5. Conclusion

Flow is a fundamental parameter in the study of pressurized fluid systems, both for comparing component performance and for simulating circuit behavior. On the one hand, it reflects a component's ability to transmit power, but it also reflects losses (i.e. energy efficiency) when related to pressures upstream and downstream of the component in question.

In a pneumatic circuit, in the absence of external mechanical action, flow is established at a succession of orifices, constituting an equivalent restriction, through the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy. However, the characteristic parameters of an orifice, such as sonic conductance and critical pressure ratio, are not identical depending on whether they are obtained in relation to total pressures or static pressures. This calls into question not only experimental characterization procedures, but...