A valve closing body as a central sensory-utilizable component

Abstract

Enhancing traditional machine elements by using their embodied physical effects as an additional sensorial function to create so called sensing machine elements (SME) has been gaining momentum as a novel research topic. Utilizing those machine elements has the potential to enable a wide digitization regarding the creation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) in all mechanical engineering fields, since the basic components of every machine are being enhanced. These basic machine elements are often located close to the point of interest and therefore enable the user to collect data directly within the process itself. This design idea for the location of sensors or sensory functions is called in-situ measurement. While the enhancement of machine elements to SMEs seems promising the question arises if not other components and their physical characteristics can be used as sensors themselves. Ideally, to minimize the distance between the desired target variable and the actual measurand, those sensory-utilizable components are integral components for the main function of the machine. One of those central components is the closing body of a valve. During the concept phase of a new valve a concept was chosen while also regarding the future possible integration of sensory functions. With this in mind it was possible to enhance the chosen concept doing a small tweak during the design phase with a sensory function, that detects the current position of the valves closing body, using its physical properties. The basic idea behind the concept and design phase as well as the gathered data from a first prototype is presented in this paper.