An improved delay chain for use in a delay locked loop which provides smooth phase adjustment and high resolution. A loadflow computation method could be any method including invented Patel Decoupled Loadflow method, and Decoupled Gauss-Seidel-Patel Loadflow method. The positioning of the orifices and the ports are such that only one set of orifices may be aligned with a corresponding set of ports at any one time. A positioning element is provided to couple the valve gear to the shaft in only one rotational orientation.