A numerical analysis of pressure characteristics in the deflector jet pilot stage valve with an innovative deflector deflection

Abstract

Electric-hydraulic servo-valves are extensively used in the aerospace, mechanical, and aerodynamics industries to control missile wings or airplanes precisely. Aiming to reduce undesired flow phenomena inside the deflector jet pilot valve, innovative deflections of deflector are proposed in this paper. A numerical analysis is performed using STAR CCM + to investigate the pressure and flow characteristics inside the pilot stage of deflector jet servo-valve. For observing the pressure, cavitation and flow characteristics, the Eulerian multi-phase model, VOF phase interaction, and realizable $k-\epsilon$ model for the turbulent flow are used during numerical simulations. The supply and outlet pressure are kept at 24 MPa and 1 MPa, respectively. To verify the calculated numerical results for turbulent flows, the velocity distribution to the V-groove exit of the deflector jet pilot stage is calculated and discussed with the theoretical results. The numerically calculated results show good agreement with published analytical results. The result shows that by the innovative rotation of the deflector both in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, significant pressure in the receivers is obtained than traditionally moving deflector to the left and right for the same supply pressure. Moreover, when the deflector is positioned clockwise or anti-clockwise by 5°, less cavitation is observed than in the traditional model. The key finding of this paper shows that innovative structural optimization of the amplifier disk and deflector is of utmost importance.