AMminiHyd - Additively Manufactured Hydraulic Spool Valve

Together with Wandfluh and the FHNW, the p|dz and inspire have developed two sizes (NG3 and NG1.5) of an additively manufactured hydraulic spool valve in the framework of the Innosuisse project AMminiHyd. In the first part of the project, new design concepts were developed which exploit the design freedom of the L-PBF process. These were compared based on CFD simulations and the chosen concept was then iteratively optimized and finally adapted for manufacturability. This redesign for additive manufacturing resulted in a reduction of the pressure loss in the valve body of 60% and a weight reduction of 50% for the NG3 valve body with respect to a conventionally manufactured valve design. In the second part of the project, the potential for miniaturization was demonstrated by developing a scaled-down version with a channel diameter of 1.5mm (NG1.5). Both manufactured (stainless steel, 1.4404) and tested valves are shown in the picture below.