In most air and hydraulic fluid power circuits, valves are used to control the direction, rate, and pressure in fluid lines. There are many different types of valves that can be used to achieve this control, and each valve has its own specific purpose.

Some valves can regulate flow while still allowing it to pass through another section while other types are designed to simply allow the flow to pass, stop, or switch direction.

Your traditional flow control valve will have a changeable aperture that can close to slow down the flow rate or open to increase the flow rate.

A flow control valve offers increased functionality in comparison to a traditional control valve, and they can allow you to regulate the pressure and flow.

What Are Flow Control Valves?

A flow control valves main purpose in pneumatics is to regulate the pressure or flow of a fluid. As a part of a pneumatic circuit, a flow control valves function is to reduce the rate of flow in a specific section, which then results in a slower actuator speed.

It’s designed so that the air will flow in one direction, which in turn, allows free flow in the opposite direction.

Some flow control valves can run backwards if there is a check valve bypass backwards.

There are different types of flow control valves, however, and they all serve a different purpose depending on what it’s machine is intended to do.

How Do Flow Control Valves Work?

Flow is directly proportional to speed and pressure is directly proportional to strength. If you increase the flow into an actuator, you will increase its speed. If you increase the pressure available to it, you are going to increase the strength available to it.

The flow changes the speed of an actuator, pressure changes the force of an actuator, and the valve position changes the direction of an actuator.

Flow control valves work by requiring a pressure differential between the upstream and downstream.

A flow control valve is connected to control the exiting pressure from the exhaust. This cause the air pressure to expel through a connection hose at a reduced rate.

So therefore, it’s not directly going to exhaust it and it has to travel through the valve at an increased resistance. It’s expelled extremely slowly, but is also proportionally controlled by the flow control valve.

If you adjust a flow control valve, you will notice that it will control the exiting exhaust rate and the extracting speed of the bore will be controlled.

The air traveling through is normally going to be put through the exhaust, in the case of using a flow control valve, it forces the air to be put through a path of resistance. Air is only allowed to travel in one direction directly through at full pressure.

When the air pressures traveling in the opposite direction through a path of increased resistance, it gets controlled proportionally by a valve control. This reduces the amount of exhaust that is being expelled.