring tension of
1,800 lbs, the pressure would have to build to 1800 PSI.
•Since the load in the example is exerting a force of only 1500 PSI, the valve will
remain closed.
•When necessary to lower the load, the full piston side of the cylinder is
pressurized.
•The "remote" pilot line will then be pressurized to open the valve.
• The remote pilot line acts on three times the area (3 square inches) than the
internal pilot line acts upon. Actually, 1,500 lbs. of force is already being exerted
by the load on the spring. Therefore, the remote pilot pressure only has to develop
300 lbs. of additional force.
•pressure only has to build to 100 PSI on the 3-square inch surface area to equal
300 lbs. of force.
PNEUMATIC SPEED CONTROL CIRCUITS
Speed control of cylinders

It is always necessary to reduce the speed of cylinder from maximum

speed based on selected size of final control valve to the nominal
speed depending on the application. Speed control of Pneumatic
Cylinders can be conveniently achieved by regulating the flow rate
supply or exhaust air. The volume flow rate of air can be controlled
by using flow control valves which can be either two way flow
control valve or one way flow control valve. This is also known as a
throttle valve or a flow restrictor.
There are two types of throttling circuits for double acting cylinders:
1. Supply air throttling
2. Exhaust air throttling
Supply air throttling

This method of speed control of double acting cylinders is also called meter-in
circuit. For supply air throttling, one way flow control valves are installed so that
air entering the cylinder is throttled. The exhaust air can escape freely through the
check valve of the throttle valve on the outlet side of the cylinder. There is no air
cushion on the exhaust side of the cylinder piston with this throttling arrangement.
As a result, considerable differences in stroking velocity may be obtained even
with very small variations of load on the piston rod. Any load in the direction of
operating motion will accelerate the piston above the set velocity. Therefore supply
air throttling can be used for single acting and small volume cylinders.
• In Operation, when the DCV is actuated, the supply Pressure1(P) is directed
to the FCV, and then to the cylinder Port 2(A).
• Since the check valve blocks the flow, the air has to pass through the
restricted orifice opening this controlling the flow rate to the cylinder.
• The cylinder speed will be in Proportion to the flow rate, During this, the
return air is exhausted from Port 3 (B) to Port 4 (R).
• Since, the Cylinder Speed is controlled by Controlling the air supply at the
• cylinder inlet. it is termed Supply air throttling.
• When the cylinder retracts, the check valve opens up and allows a free flow
Path to the air, hence the Cylinder returns with full design speed.
Exhaust air throttling

In exhaust air throttling flow control valves are installed between the cylinder
and the main valve in such a way that the exhaust air leaving the cylinder is
throttled in both directions of the motion of the cylinder. This method of speed
control of double acting cylinders is also called meter-out circuit. The supply air
can pass freely through the corresponding check valves in each case. In this case,
the piston is loaded between two cushions of air while the cylinder is in motion
and hence a smooth motion of the cylinder can be obtained. The first cushion
effect is due to supply air entering the cylinder through check valve, and second
cushion effect is due to the exhaust air leaving the cylinder through the throttle
valve at a slower rate. Therefore, exhaust air throttling is practically used for the
speed control of double acting cylinders.
In operation, when the DCV is actuated, the Supply Pressure 1 (P) is directed
to the cylinder Post 2 (A).
It Causes the extension of the cylinder. At the same time, the air on the red
end of the cylinder starts exhausting through Port ( 3) via the FCV.
Since, in this direction, the ball valve is closed, the exhaust air Passes through
the restricted Opening of the FCV, and flow rate is controlled.
This in turn Controls the speed of extension of the cylinder. Since, the
Cylinder speed is controlled by Controlling the air at the exhaust line, it is
termed exhaust our throttling.
when the cylinder has to be retracted, the air flow easily Passes through the
check valve without any restrictions.
Hence the cylinder retracts with its full design speed.
THANK YOU