Design of an additively manufactured hydraulic spool valve

Additive manufacturing offers a large potential to optimize the performance of components. But how large is this potential in the field of hydraulics and what should be considered during the redesign process? These questions are answered in our recently published case study on the design of an additively manufactured hydraulic spool valve.

28.11.2022

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The redesign of a hydraulic spool valve for L-PBF in collaboration with Wandfluh AG: (a) Comparison of the CAD geometry of the original milled valve design with the L-PBF valve design; (b) Manufactured and post-processed spool valve. Conventionally manufactured directional spool valve with a nominal size of 3 (NG3, channel diameter 3 mm, spool diameter 8 mm). Overview of topics and workflow. Design concepts 1 through 5 derived from different combinations of the options for the three sensitive DPs in comparison with the conventional valve design (reference) and the associated pressure drop of the path P-A at 12 l/min. (a) Final design in selected build orientation with required support structures; (b) Build plate with manufactured valve bodies and support structures; (c) Valve body following post-processing. Measurement results of the pressure drop occurring in the hydraulic valve at different volumetric flow rates: Comparison between the conventional valve and the L-PBF valve design. (a) Miniaturisation of the valve design from NG3 to NG1.5; (b) Photo of the manufactured NG3 and NG1.5 valve.

Together with external page Wandfluh and the external page 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. The results and learnings from this project are described in the published article "Design of an additively manufactured hydraulic directional spool valve: an industrial case study".

The case study demonstrates the benefits of the design freedom of the LPBF process for hydraulic components by achieving a pressure drop reduction of 60% and a weight reduction of 50%. The conceptual design phase, in which several design variants are considered, and the CFD simulation-based evaluation of these concepts, as well as the experimental validation of the final design, are emphasized. Finally, the potential of AM for scaling the generated designs with little additional design effort was demonstrated and discussed.

Our publication is available as open access. external page Full paper

For more information, please contact Urs Hofmann.