Customer
Our client, a French company, is the European leader in the distribution and management of water in buildings.
Tested product
Pressure Reducing Valves
A pressure reducer is a device that lowers the inlet pressure to obtain a set and constant value at the outlet.
Objective
Testing pressure reducing valves according to different parameters before going into production.
Problematic issues
The test bench shall perform tests in accordance with EN 1567 (Building services valves - Water pressure reducing valves and combined water pressure reducing valves - Requirements and tests)
Solution and result
LF Technologies has designed a stand-alone test bench for pressure reducing valves equipped with a multi-stage centrifugal pump driven by a variable speed drive. A pressure sensor, placed at the inlet of the flow meter, allows the pressure to be controlled by varying the speed of the pump from 0.5 to 16 bar.
The pressure reducer to be tested is installed on the bench using suitable fittings.
Two sensors measure the ΔP between upstream and downstream of the test piece. The flow rate is varied from 0 to 11,000l/h by means of a motorised valve.
A circulator and a heat exchanger cool the water in the tank placed in the bench, and the temperature is monitored via a temperature sensor.
The program installed on the control PC was developed under LabVIEW. It allows to control the test pressure (via a pump) and the flow rate (via a proportional valve), but also to measure, display curves and record :
- the inlet and outlet pressures
- flow rate;
- temperature.
