Lee Restrictor Selector
A step by step guide to select a restrictor
for your application


  • Wide Range of Metered Lohm Rates Available
  • Integral Safety Screens
  • Available in ±2% or ±5% Tolerances
  • Large Minimum Passage Sizes
  • Reduces Contamination Problems
  • Provides Viscosity Compensation
  • Prevents Cavitation
  • Reduces Erosion
  • Available in a Wide Variety of Body Sizes
  • High Pressure Units Available

Lee Company restrictors have become the accepted “standards” worldwide. Design engineers find their small size, light weight, and proven reliability are indispensable when the flow of fluids has to be controlled.

Our miniature precision flow restrictors are specified by manufacturers of aircraft hydraulic and fuel control systems, oil drilling equipment, missile controls, machine tools, and countless other products. Lee restrictors are a vital part of almost every military and commercial aircraft manufactured in the world. By employing already proven and qualified Lee restrictors in their designs, design engineers are using their own time and talents much more productively.

Lee offers a wide selection of single-stage or multi-stage orifices. Lee Jets, High Watt and Kilowatt Jets, and the Lee Microjet are all single orifice restrictors. Lee High Watt and Kilowatt Jets handle low Lohm rates (high flow rates) while higher Lohm rates (lower flow rates) are covered by Lee Jets.

The multi-orifice restrictors consist of Bender Jets and many different versions of the Visco Jet. Bender Jets employ several non-coaxial orifices in series using bending and multiple orifices to increase restriction. The Visco Jet adds the dimension of spin chambers for even higher restriction. Visco Jets range from small inserts all the way up to large cartridge versions, offering many options in minimum passage, Lohm rate and size.

Also available is a complete range of high pressure restrictors: Jets, High Watt Jets, Bender Jets and Visco Jets. Lee offers a restrictor for every application!


To select a restrictor for your application, follow these steps:
Step 1: Use our Liquid Lohm Calculator or Gas Lohm Calculator to find the Lohms of restriction needed. Remember that gas flow in a multiple orifice restrictor has a special factor when calculating Lohms.

Step 2: Then learn about the wide wariety of restrictor styles in the Lee Restrictor Primer below.

Step 3: Consider the effects of passage size and viscosity compensation in your application.

Step 4: Use the chart below to select a style of restrictor for your application. Note that there may be several styles that will give the proper restriction.

Minimum Passage Sizes (inches) - Use this chart to select a restrictor style for your application
Single Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
Multi Orifice
LOHM RATE RANGE
LEE JET, HIGHWATT & KILOWATT JET
BENDER
JET
SHORT AXIAL VISCO
LONG AXIAL VISCO
12 & 18 SERIES VISCOS
LEE JEVA
43 SERIES VISCO
68 SERIES VISCO
14 SERIES VISCO
LEE CRO
90-
200
0.092
0.062
0.124
0.103
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
200-
600
0.063
0.036
0.091
0.050
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
600-
1000
0.036
0.0265
0.050
0.036
.060
-
-
-
-
-
-
0.055
1000-
1900
0.0265
0.020
0.036
0.026
0.050
0.045
0.060
0.050
-
-
-
0.062
-
0.055
1900-
3700
0.020
0.014
0.030
0.020
0.045
0.035
0.050
0.040
-
0.026
-
-
-
-
3700-
7400
0.015
0.010
0.020
0.015
0.035
0.020
0.035
0.025
-
0.026
0.031
-
0.055
-
7500-
11,000
0.010
0.0083
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.020
-
0.019
-
0.032
0.055
-
11,000-
17,600
0.0085
0.0067
-
-
-
0.015
0.010
0.019
0.032
-
-
17,600-
30,000
0.0067
0.0051
-
-
-
0.010
0.013
0.015
0.032
-
-
30,200-
46,800
0.0051*
0.0041*
-
-
-
0.010
0.013
0.015
-
-
-
49,100-
130,000
0.0041*
0.0025*
-
-
-
0.007
0.009
0.015
-
-
-
137,000-
313,000
0.0025*
0.0016*
-
-
-
0.005
0.006
-
-
-
-
950,000-
2,200,000
0.0009*
0.0006*
-
-
-
-
-
0.005
-
-
-
* Equivalent single orifice size - Lee Jets are not offered for these Lohm rates.

Datasheets
Hide details for [<br><br><img src="JETSM.GIF">]

Hide details for [</a><big>] Lee Single Orifice Restrictors [</big>] [<table><td>] Our miniature precision single orifice flow Lee Single Orifice Restrictors
Our miniature precision single orifice flow restrictors are specified by manufacturers of aircraft hydraulic and fuel control systems, oil drilling equipment, missile controls, machine tools, and countless other products. Lee restrictors are a vital part of almost every military and commercial aircraft manufactured in the world. By employing already proven and qualified Lee restrictors in their designs, design engineers are using their own time and talents much more productively.
Ø .156" Lee Jet
Ø .187" Lee Jet
Ø .187" Lee High Watt Jet
Ø .272" Lee Microjet
Ø .281" Lee Kilowatt Jet
Ø .187" Lee 5k Jet
Ø .187" Lee High Watt Jet
Hide details for [<br><br><img src="AWM0508L.GIF">]

Hide details for [</a><big>] Lee Multi-Orifice Restrictors [</big>] [<table><td>] The multi-orifice restrictors consist of Bend Lee Multi-Orifice Restrictors
The multi-orifice restrictors consist of Bender Jets and many different versions of the Visco Jet. Bender Jets employ several non-coaxial orifices in series using bending and multiple orifices to increase restriction. The Visco Jet adds the dimension of spin chambers for even higher restriction. Visco Jets range from small inserts all the way up to large cartridge versions, offering many options in minimum passage, Lohm rate and size.
Ø .156" Lee Bender Jet
Ø .187" Lee Bender Jet
Ø .187" Lee Bender Jet, High Pressure
Ø .250" Lee H Bender Jet, High Pressure
Ø .375" Lee Bender Jet, High Pressure
Ø .250" Lee Axial Visco Jet, 2502 Short
Ø .250" Lee Axial Visco Jet, 2500 Short
Ø .250" Lee Axial Visco Jet, 2503 Long
Ø .250" Lee Axial Visco Jet, 2501 Long
Ø .187" Lee JEVA
Ø .187" Lee Visco Jet,18 Series
Ø .436" Lee Visco Jet, 43 Series
Ø .686" Lee Visco Jet, 68 Series
Ø 1.4" Lee Visco Jet, 14 Series
Ø .125" Lee Visco Jet, High Pressure
Ø .187" Lee Visco Jet, High Pressure
Ø .62" Lee Cro



Lee Restrictor Primer
LEE JETS

Lee Jets are the simplest, most accurate, most economical jets ever developed! You simply insert Lee Jets into reamed holes and lock and seal them by pressing the pin into the body. You specify either the flow and pressure drop or use the Lohm system. Lee Jets do the rest. Quick, easy installation eliminates costly assemblies, seals, threads, flow testing and filter design. The Lee Company 100% flow tests all Lee Jets to two standard tolerances, ±2% and ±5%.

Each Lee Jet unit contains a calibrated orifice, two matched safety screens so you can flow in both directions, and the reliable locking and sealing device adapted from Lee Plugs, which have been accepted for years as the best way to seal drilled holes.

Lee Jets are available from stock in a wide range of 53 Lohm ratings from 800 to 30,000 Lohms. Lee Jets improve your design saving time, space and money.

HIGH WATT and KILOWATT JETS

Lee High Watt and Kilowatt Jets provide accurate, screened, bidirectional metered flow in the 90-1000 Lohm range. The integral screens are machined and drilled from bar stock for maximum strength and erosion resistance. Due to their rugged construction, they can readily withstand the high power dissipation that is often associated with low Lohm applications. For instance, a 200 Lohm JEHA1875200L dissipates 9.6 horsepower, or 7.1 kilowatts, at 3000 psi differential. Use these strong High Watt and Kilowatt Jets for all low Lohm (high flow) applications. Lee High Watt Jets are available in ±2% and ±5% tolerances and Kilowatt Jets in a ±5% Lohm rate tolerance.

MICROJETS

Lee Microjets are precision calibrated orifices designed for flow balancing in liquid cooling applications where system pressures are below 500 psid. Lohm rates range from 475 to 3100 Lohms and Microjets are 100% flow tested to a ±2% tolerance, unidirectionally. Lee Microjets are protected in the flow direction by an integral safety screen and are also easily installed and extracted, facilitating easy flow balancing.

Lee Microjets are easily installed into heat exchanger return ports. Their small size allows them to be located directly behind quick disconnect fittings.

BENDER JETS

The Lee Bender Jets incorporate multiple orifices in series, with successive orifices on the centerline and displaced from it, to force fluid to “bend” as it passes through the unit. The combined effect is an increase in the orifice size for a given Lohm rate. The orifices are bigger than a single orifice, but not as large as the passageways in a Lee Visco Jet. All units are protected with two integral safety screens for bi-directional flow, and are available calibrated to a ±5% tolerance in the 1900 to 9500 Lohm range.

AXIAL VISCO JETS

The Lee Axial Visco Jet also uses multiple orifices in series, but uses spinning to increase Lohm rate. Spinner discs alternately reverse the direction of spin of the fluid. The result is a larger passage size than a Bender Jet for a given Lohm rate but smaller than a Visco Jet. Rugged screens protect the orifice in both flow directions. Axial Visco Jets are available calibrated to a ±5% tolerance in the 680 to 11,000 Lohm range.

VISCO JETS
Lee Visco Jets come in two insert versions (18-Series and the JEVA) and 3 cartridge sizes (43-Series, 68-Series and the 14-Series). The 18-Series Visco Jet is an insert with 12 different Lohm rates from 11,200 to 313,000 Lohms. The JEVA is a radically new version of the 18-Series Visco Jet. It incorporates vastly increased
minimum passage sizes for corresponding Lohm rates: up to 90% increase over some existing 18-Series units. In addition, 93 Lohm rates completely cover an extended range from 3520 to 313,000 Lohms.

The 43-Series, 68-Series and 14-Series Visco Jets are cartridge mount units that offer the largest minimum passage for a given Lohm rate as well as the highest Lohm rates available. For instance, a 4000 Lohm 14-Series Visco has a minimum passage of 0.055 inch. A 4000 Lohm single orifice would be about 0.012 inch in diameter. One of the 43-Series Viscos offers a Lohm rate of 2,200,000 Lohms, with a 0.005 inch minimum passage, the equivalent of a 0.0006 inch diameter single orifice.

All Lee Visco Jets are available calibrated to a ±5% or ±10% tolerance. Visco Jets with minimum passageways of 0.032 inch or less are protected with two safety screens for bi-directional flow applications.

THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE UNIQUE LEE VISCO JET PERFORMANCE

The Visco Jet consists basically of three discs mounted one upon the other to form an extremely complex fluid passage. Fluid enters at the center of one disc and passes through a slot which is tangential to a spin chamber. This discharges through a small center hole into an other chamber. This process repeats over and over. Since the spinning liquid makes many revolutions in each spin chamber, the resulting fluid resistance uses the flow passage surfaces many times. The tangential nature of the slots overcomes sensitivity to viscosity. The centrifugal force of the liquid maintains a back pressure on the discharge of the slot which is proportional to the square of the RPM of the spinning liquid.

This provides a reasonable degree of viscosity compensation without the use of any moving parts.

Some Lee Visco Jets are made from solid stainless steel discs, while others are fabricated from photo-etched stainless steel plates which are bonded together to produce a homogeneous leak-proof product. All Visco elements are rigidly and permanently retained in their respective inserts, cartridges, or linemounts. Standard Lee Visco Jets are calibrated to the noted Lohm ratings in both directions.

REDUCES CLOGGING
There are always some particles of dirt or metal or lint in any hydraulic system even after it has been cleaned and filtered. Sometimes the hydraulic equipment actually generates these particles due to moving parts and there are always many more small particles than there are large ones. The size and number of these particles limit the orifice size which can be used for fluid restrictors. If a small orifice clogs, it usually means failure of a complete system.

The use of the Lee Visco Jet enables you to use much larger passages and still obtain the same amount of restriction which your system demands. Since the minimum passageways in the Lee Visco Jet are larger than for an ordinary orifice, it also means that the hole size in protecting screens may be made proportionately larger. With both larger passageways and larger screen hole sizes, your system will tolerate a much higher level of contamination. Any particle which will pass through the screens, which we use to protect our Visco Jets, will also pass right through the Visco Jet without causing any blockage or build-up of fluid restriction. Now you can use the fluid resistance values you need without fear of system failure due to contamination.


LOHMS VERSUS HOLE SIZE
An example of this is shown by a Visco Jet having 0.015 inch diameter holes and flowing at the same Lohm rate (32,600 Lohms) as the Standard Lee Jet having 0.0048 inch hole size. Thus the same Lohm rate can be obtained with 3.1 times the hole diameter and over 9 times the hole area!

TO PREVENT CLOGGING, YOU NEED LARGER HOLES - Compare these values:
HOLE SIZE
0.005"
0.015"
0.032"
0.055"
Lohms for standard Lee Jet
28,000
3200
700
220
Lohms for 1 Stage Lee Visco Jet
145,000
32,600
8800
4000
Lohms for 5 Stage Lee Visco Jet
313,000
73,000
19,600
8900

If you need a high Lohm rate Jet, but are concerned with the possibility of clogging, even when protected by safety screens,
you can get the same resistance to flow (Lohms) by using a Visco Jet with holes FIVE TIMES AS LARGE!
Comparable area of flow passage (25 times greater) using Visco-Jet with SAME Lohm rate.

REDUCES EROSION
The unique Lee Visco Jet principle can provide an increase in flow passage as great as 25 times that of a corresponding (same Lohm rate) single stage restrictor, with a corresponding reduction in velocity. Since erosion is a function of the square of the velocity of the liquid medium, erosion can be reduced to 1/625 of that of the simple restrictor. Actual life tests have indicated that under certain conditions, a Lee Visco Jet can be expected to function without an appreciable change in Lohm rating for up to 20 years of continuous operation.


PREVENTS CAVITATION
Liquid flowing through any orifice will cavitate whenever its velocity causes the pressure in the throat of the orifice to drop below the vapor pressure of the flowing liquid. Even though there may be a high supply pressure and a high back pressure on an orifice, if the velocity is high enough there will be a subsequent lowering of the pressure in the throat of the orifice and the possibility of cavitation.

The effects of cavitation are unstable flow and erosion – both of which are undesirable. To prevent cavitation, sufficiently high throat pressure must be maintained, either by:

1. Applying sufficiently high back pressure or
2. Reducing the velocity of the liquid as it flows through the restrictor.

The Lee Company manufactures a wide variety of fluid restrictors constructed with orifices in series which greatly reduce the velocity and thereby permit the use of much lower back pressures (see "Cavitation" page M29).


COMPENSATES FOR VISCOSITY
When temperature changes affect the viscosity of the hydraulic fluid, this effect usually appears dramatically in the time response of the hydraulic system. By using the Lee Visco Jet, which has a considerable amount of viscosity compensation built into the design, you will find that the time responses on hydraulic systems will remain more constant even though there are wide changes in the viscosity of the hydraulic fluids.

The adjacent curve on page B11 shows the viscosity compensation of the Lee Visco Jet while flowing on MIL-H-5606 hydraulic oil. The viscosity was changed by controlling the oil temperature. Test runs were conducted with both the standard Lee Jet and a sharp edge orifice for a reference. There was no appreciable difference between the standard Lee Jet and the sharp edge orifice. However, there was a dramatic difference in the flows obtained with the Lee Visco Jet. The pressure drop was held constant throughout the runs with a ÐP of 50 psi.

This compensation is obtained by two independent effects which tend to make the flow increase as the viscosity increases. The first effect is that of the back pressure on the spin slots. As previously mentioned, this varies as the square of the spin velocity; when the viscosity increase slows down the spin velocity, the back pressure tends to decrease, thereby permitting a higher flow through the spin slot into the spin chamber. The other effect occurs in the deceleration chamber. If the liquid is spinning at a high speed when it enters the deceleration chamber, energy is absorbed to bring this liquid to rest and subsequently to accelerate it out in the opposite direction. This shows up as a pressure drop. If, due to the increase in viscosity, the liquid is not spinning as fast when it enters the deceleration chamber, it then follows that it can be discharged with less pressure drop.

If a relatively flat flow vs. viscosity curve were desired, it can readily be obtained in the low viscosity ranges, that is up to 23 centistokes. Referring to the two curves on page B11 one can see that if a standard Lee Jet and a Visco Jet were flowing in parallel, the two slopes would be cancelled out through this viscosity range and the total output would be reasonably constant for 1 centistoke through 23 centistokes. Again referring to the MIL-H-5606 oil, this would be from +72° to over 350°F.

HIGH PRESSURE RESTRICTORS
The Lee Company offers a complete range of high pressure restrictors for system pressures up to 8000 psi.
The Lee 5k Jet and High Pressure High Watt Jets are single orifice restrictors covering Lohm rates from 1000 to 20,000, and 350 to 3000 Lohms, respectively. The High Pressure Bender Jets are multi-orifice restrictors covering 1900–9500 Lohms, and the High Pressure Visco Jets range from 11,200 Lohms to 313,000 Lohms. The High Pressure Visco Jet comes in two sizes, a 0.187" diameter and a new smaller 0.125" diameter version which offers the same performance but with a significant savings in space.

LEE CRO
The Lee CRO is a multi-stage restrictor that is constructed of sheets of stainless steel vacuum bonded together into a convenient disc form. The unique shape of the tortuous path results in a large minimum passage of 0.055". The Lee CRO does not require screens and has bidirectional flow capability.

INTERCHANGEABILITY
Lee Restrictors provide a high degree of interchangeability. Lee Jets, Bender Jets and 18-Series Visco Jets all have the same length to the seating chamfer. If space exists to accommodate some variation in overall length, a restrictor in a different range of Lohm rates or with a different minimum passage size can be chosen without changing the installation hole. The high pressure High Watts, Bender Jets and Visco Jets are interchangeable with each other.

MASTER SETS
Master Sets are convenient sets of interchangeable Lee restrictors calibrated to tight test tolerances for use in hydraulic design evaluations. There are four different master sets available: the Lee Jet Master Set, the High Watt Jet Master Set, the Visco Jet Master Set and the Microjet Master Set.

Master sets contain a wide range of calibrated restrictors in individually marked vials along with installation and extraction tool sets and procedures and extra pins or o-rings. The Lee Jet, High Watt Jet and Visco Jet Master Sets also include two each of Lee "B" and "C" unions for line mount applications.

Lee Jet, High Watt Jet and Visco Jet Master Sets are bidirectionally calibrated and marked with the actual Lohm rate (±1% for Jet and High Watts, ±5% for Visco Jets). Lee Micro Jet Master Sets are calibrated unidirectionally (±2%) and supplied with actual Lohm rates on a data sheet. All Lee restrictors are readily installed and removed from hydraulic manifolds.


For more information, please send us your application information via our ASK LEE service. Or contact our application engineers in the USA at 1-800-LEE-PLUG or our representatives around the world.
Copyright 05/2013 by The Lee Company, USA
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