Design and Performance of Newly-Developed Rubber Vacuum Pinch Valve: A Simulation Study

A novel rubber vacuum pinch-valve,a key component of the advanced water-saving vacuum toilet system and working in a low vacuum,was developed.The influence of the thickness,geometry and mechanical properties of the manually controlled rubber vacuum pinch-valve on the switching performance,including but not limited to the structural strength,durability,sealing capacity and maximum flow cross-sectional area,was empirically approximated,mathematically formulated with Mooney-Rivlin and Yeoh models,theoretically analyzed,and numerically simulated in finite element method with ANSYS software for design optimization.The simulated results show that when it comes to design requirements,the newly-developed vacuum pinch valve,2.5 mm in wall thickness,does an excellent job.