A pressure regulator is a tool that allows you to control the pressure of liquids or gases. The main purpose of a pressure regulator is to decrease the high input pressure and maintain a constant pressure in a system. These regulators are very useful for many industrial and domestic applications. Mostly they are used to regulate oxygen in health care equipment, in gas grills, in vehicles to regulate the fuel pressure and in the industrial applications.
Pressure Regulator Components:
An electro pneumatic pressure regulator is consists of the below listed elements:
- It contains a sensing element, diaphragm or membrane.
- A spring, diaphragm actuator or piston actuator that works as a loading element and used to apply the necessary force to the reducing element.
- It contains an inlet and outlet.
- A pressure decreasing element that is used as the poppet valve.
Types of Pressure Regulators:
Typically there are three main types of the electronic pressure regulators:
Single stage Pressure Regulators:
These regulators are used for small pressure reduction in the range of 100 to 150 PSI. Mostly it is used for machine tools, test stands, linear actuators, automated machinery and leak test etc.
Dual Stage Pressure Regulator:
It is good for use at the places where you have to stabilize a large variation in the inlet pressure.
Three Stage Pressure Regulator:
These electric pressure regulators allow you to maintain a stable outlet pressure and with the help of it you can do larger pressure reductions. The general places where you can use it are medical devices, UAV’s, hydrogen fuel cells, and analytical instruments etc.
According to the working of the electronic pressure regulators they are further categorized into types:
Direct Operated/Self Operated Regulators:
They are the simplest form of the digital pressure regulators. A direct operated regulator works at a lower set of pressure such as below 0.07 bar (1 PSI) and can have greater accuracy. But at the higher accuracy, up to 35 bar (500 PSI) the accuracy level will be 10-20%. Meanwhile, if the pressure will be low then accuracy will be high.
These electronic pressure regulators do not use any external sensing line to operate effectively. They use a spring actuated valve that is controlled directly by the diaphragm assembly. The flowing media activates the diaphragm and the increasing downstream pressure acts on the diaphragm. By compressing the spring it closes the valve plug. When the downstream pressure falls, the spring has greater force than the medium force and acts on the diaphragm causing the valve to be opened.
Pilot Operated Regulators:
Pilot-operated regulators provide a strong control over the pressure. These electronic pressure controls are used with gas form cylinders or small storage tanks.
However you can use it to control:
- Large variations in flow rates.
- Fluctuations in inlet pressure.
- To reduce the inlet pressure.
This type of control pressure regulator is basically a one stage or two stage device. A single stage regulator is good for making small reductions in the pressure.
A double stage regulator is also known as the pilot operated regulator. In it, the first stage contains a spring actuated pilot to control the pressure on the diaphragm. As the pressure increases the spring gets more compressed and the pilot valve opens up forming a pressure differential between the inlet side and output valve. This pressure differential actuates the main operating valve and the medium flows with a low pressure. However, if the pressure on the spring actuated pilot is low, then there will be no downstream flow.
Final Thoughts:
Electronic pressure Regulators are very vital to maintain the accurate pressure according to the needs of the system. The absence of a regulator can cause extreme damages to your system. So you should use one to save your system and the workers from the hazardous loss.
