Design Consideration Investigation of Soft-Valve Pipe

This paper focuses on investigating the configuration and parameter selection of the silicone pipe in soft valve. According to the working principles of soft valve, five configurations and four structural parameters of silicone pipes are proposed and analyzed. The relationship between the pipe configuration and breakthrough pressure is investigated through experimental tests. The influence of the structural parameters on the breakthrough pressure is revealed by experiments as well. Based on the revealed design considerations, a three-way soft valve is designed, fabricated and tested. The experimental results show that the designed pipes have great stability and good sealability, which ensures the three-way soft valve possesses high breakthrough pressure. Finally, two application tests of the three-way soft valve are carried out, which further confirm the effectiveness of designed pipe and designed soft valve.