Design of Rotary-Type Flow Control Valve for Control of Water-Driven Spindle

Water-driven spindle was developed for producing small and precise parts by the diamond turning processes. Rotational speed of the spindle can be controlled by the flowrate supplied to the spindle. The paper describes a newly developed rotary-type flow control valve that is designed for controlling rotational speed of the water-driven spindle. In particular, the paper focuses on the establishment of the mathematical model capable of representing the characteristics of the open loop control system composed of the pump, flow control valve and spindle. Mathematical models are then derived so that a feedback control system can be designed using the models. Performances of the flow control valve and the spindle are examined through simulation as well as experiments. It is then verified that the derived mathematical models are capable of representing the performance of the system. In addition, the required positioning accuracy of valve rotation for achieving desired control of the rotational speed of the spindle is considered based on the derived linearized mathematical model.