A choke valve is a type of valve designed to create a choked flow in a fluid lin

e in an automobile. The viscosity of the fluid passing through the valve is irre
levant in understanding how the mechanism works. The rate of flow is determined
only by the ambient pressure on the upstream side of the valve.
In automotive contexts, a choke valve modifies the air pressure in the intake ma
nifold of an internal combustion engine, thereby altering the ratio of fuel and
air quantity entering the engine. Choke valves are generally used in naturally a
spirated engines with carburetors to supply a richer fuel mixture when starting
the engine. Most choke valves in engines are butterfly valves mounted in the man
ifold above the carburetor jet to produce a higher partial vacuum, which increas
es the fuel draw.
In heavy industrial or fluid engineering contexts, a choke valve is a particular
design of valve that raises and lowers a solid cylinder (called a "plug" or "st
em") which is placed around or inside another cylinder that has holes or slots.
The design of a choke valve means fluids flowing through the cage are coming fro
m all sides and that the streams of flow (through the holes or slots) collide wi
th each other at the center of the cage cylinder, thereby dissipating the energy
of the fluid through "flow impingement". The main advantage of choke valves is
that they can be designed to be totally linear in their flow rate.