Pressure regulating valve

A pressure regulating valve comprising:

• a valve housing defining an internal bore and having a valve inlet to receive fluid at a first pressure and a fluid outlet to return fluid to a pump;
• a sleeve surrounding a center axis and defined by an overall sleeve length extending from a first sleeve end to a second sleeve end, wherein the sleeve has a central sleeve bore extending from the first sleeve end to the second sleeve end, and wherein the sleeve includes a first set of windows and a second set of windows axially spaced from the first set of windows, and wherein one of the first and second sets of windows comprises a sleeve inlet in fluid communication a metering valve and the other of the first and second sets of windows comprises a sleeve outlet in fluid communication with the pump;
• a piston received within the central sleeve bore and defined by an overall piston length extending from a first piston end to a second piston end, the piston having an outer surface comprising a sleeve contact surface that is defined by an outer diameter, and wherein the central sleeve bore has a first surface portion comprising a piston contact surface that is defined by a first inner diameter, wherein the piston contact surface is configured to slide against the sleeve contact surface;
• a spring assembly that biases the piston within the sleeve to a valve closed position, and wherein when the first pressure at the valve inlet is greater than a spring biasing load, the piston moves to a valve open position to return fluid to the pump via the valve outlet;
• wherein a ratio of the first inner diameter of the sleeve to the outer diameter of the piston is between 0.99 and 1.01.

A fuel supply system incorporating:

• a fuel pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet, the pump inlet being in fluid communication with a fuel supply;
• a metering valve receiving fuel from the fuel pump and directing the fuel to a gas turbine engine;
• and
• a pressure regulating valve configured to regulate the pressure across the metering valve and return excess fuel not utilized by the metering valve to the fuel pump, wherein the pressure regulating valve comprises
• a valve housing defining an internal bore and having a valve inlet to receive fluid at a first pressure and a fluid outlet to return fluid to the fuel pump;
• a sleeve surrounding a center axis and defined by an overall sleeve length extending from a first sleeve end to a second sleeve end, wherein the sleeve has a central sleeve bore extending from the first sleeve end to the second sleeve end, and wherein the sleeve includes a first set of windows and a second set of windows axially spaced from the first set of windows, and wherein one of the first and second sets of windows comprises a sleeve inlet in fluid communication a metering valve via the valve inlet and the other of the first and second sets of windows comprises a sleeve outlet in fluid communication with the fuel pump via the valve outlet;
• a piston received within the central sleeve bore and defined by an overall piston length extending from a first piston end to a second piston end, the piston having an outer surface comprising a sleeve contact surface that is defined by an outer diameter, and wherein the central sleeve bore has a first surface portion comprising a piston contact surface that is defined by a first inner diameter, wherein the piston contact surface is configured to slide against the sleeve contact surface;
• a spring assembly that biases the piston within the sleeve to a valve closed position, and wherein when the first pressure at the valve inlet is greater than a spring biasing load, the piston moves to a valve open position to return fluid to the pump via the valve outlet;
• wherein a ratio of the first inner diameter of the sleeve to the outer diameter of the piston is between 0.99 and 1.01;
• and
• wherein a ratio of the overall sleeve length to the overall piston length is between 0.96 and 1.00.

A sleeve for a valve comprising:

• a sleeve body surrounding a center axis and defined by an overall length extending from a first end to a second end, wherein the sleeve body has a central sleeve bore extending from the first end to the second end, the sleeve body including a first set of windows circumferentially spaced apart from each other about the central axis and a second set of windows axially spaced from the first set of windows and circumferentially spaced apart from each other about the central axis, and wherein each window of the first set of windows is defined by a first shape and each window of the second set of windows is defined by a second shape different than the first shape;
• wherein the central sleeve bore has a piston contact surface defined by a first inner diameter;
• wherein the central sleeve bore is defined by a second inner diameter at one of the first and second sets of windows, and wherein the second inner diameter is greater than the first inner diameter:
• and
• wherein the sleeve includes a flange that comprises an abutment surface to contact an end face of an inwardly extending seat of a valve housing that seats the sleeve, and wherein the flange comprises the outermost diameter of the sleeve.