Design of Orifice for Reducing Hunting in Pneumatic Positioners for Pilot Valves in Nuclear Power Plants
The reliability of control valves is critical in nuclear power plants to ensure precise fluid regulation and prevent risks associated with overheating or decreased efficiency. Recently, the supply of imported control valves used in these plants has been discontinued, making the development of domestic alternatives an urgent necessity. This study focuses on the design of an orifice in the pilot valve pipe of a positioner to reduce hunting, a key issue that compromises control stability. Fluid analysis was conducted using ANSYS CFX to investigate the fluid behavior in the pipe with the orifice. The analysis methods included enhanced meshing techniques, turbulence models, and residual values to improve convergence and accuracy. To meet the operational requirements of nuclear power plants (outlet pressure: 3.2 bar, inlet pressure: 7 bar), the inlet fluid velocity was determined. The pressure and pressure hunting were analyzed. Results showed that the selected inlet velocity satisfied the operational conditions, and pressure hunting values were measured and analyzed. The findings provide a basis for further optimizing orifice shapes to achieve the target pressure hunting value of 0.5%.