Construction and Operation
A needle valve has a relatively small orifice with a long, tapered seat, and a needle-shaped plunger, on the end of a screw, which exactly fits this seat.
As the screw is turned and the plunger retracted, flow between the seat and the plunger is possible; however, until the plunger is completely retracted the fluid flow is significantly impeded. Since it takes many turns of the fine-threaded screw to retract the plunger, precise regulation of the flow rate is possible.
The virtue of the needle valve is from the vernier effect of the ratio between the needle's length and its diameter, or the difference in diameter between needle and seat. A long travel axially (the control input) makes for a very small and precise change radially (affecting the resultant flow). Needle valves may be used in vacuum systems, when a very precise control of gas flow is required, at low pressure, such as when filling gas-filled vacuum tubes, gas lasers and similar devices.
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