Modeling and Dynamic Analysis of a Self-Regulating Valve

Pressure regulating valves are one of the indispensable components in an aircraft. Its application is found in many critical systems such as anti-icing system, cabin pressurization, propulsion system, hydraulic system etc. In this study, the simulation and dynamic analysis of a pressure regulating anti-icing valve is discussed. The valve comprises of an arrangement of sliding piston and pressure chamber to regulate the pressure. It also includes a feedback loop to achieve self-regulation. The valve includes two functional halves for robustness as well as to have some redundant functionality if some components doesn’t function optimally as the operation calls for accuracy as well as precision. The principles behind the working of this valve includes the interaction of physical domains such as mechanical and fluid dynamics. The modeling of this valve is carried out in multi-domain physical state simulation in MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. It is followed by the dynamic analysis to study the effect of each sub-component on the overall functioning of the valve. Considering this model can be used for designing as well as solving field issues, all the variables such as the diameter at various sections, friction coefficient, surface area of piston, stroke length, orifice diameter are parametric. Variables such as inlet and outlet pressure, piston displacement, flow rate and force balance at the piston are studied. The response from the dynamic model with the initial parameters shows good correlation with the design targets and the influence of key physical parameters on outlet pressure and the regulation time is presented.