Plenum Volume Research Articles

A Pulsed Gas Valve for Fast Timeable High Pressure Operation

A fast opening, high pressure gas valve has been developed. It is electrically timeable and can admit several hundred cubic centimeters · atm gas from a plenum of 1 to 10 cm3 volume, initially filled at pressures up to 100 atm. The opening rate of the valve stopper is about 7 m/sec and is derived from the sudden release of the stored energy in an axially compressed nylon rod. Emptying time depends on plenum volume and is of the order of a few hundred microseconds.