A Numerical Study on the Flow Characteristics of Temperature Control Valve by Pressure Compensation

압력 평형식 온도조절 밸브 내부 유동 특성에 대한 수치적 연구

Temperature Control Valve (TCV) is one of the useful temperature control devices, which is used to control constant temperature of working fluid in power and chemical plants and domestic water supply systems. TCV is composed of body, cylinder and piston, and the body shape has a symmetrical H-type. In general, it has several inlet and outlet holes, and its shape is like as tubular sleeve. The piston has three rings two rings of the end of piston have the function of controlling inlet flow rate with hot and cold working fluids, the center ring has the function of preventing hot and cold water from intermixing. Consequently, the shapes of piston and cylinder are the main design parameters in the performance of TCV. In this study, numerical analyses were carried out with two different piston and cylinder shapes to investigate the functions as a temperature control valve and the flow characteristics according to piston opening grade in TCV. Using a commercial code, FLUENT, velocity and pressure fields in TCV are obtained under steady, standard $k -{\epsilon}$ turbulence model and no-slip condition.