Pushing the Limit on What is Possible with Hydraulic Valve Technology

Oct. 7, 2024

A racing yacht application provided Domin the opportunity to push its engineering team to create a hydraulic control valve capable of achieving higher pressures and improved efficiency.

Sara Jensen

Hydraulics play an important role in many applications, including racing yachts. When the INEOS Britannia team was looking to improve the performance of its yacht for the 2024 America’s Cup, it saw potential in improving the boat’s hydraulic systems.

To do so, it turned to Domin, a UK-based developer of hydraulic valves. According to Marcus Pont, CEO of Domin, the INEOS Britannia team recognized the ability to control the hydraulics within the boat as something that could give them a competitive edge in the race. They had the opportunity to utilize new technology and so began to explore how they might control the hydraulics.

“They were looking for a product that was really high precision but super energy efficient and very small,” said Pont. “But at the same time, they wanted a product that was incredibly high pressure and often those things compete against each other.”

He explained that as you increase the pressure of a hydraulic system, maintaining efficiency and precision can be difficult because the forces become greater, and losses are more likely to occur through any small leak paths in a product.

Domin began its collaboration with the INEOS Britannia team by investigating whether it could adapt one of its standard valves which showed promising results during initial testing. The company was then tasked by the team to customize the valve to achieve significantly higher pressures and increase efficiency by almost 90%.

In this interview with Pont, learn how Domin worked with the INEOS Britannia team to develop a hydraulic valve capable of meeting the high pressure and efficiency requirements of its racing yacht.

About the Author

Sara Jensen | Executive Editor, Power & Motion

Sara Jensen is executive editor of Power & Motion, directing expanded coverage into the modern fluid power space, as well as mechatronic and smart technologies. She has over 15 years of publishing experience. Prior to Power & Motion she spent 11 years with a trade publication for engineers of heavy-duty equipment, the last 3 of which were as the editor and brand lead. Over the course of her time in the B2B industry, Sara has gained an extensive knowledge of various heavy-duty equipment industries — including construction, agriculture, mining and on-road trucks —along with the systems and market trends which impact them such as fluid power and electronic motion control technologies.

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