A rotary valve (also called rotary-motion valve) is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid, gas or dry bulk products through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rotary valve. Rotary valves have been applied in numerous applications, including:
Changing the pitch of brass instruments. Controlling the steam and exhaust ports of steam engines, most notably in the Corliss steam engine. Periodically reversing the flow of air and fuel across the open hearth furnace. Loading sample on chromatography columns. Certain types of two-stroke and four-stroke engines. Most hydraulic automotive power steering control valves.
Use in brass instruments
In the context of brass musical instruments, rotary valves are found on horns, trumpets, trombones, flugelhorns, and tubas. The cornet derived from the posthorn, by applying rotary valves to it in the 1820s in France. An alternative to a rotary valve instrument is the more common piston valve trumpet. However, many European trumpet players tend to favor rotary valves. Trombone F attachment valves are usually rotary, with several variations on the basic design also in use, such as the Thayer axial flow valve and the Hagmann valve. The rotary valve was first applied to the horn in 1824 by Nathan Adams (1783–1864) of Boston and patented in 1835 by Joseph Riedl.
Use in industry Rotary valves for industrial manufacturing are often used in bulk material handling, dust collection or pneumatic conveying systems, depending on the application. The valve is used to regulate the flow of a product or material by maintaining a consistent flow rate suited to the process. Controlling the flow of material helps to prevent issues such as jamming, material leakage and damage to the valve itself. Typical applications are for feeding a weighed hopper or for feeding a mill that can be clogged by the product. Valves are part of the material exchange process and work in metering or feeding applications, function as rotary airlocks, or provide a combination of airlock and metering functions. A rotary valve in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry is used to dose and feed solid bulk products within the processes. Valves are also commonly used in construction, plastics, recycling, agriculture and forestry, or wherever material needs to be safely and efficiently conveyed from one point to another. An airlock-type rotary valve receives and dispenses material from two chambers with different pressure levels. They seal air flow between the valve's inlet and outlet to maintain a consistent pressure differential, which promotes efficient material flow. The valve's pressurized chamber prevents foreign material from infiltrating the housing and keeps conveyed material from escaping the system.
Use in engine design
Four-stroke engines
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