All About Valves

Archive for February, 2010

How do the numbers of cylinders, valves, and cam shafts affect an engine? Also, what effect does the volume have?

The more cylinders, the better the smoothness, torque, less vibration, but worse mpg and cost.
More valves add more high-rev power to an engine due to the more efficient mixture filling.
No. of camshafts depends on engine layout (in-line, V, flat) and on no. of Valves. More camshafts doesn’t necessarily mean better valve control, but it makes the engine more expensive.
The volume (ie, engine displacement) is more important than sheer power. The greater the displacement, the better the power progression, the torque and worse mpg. Current trend is to squeeze ever more power from the low-displacement engines.

ideally one on each faucet and one on the main main one on the toilet

A leaky engine is one of the most common and most irritating issues that tend to pop up for drivers. An oil leak can happen at any time regardless of things like weather or the age of the vehicle. Checking for oil leaks is something that you should do regularly, even if you have no reason to believe there may be one. Even a small leak can go unnoticed for a long time until it grows into something much more serious. It’s simply best to be safe and eliminate that possibility.

An oil leak is usually found under the front half of the car, where the engine sits. A bad leak will be noticeable just by getting down on the ground and looking under. For something smaller, you may need to get up close. Oil is pretty easy to identify. It is very thick and either brown or black. It has a certain smell that is not quite like other vehicle fluids. You will have a good idea if it’s an oil leak based on sight and smell.

An oil leak usually comes from the Valves or the oil pan. Any number of things can be the cause of an oil leak. It can happen even on newer cars without warning. Oil is essential to your engine’s ability to run smoothly and it can become an expensive problem if not dealt with right away. New cars should be covered by warranty for a random oil leak.

Once you are certain that you have an oil leak, check the dipstick. Check it like you would any other time and take note of how empty it is. This will give you an indication of how fast the oil is leaking and how bad your problem really is. A very slow leak still needs to be dealt with but it gives you more time to call your mechanic without severe worry. If you have a massive leak, call them and tell them. It may have to be towed in the worst case scenario.

If you can’t see where the leak is coming from you may have to take some further measures to pinpoint it. Never just assume that you know the exact spot and start trying to fix it. You can waste time and money this way. You need to know where the leak really is. This means getting a little down and dirty but it will be worth it when you can get to the root of the problem.

Try cleaning the engine with a good, safe engine cleaner. Washing away other dirt and grime might make it easier to see where the oil is coming out. If you still can’t find the leak, drive the car up on to safe lifts, like the ones used by mechanics or for at home oil changes. A jack is ok for lifting but you should never get under a car only secured by a jack. Safety should always come first. If you can’t get the car safely lifted, have a mechanic do it. Check for oil leaks as soon as you suspect them to avoid potential vehicle failure.

Levi Quinn
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/checking-for-an-oil-leak-673746.html

Why does one of my Valves have oil? Will chose best answer pics

on the upper right valve

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr310/dbz0781/eclipse%20motor/P1020937.jpg

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr310/dbz0781/eclipse%20motor/P1020939.jpg

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr310/dbz0781/eclipse%20motor/P1020938.jpg

If there was oil on top of the piston, then you probably have an oil leak in the cylinder head and may need a new one. Id get a valve spring compressor/remover and take out the valve and look inside with a flash light and see if you can find it yourself.

Hello all
Does anybody know of some hardware and/or software that will let me control a number of liquid valves and sense temperatures with probes away from the PC. I’m sure that there must be something out there somewhere???
I’ve done the usuall googleing but with no luck.
Thanks In Advance Rich
Hello all
Does anybody know of some hardware and/or software that will let me control a number of liquid Valves and sense temperatures with probes away from the PC. I’m sure that there must be something out there somewhere???
I’ve done the usuall googleing but with no luck.
Thanks In Advance Rich

All I need to do is open and close a valve(6inch) allowing liquid to be added into tank (computer controlled) and a tank under that tank with water in it that is fed by a hot water supply that is running past it. Valves can divert hot water into the lower tank when it cools to say 35c to up the temp to 37c again. This keeps the upper tank at 37c. Maybe theres a lego machines software out there???

This must be achivable with a simple program that has allready been written?

TA

Rather than get all complicated with control valves and switches, why don’t you just add a heating element and temp controller to the top tank? This will have the advantage of having zero moving parts and would be more reliable.

However if you really want to go the valvle route you need to start with the design of the pipe system and understand exactly how it is going to operate before you try to automate it. For example these valves you want to control, are they going to be electrically operated or pneumatic. Will the valves need to modulate to control flow or will full on or full off flow control do? Same for temp sensing, do you need to read temperature into your controller or can you use a temp switch which provides ON/Off input to the control system

These simple question will help determine your control strategy and minimized the complexity of the controller and system.

Having a PC control a critical system is not recommended. I would recommend a small micro/nano sized PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) which has limited Input/Ouput capability but has the advantage of being robust and stand alone. Analog input are available for these small PLC’s and some micro PLC’s have the ability to add additional function modules (Temperature input, Digital Output, Digital Inputs)

Some brands of micro PLC’s are Keyence, GeFanuc, Unitronics.

The Unitronics brand has teh advantage of providing some free software which allows communication between the PLC and a PC for exchange of information and data logging directly in to a spreadsheet.

I’ve done a lot of electrical work around my house, but I’ve never done any plumbing before. The guy at Home Depot told me that I need to heat the fitting, but not the pipe itself. He also said that Valves (the new ballcock type) are easily destroyed by overheating. How do I know when the pipe and fitting is ready to accept the solder? How do I avoid damaging the valve? How do I know how strong to turn up the flame on the propane torch?

first, get all your tools together. torch, solder, flux and emery cloth or sandpaper. clean the end of the pipe, get it bright and shiny. then clean the inside of the fitting, getting it bright and shiny. now don’t touch the end of the pipe or the inside of the fitting with your fingers. there is oil on your fingers which will keep the solder from sticking. after getting everything shiny clean cover the end of the pipe and the inside of the fitting with flux, or soldering paste. next insert the pipe into the fitting and give it a quarter turn to distribute the flux. next, heat the fitting with the torch, using the tip of the inner blue flame. heat the fitting, not the pipe. when the fitting is hot enough take the torch away from the fitting and touch the solder to the joint. if its hot enough the solder will flow into the joint through capillary action. all you need to next is wipe the joint with a dry cloth and the job is done.

My oil pressure bottoms out at idle…..maybe stays at 5. When driving or reving the engine to 2000 RPM it goes up to about 20. I think that this is indicating a Pressure Valve that is stuck in the open position, however I can’t find any reference to a pressure valve in any Chiltons or Hanes Manuals. Any graphic help would be appreciated.

be sure you actually have oil in the engine!!! look for a oil pressure sender (not valve). I could be wrong, but look around the oil filter for a 1 wire sender. check the oil level first, please!

When I turn hot water on all the way I get very low flow but cold water has good flow,this is at the spout before I swtch to shower,It is at both my bathrooms also the sink flow is good on both hot and cold.

Maybe a "low flow" shower head?

Also, what is the most Valves a cylinder can have?

average is 8, 1 intake and 1 exhaust per cylinder, there are 16 valve, 2 intake and 2 exhaust per cylinder…

hello!
I’m designing a floor cleaner and for a water release system i was thinking of using a ball valve, connected to an actuator,however i’m not fully sure what to look for, and although I can buy the actuator and ball valve together, I’m not sure how to connect it to a motor and battery?
If anyone can help my with this I’d really appreciate it!!
Thank You!!

An actuator for a ball valve can use either compressed air or an eectric power source to drive a motor. Air actuated Valves can operate very quickly and are a little cheaper but they require a compressed air source and pneumatic controls to operate. An electric operator uses a geared motor to operate the valve and are slower. Electric operators are more expensive but only require power and some switches to operate. See link for hook up details….

The motor is built into the actuator so its just a matter of mating the actuator up with the valve.
It would be best to buy a complete unit with the actuator and valve already attached. These will cost at a minimum several hundred dollars.

Using a ball valve may not operate fast enough nor give you fine control if your considering using it to control the cleaning fluid applied to the floor. Instead consider using a Solenoid Valve instead. These are smaller valves and operate very quickly by just adding or removing power. Not to mention these are much cheaper $25 to $100 on average.