Investigation of a Switch-Off Time Variation Problem of a Fast Switching Valve

In a series of experiments the peak current during switch on of a fast switching valve, which was found to be out of tolerances with respect to some armature dimensions, was varied to realize different switch on times. Despite the fact that the holding current was identical for all cases and the time between switch on and off was very long, the valve’s switch off time showed an unexpected dependency on the switch on peak current value. This paper presents an explanation of this phenomenon by coarse mathematical models, demonstrating that the manufacturing error in combination with friction, skewness, and fluid stiction are responsible for this behavior.