Tractorsport Flowbench Forum Archive

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:47 pm**

Who would be interested in one way valves that you could install on your vacuum motors so that you could turn them on one at a time without loosing air pressure through motors that are not on and possibly ruin some motors by turning them on while they are spinning backwards from passing air.

The valves would be about a 6" diameter chamber that you could slip over the housing of the vacuum motor, ot attach to a flat surface. The valve air passage would have a 2" inside diameter.

What would you pay for such a valve?

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2005 11:12 am**

Mouse I would be interested in such a animal. My pitot bench makes quite the spark when 5 motors are running and I flip the last one on. Do you have any pics?
Art

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:09 pm**

Mouse, How about a 3" or 4" valve opening diameter with a 6 inch housing?

I would be think that going from a 3" check valve opening to a 2" fan motor opening would be better for flow vs going from a 2" check valve opening to
a 6" diameter expansion then back to a 2" fan motor opening. JMO.

I would pay more for the materials to get a better flowing valve vs trying to same costs on materials.

Tom V.

Posted: **Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:23 pm**

I can purchase 2" flappers, any larger will require hand built flappers. Larger flappers will weigh more, requiring more pressure to open. I will make a drawing and post it tommorrow. I will also flow test a 2" prototype and post the results.

John

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2005 2:21 pm**

Here is a drawing of a 4" check valve I can produce. It will have a 2.4" intake diameter.

Speak up if you require a 6" version that will slip over the motor housing of your vacuum motor, let me know. I can produce that too.

These check valves are for your individual vacuum motors to prevent them from passing air and/or spinning backwards when not all motors are turned on.

Ooops, the overall dimension of the larger khaki colored housing should be labled 5.0" (not 4.5").

If you require a mounting flange, a 4" ABS toilet flange will work perfectly, available from any hardware store. The toilet flange will provide you with the flange, screw holes and a collar to slip the valve unit into.

John

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2005 4:33 pm**

Mouse, I guess the "Proof is in the Testing"

Let us know what the flow loss across the valve is, please.

What are you thinking for cost for the valve?

Tom V.

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:00 pm**

John,

Have you tested them at all yet John?

My motors all flush mount to the back of the divider board so I would need adapters on the intake side of the board to mount the valves.

Can the valves be purchased separately? I would like to build my own adapters.

Larry

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:57 pm**

I would be interested if I could figure out a way of getting my motors off the mounting board.

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:06 pm**

I will try to build and test a prototype today (Sun) and post the results.

Larry, they would be available seperately, as in units of one, and without adaptors (flanges). Still no guess on price yet however.

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:11 pm**

I once built an overflow for my spa which used a ping pong ball and some standard PVC pipe fittings. It held positive downward air pressure without leaking, but the ball could float up off it's seat to allow water to overflow safely.

Could something similar be done on a larger scale ? Maybe a suitable plastic ball from a toy shop and some standard PVC pipe fittings ???

It just requires a very light ball sitting on a seat restrained by some sort of simple cage.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:52 am**

Tony,

I can see that working.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:57 pm**

What's wrong with a light weight aluminum flat door , hinged at the top , on every motor? If you turn on one motor it's door opens upward and the pressure closes the others against an o-ring or weather stripping. Turn on another and it will open it's door since it can overcome the one motor because of leakage or air use. The motor chamber would always be at a pressure less than that reqired for a motor to open the door. Even if the door is bigger than the motor outlet it would only "see" the differential pressure at the motor outlet.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:05 pm**

Here are the surprising test results of the Flow Performance prototype check valve:

Vacuum motor is a single #16-1234 from surpluscenter.com
Flow rate measured through a Flow Performance FE2.0m flow element.

SCFM without check valve 140.3
SCFM with check valve 141.6

I will draw up the test bench and some other test data and post it on this thread soon.

John

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:42 am**

Here is a drawing of the test setup for the Flow Performance 4" check valve.

Without check valve: Test pressure +2.76"wc SCFM 140.3
With check valve installed +2.89"wc SCFM 141.6

Don't have a price yet.

John

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:13 pm**

Mouse,
I think it's interesting that your check valve arrangement helps the flow through the vacmotor. Looking at one (a vacmotor) it makes sense, though. They aren't pretty. Your tube surrounding the motor probably helps organize the airflow much like a header tube does on an exhaust port. I think it may also help keep the motor cooler by channelling the air closer and faster. Maybe you could put a Raytec gun on it next time you run your test rig. Making the motors run cooler would be an influencing factor for potential buyers.
I have not committed to needing the check valves, yet, but I have been watching your thread with great interest. The bench I'm building uses Audie depression control, and I hope it can run all of the motors slow enough that I won't have to shut any of them "Off" when testing. That's something I won't know until my bench is complete enough to test run.
My only other experience is with my SF-110, and it only has 2 motors in each direction.

Tractorsport Flowbench Forum Archive

One way valves