Design and performance study of grease spool-less relief valve.

Area of Science:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Fluid Dynamics
• Tribology

Background:

• Centralized lubrication systems often face pipeline blockages due to high resistance in grease delivery.
• Existing relief valve designs may not adequately address the unique challenges of grease flow dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a novel spool-less relief valve for centralized lubrication systems to mitigate grease pipeline blockages.
• To develop a mathematical model and conduct simulations to understand grease flow characteristics and relief valve performance.
• To experimentally validate the performance and reliability of the proposed relief valve design.

Main Methods:

• Combined hydrodynamic equations and grease rheological models to establish plug flow characteristics.
• Developed a mathematical model to derive the relationship between velocity and flow resistance in the valve's core pipe.
• Utilized numerical simulations (Tecplot 360 EX 2015 R1) for analyzing grease overflow and performance parameters.
• Constructed a performance test platform to conduct experimental studies using NLGI 1 lithium grease.

Main Results:

• Derived general rules for grease relief pressure, relief capacity, and flow patterns.
• Established an evaluation model for predicting relief valve performance.
• Numerical simulations provided velocity and pressure distributions for grease flow.
• Experimental results verified the safety, stability, and feasibility of the spool-less relief valve.

Conclusions:

• The developed spool-less relief valve effectively addresses pipeline blockage issues in grease delivery systems.
• The study provides a robust framework for designing and evaluating relief valves for viscous fluid applications.
• The experimental validation confirms the practical applicability and reliability of the novel valve design.