Electronic wear state determination in a valve arrangement

A valve arrangement comprising:

• a valve housing;
• an I/P converter configured to apply a control pressure;
• a valve mechanism configured to move axially within the valve housing, to be moved by way of an end-face control piston by application of the control pressure from the I/P converter;
• and
• electronic means for determining a wear state of the valve mechanism, the electronic means comprising:
• a position sensor system configured to, when the I/P converter maintains a constant opening cross section at least over a portion of a switching stroke of the valve mechanism, determine a time at which various positions of the valve mechanism along at least one of a ventilating and venting distance are reached;
• and
• an evaluation unit configured to mathematically derive speeds of the valve element prevailing at the various positions, and to generate a change profile of the derived speeds, wherein the derived speeds represent a measure of the wear state of the valve mechanism.

A valve arrangement comprising:

• a valve housing;
• an I/P converter configured to apply a control pressure;
• a valve mechanism configured to move axially within the valve housing, to be moved by way of an end-face control piston by application of the control pressure from the I/P converter;
• a position sensor system configured to, when the I/P converter maintains a constant opening cross section at least over a portion of a switching stroke of the valve mechanism, determine a time at which various positions of the valve mechanism along at least one of a ventilating and venting distance are reached;
• and
• an evaluation unit configured to mathematically derive speeds of the valve element prevailing at the various positions, and to generate a change profile of the derived speeds, to determine a wear state of the valve mechanism based on the derived speeds.