Product Feature: Innovative Miniature Pneumatic Solenoid Valves

Smaller innovative components continue to become a necessity as advanced equipment and device makers reduce the size of their products into desktop, point-of-use and portable equipment. Miniature high-performance solenoid valves are designed to optimize operations when those devices require pneumatic pressure control. Humphrey’s 10mm and 12mm cartridge-style CSV valve series was developed specifically for such a need.

Humphrey cartridge-style CSV valve

What Is a CSV Miniature Pneumatic Solenoid Valve?

With a combination of high-performance functionality and unlimited porting flexibility, the cartridge-style valve (CSV) offers a low-mass, space-saving solution for creative design engineers seeking miniaturization. Their customizability and multiple valve porting manifolds eliminate the space required for pneumatic fittings and tube routing.

These valves feature a multi-purpose construction, meaning each CSV can perform normally closed or open as a 2- or 3-port valve, or as a selector or divertor function.

Key features:

Low power consumption
High flow capacity: 0.08 Cv (10mm) and 0.2 Cv (12mm)
Low mass
Application and manifold design services from Humphrey

How Miniature Cartridge-Style Solenoid Valves Work

CSVs use an electromagnetic coil that controls an internal seal. When an electrical current is applied to the coil, it creates a magnetic field that shifts the sealing mechanism and opens or closes the path within the valve body. Once power is removed, the spring returns the valve to its default position.

That simple yet efficient function allows for rapid switching, precise timing and reliable repeatability, making miniature CSVs well-suited for automated systems that need accurate pneumatic control. This type of solenoid valve is highly effective in valve blocks and manifolds that house flow passages. That allows you to save on internal mounting space and creates shorter flow paths, which is essential in portable and tabletop equipment.

Common Applications for Cartridge-Style Solenoid Valves

These products are common in a variety of industries thanks to their flexibility and ease of integration. Common applications include:

Medical devices: Due to its optimized internal flow paths, miniature CSVs reduce pressure drops, making them ideal for ventilators, oxygen concentrators, anesthesia delivery systems and automated sample equipment.
Testing and measurement: CSVs are effective for leak detection systems, multi-channel sampling systems and other measurement applications because of their ability to switch between different flow paths. They also support scalable system design.
Laboratory equipment: Miniature CSVs allow for precise media control in applications that require exact timing and routing, such as chromatography, which analyzes the makeup of different materials, like plastics and minerals, down to their molecular structure.
Analytical: CSVs support exact control of samples, reagents and other media in analytical instruments used for injection, dosing and cleaning applications
Robotics: Pneumatic grippers and robotic actuators need to reduce size and mass to function in tabletop units.

Miniature Cartridge Valves

How to Select the Right Valve for Your Application

Choosing the right CSV miniature solenoid valve requires evaluating some key factors. They’re designed specifically for low-pressure pneumatic applications, from vacuum to 30 psi. The 10mm CSV has a flow capacity of 45 LPM at 30 psi. The 12mm CSV has a flow capacity of 125 LPM at 30 psi.

Environmental conditions, including temperature range and exposure to moisture or contaminants, will influence your selection. Assess the space and integration requirements to ensure a valve fits seamlessly into your design.

Design and Installation Assistance

Humphrey offers design assistance, as well as development and production of customer-specific manifold solutions with the CSV series through our Engineered Solutions Group. The engineers have expertise in the design, performance and integration of pneumatic systems.

Find the Right Valve to Optimize Your Application at Humphrey Products

Our 10mm and 12mm miniature solenoid valves are available as is for normally closed and open functions and 2- and 3-way configurations. They’re extremely versatile and offer high-flow capacity from a low-current solenoid. Each valve is designed to enhance porting flexibility, even in the tightest spaces. Despite their durability and enhanced flow control, they deliver quiet operations to support patient comfort while still maintaining consistent media regulation.