Investigation of Effects of Slider Structure on the Reversing Performance of Four-Way Reversing Valve

Abstract

Unsmooth reversing is one of the most common faults in the four-way reversing valve of the air conditioning system, and the airflow in the valve chamber and the shape of the slider of the reversing valve are the main factors in unsmooth reversing. In order to study the influence of the airflow in the chamber and the slider shape on the reversing process, the fluid flow in the valve chamber of a four-way reversing valve is obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and the influence of the slider structure on slider thrust and resistance of the four-way reversing valve is analyzed. Four-way reversing valves with no-cutting, straight-cutting and arc-cutting sliders are employed to evaluate the reversing characteristics. A pressure measuring device for a four-way reversing valve chamber is designed, which is performed to test the chamber pressure of three different types of sliders of four-way reversing valves. The maximum error of experimental tests and simulations is within 5% of engineering tolerance, so as to verify the reliability of numerical simulation. The resistance-to-thrust ratio of the slider is raised to evaluate the performance of the reversing, which can guide the design of the valve and slider. The results indicate that the chamber pressure and resistance-thrust ratio with the cutting slider are reduced, which is beneficial to the reversing of the four-way reversing valve. Compared with the straight-cutting structure, the arc-cutting slider four-way reversing valve has a more stable reversing process and better comprehensive reversing performance. Results demonstrate that both the straight-cutting structure and arc-cutting structure of the slider can improve the process performance but the arc-cutting slider is better.

Numerical Optimization Study of the Resistance Coefficient of U-Shaped Air Distributor

“…Domestic and foreign scholars have reduced the resistance inside air conditioning ducts by studying air conditioning valves, internal duct deflectors, ventilation processes, and heat transfer methods [20][21][22]. However, most of the domestic and foreign scholars' research objects are for the land-based environment, and few research designs are conducted for the marine environment.…”