Patent ID: 6988705

Claim:
A fluent control valve for supersonic flow, said fluent control valve comprising: a housing having an upper end that includes an inlet port and a valve plenum, and a longitudinal axis that extends from said upper end to said lower end; a fluid-control plate having a fluid-control surface (FCS) with a central control region and an FCS outer perimeter, said fluid-control plate being assembled in an upper portion of said housing; a nozzle having a nozzle plate at an upper nozzle end and a nozzle inlet with an inlet perimeter, and a discharge end with a nozzle exit, said nozzle being assembled in a lower portion of said housing; wherein said nozzle plate has a flat nozzle inflow surface and a nozzle outer perimeter; wherein said nozzle inflow surface defines a valve plane and said FCS has a slight valve angle relative to a plane that is parallel to said valve plane; wherein said fluid-control plate and said nozzle plate are translatable relative to one another along said longitudinal axis, so as to open and close a flowpath from said plenum through said nozzle, said flowpath having a converging section that leads directly into a diverging section; wherein said slight valve angle on said fluid-control plate provides an inflow space between said FCS at said FCS outer perimeter and said nozzle inflow surface at said nozzle outer perimeter when said throat region is closed.