• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.913-918
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• 2016

A three-way reversing valve, which provides rapid and accurate changes in the water flow direction without requiring any precise control device, is used in automotive washing machines to remove oil and dirt that remain on the machined engine and transmission blocks. Because of the complicated shape of the bottom-plug, however, cavitation occurs in the plug. In this study, the cavitation index and POC (percent of cavitation) were used to quantitatively evaluate the cavitation effect occurring in the bottom-plug on the downstream side. An optimal shape design was conducted via parametric study with a simple CAE model to avoid time-consuming CFD analysis and hard-to-achieve convergence. To verify the results of the numerical analysis, a flow visualization test was conducted using a specimen prepared according to ISA-RP75.23. In this test, the flow characteristics, such as cavitation occurring on the downstream side, were investigated using flow test equipment that included a valve, pump, flow control system, and high-speed camera.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.1123-1129
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• 2015

A pair of two-way valves typically is used in automotive washing machines, where the water flow direction is frequently reversed and highly pressurized clean water is sprayed to remove the oil and dirt remaining on machined engine and transmission blocks. Although this valve system has been widely used because of its competitive price, its application is sometimes restricted by surging effects, such as pressure ripples occurring in rapid changes in water flow caused by inaccurate valve control. As an alternative, one three-way reversing valve can replace the valve system because it provides rapid and accurate changes to the water flow direction without any precise control device. However, a cavitation effect occurs because of the complicated bottom plug shape of the valve. In this study, the cavitation index and percent of cavitation (POC) were introduced to numerically evaluate fluid flows via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. To reduce the cavitation effect generated by the bottom plug, the optimal shape design was carried out through a parametric study, in which a simple computer-aided engineering (CAE) model was applied to avoid time-consuming CFD analysis and difficulties in achieving convergence. The optimal shape design process using full factorial design of experiments (DOEs) and an artificial neural network meta-model yielded the optimal waist and tail length of the bottom plug with a POC value of less than 30%, which meets the requirement of no cavitation occurrence. The optimal waist length, tail length and POC value were found to 6.42 mm, 6.96 mm and 27%, respectively.