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Flow Control Valve

Flow control valves are used to control the speed of the actuator. In a pneumatic system, the speed of the pneumatic cylinder may require to be controlled depending upon the application. Use of flow control valve meets the requirement of controlling the speed of the pneumatic cylinder. Flow control valves are also called as speed controller or Pressure reducing valves.

There are two types of speed controller. One is in-line type speed controller and another type is direct mounted type. The direct mounted speed controller thread is fitted into the air cylinder port. The knob provided at the speed controller controls the flow of the air. These speed controllers can be either Meter-in type or Meter-out type speed controller. In meter-in speed controller the incoming air is controller. That means the flow of incoming air into the cylinder is regulated to achieve the desired speed of the air cylinder. In meter-out speed controller, the flow of outgoing air from the cylinder out port is controlled to achieve the desired speed of the air cylinder.

In in-line type speed controller the speed controller is fitted between the direction control valve supplying air and the cylinder port. There could be many variations of speed controllers. Some of them are flame resistant elbow type speed controller, metal elbow body, metal flow control valve, dual speed controller, large flow in-line type speed controller, stainless steel speed controller, tamper proof speed controller, speed controller with pilot check valve and Pressure reducing valves etc. One important features of direct mounted speed controller is that it can be rotated 360 degree in various models. Speed controllers are designed to fit in with various size tubes.

The other product in this family is quick exhaust valve. Quick exhaust valve increases the speed of the cylinder. Quick exhaust valve comes in different connection sizes. In quick exhaust valve, the air cylinder exhaust is directly connected to the atmosphere rather than going through the directional control valve. A silencer is attached at exhaust port to reduce the noise. Some of the other products in this group are check valve or non return valve, pilot operated non return valve, inline slide valve, AND valve, OR valve, Speed exhaust controller and Pressure reducing valves etc. In case of non return valve, valve shuts off instantly whenever there is a reverse flow. In AND valve air delivers at the outlet only when the air signal is present on both inputs. When two different pressures applied, the lower pressure is connected to outlet. In an OR valve which is also called shuttle valve, an output signal is present whenever at least one of 2 signal inputs is activated. Shuttle valve is widely used in safety circuit. All major manufacturers like SMC, FESTO, CKD, JANATICS, COMOZZI, PNEUMAX, PARKER, SPAC, NORGREN and others do manufacture speed controller, check valve, quick exhaust valve and Pressure reducing valves etc.

For detailed product series and model numbers of different manufacturers, please visit PRODUCT INFORMATION ZONE.

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