Hydrovane valve functions?

[julianf]

I, eventually, move the broken hydrovane here, so its close to a power feed now, and i want to have a go at bringing it back to life.

I have the service doc, but, whilst it tells you the torque settings etc i have no flow diagram, nor know the functions of the various valves.

I wondered if i may write a list of them here (direct from the manual) and if anyone can tell me what the actual function of the parts are, so as i can have a better hope of getting to the bottom of the faults?


So, the list is -

Unloader valve
Servo valve
Vacuum relief valve
Oil return valve
Safety valve (i can probably understand this one, but i include it for completeness!)
Minimum pressure valve
Thermal by-pass valve
Oil relief valve


So thats the valves. The only other unknown function part is the -

Oil Separator

Again, i have the torque data etc and the diagrams, but without knowing the function of these blocks, and how they relate to one another, im pretty lost.

Attached is the pdf manual that this list was taken from.

Thank you

 

[julianf]

Some Google AI thing says -

Oil Injection: Oil is continuously injected into the compression chamber for cooling, sealing, and lubrication.

Oil Separation: The discharged air and oil mixture passes through a primary and then a final oil separator to remove most of the oil.


So, one (fairly obvious) one down, 7 to go!

 

[awemawson]

Several animations on the web here is an example:

 

[m_c]

From memory (and my only compressor training was for screw compressors!)-

Unloader Valve - Could either 'unload' aka dump air once compressor is at set pressure, or dump pressure when compressor is stopped (probably the latter in this case)
Servo Valve - Usually controls the compressor output/demand.
Vacuum relief valve - Most likely releases any vacuum in the compressor when it stops, to avoid excess oil getting drawn in when stopped.
Oil return valve - regulates the oil being returned in to the compressor.
Safety valve - should never open, unless something else has failed.
Minimum pressure valve - As screw/vane compressors rely on a continuous feed of oil in the intake air, it prevents compressed air from being output until there is sufficient pressure built up internally to force oil into the air intake.
Thermal bypass valve - controls oil flow through the oil cooler depending on temperature.
Oil relief valve - most likely stops things from going bang if too much oil gets to somewhere that it shouldn't.

 

[julianf]

Thank you.

The issue this one has is that it spins up, no air comes out at all (even though it's outlet is, so far as I remember, entirely open) and then it hits red on the pressure gauge.

If the outlet was blocked and the unloader failing, then that would make sense, but the outlet is open, at least externally.