Local time: Fri 12 Jun 2020 05:40
White House Products Ltd - Hydraulic Pump Supplier

 

Hydraulic Piston Pump Control Valves 101

You have a variety of different options and configurations you can consider when you are designing or updating your hydraulic system. One such configuration uses piston pumps and their control valves to help match the power available to that required.

What Is a Hydraulic Piston Pump Control Valve?

A piston pump control valve is a valve used to control the flow and maximum pressure produced by a piston pump. Control valves come in three general types:

 

  • Constant pressure control.
  • Pressure flow power control
  • Pressure flow control
  • Torque limiter
  • Electrical flow control
  • Flow control with pilot pressure dependent pressure control

Each of these valves is able to be configured to function based on your system requirements. All are directly mounted to open circuit piston pumps and enable the available energy to be utilized as efficiently as possible to provide the hydraulic circuit with the correct amount of flow and pressure required.

What Does a Piston pump Control Valve Do?

Piston pump control valves control the angle of the swashplate in the piston pump either by taking a signal via an internal or external pilot line or a combination of the two. So, for example if one is using a maximum power controller then the valve will control the pump to provide a combination of flow and pressure that does not exceed the power available to drive the pump.

How Is a Piston Pump Control Valve Used?

Piston pump control valves are mounted on the pump but may work in conjunction with a directional valve. They are set by the user and then operate automatically to provide fluid to the circuit at the flows and pressures according to the valve settings. Piston pump control valves do not normally determine the direction of flow, this has to be done by an external line mounted direction control valve external to the pump.

It is worth noting that whilst piston pump control valves work only in conjunction with piston pumps all sorts of line mounted control valves are used with all types of pumps: piston, gear or vane etc.

For assistance in selecting the piston pumps for your applications, please feel free to contact White House Products Ltd. at +44 (0) 1475 742500 today!

Back to blog posts