e ow conguration of the valve in the centre position
is something that will oen require careful consideration.
Just about any conguration is possible from all ports
blocked to all ports connected together but gure 4
illustrates some of the more common arrangements.
An all ports blocked conguration (a) will block o the
pump ow at the ‘P’ port (thus enabling the pump ow
to be used in other parts of the system) and at the same
time block ow into or out of an actuator thus locking
it in position. It should be remembered however that,
depending upon the type of valve used, it may still be
possible to have leakage from any port to any other port
when in this position which could allow the actuator to
creep. Also of course with a hydraulic motor, there will
inevitably be leakage internally in the motor across the
ports and possibly into its external drain connection so
even a leak-proof valve will not positively lock a motor
in position. In some applications however, a leak-
proof valve will be a distinct advantage, for example in
clamping applications or where pressure on a cylinder is
maintained by means of an accumulator.
An open centre valve (b) will unload the pump ow freely
back to tank in the central position, while allowing the
actuator to ‘oat’ i.e. move virtually freely under the action
of an external force. Unloading the pump may reduce the
amount of waste heat generated in the system but it also
means of course that the pump ow is not available to
operate other functions while the valve is centred.
To enable a oat condition of the A and B ports but
retain use of the pump ow for other functions, the
conguration shown in gure 4c could be used which
has the ‘P’ port blocked but maintains the ‘A’ and ‘B’ ports
open to tank.
Alternatively, if it is required to unload the pump but
prevent movement of the actuator the ‘tandem’ centre
condition can be used as shown in gure 4d. As before
however, depending upon the type of valve used, leakage
may still take place into or out of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ ports
when the valve is centred.
As mentioned previously, many dierent congurations
are possible in the valve centre position but the four
illustrated in gure 4 are the most common. Which
conguration is most suitable will depend therefore on
the whether the pump ow needs to be unloaded or not
and the characteristics and requirements of the actuator
and its associated load.
Certain types of manual directional valve enable the
ow paths to be opened and closed progressively thus
providing a degree of ow control in combination with
the basic directional valve function. is can provide
the operator with a means of controlling the speed of
an actuator and also control of its rate of stopping and
starting (acceleration and deceleration).
Finally the pressure and ow ratings of the valve need
to be determined. is is normally a straightforward
process once the system design parameters have been
calculated with respect to ow and pressure. When
controlling dierential area cylinders however, it must
be remembered that the area and volume on either side
of the piston will be dierent which means that the ow
rates through the two ow paths of the directional valve
will also be dierent. For example, if the cylinder has a
full bore to annulus area ratio of 2 to 1, the exhaust ow
from the annulus side will be half the inlet ow to the full
bore side when extending. More signicantly however,
the exhaust ow from the full bore side when retracting
will be twice the inlet ow to the annulus side. For this
reason the ow rating of the directional valve chosen
may have to be greater than the pump ow alone.
Similarly, when determining the pressure rating of a valve
controlling a dierential area cylinder, potential pressure
intensication must be taken into account. Pressure
intensication oen occurs when restricting the exhaust
ow from the annulus side of a cylinder, especially when
3
Fig. 3
A
SPRING CENTRED
P
DETENTED
T
B
Fig. 4
A
P
B
T
A
A
P T
B
A
P
B
T
A
P
B
T
A
P
B
T
a) CLOSED
CENTRE
b) OPEN
CENTRE
c) FLOAT
CENTRE
d) TANDEM
CENTRE