Quote:
Originally Posted by s_forbes
To move a pneumatic cylinder quickly, you need to get rid of as many things that slow down the flow of air as possible. Pneumatic tubing, the primary regulator, and the solenoids all restrict air flow to some degree. If you can optimize each of those to flow more air, then you can make you're catapult cylinders fill faster and deliver more energy to the ball.
I've posted about this before (see this post), but the general idea is to minimize the obstructions that the air has to go through on its way from the storage tank to the cylinder. Use short lengths of tubing, get high flow solenoids, and put an air tank right before the solenoid so that it doesn't have to go through the main regulator.
The solenoid you're using has a Cv (basically, how much volume can flow through it in a minute) of 0.22. McMaster has a solenoid that we like with a posted flow constant of 0.75. The solenoid might not be what's restricting you, though. It might be the tubing and the regulator that's taking away most of your flow.
We did a few tests with prototypes using our maxed out flow setup and found that we were just reaching the high goal from the outerworks with two 1.0625" bore 6" stroke cylinders. Smaller volume cylinders weren't quite making it. I suspect that you might need more volume in your cylinders than you're currently using to put enough energy into the ball. |
I'll try moving an air tank tomorrow and messing with some geometry. If that doesn't work, we'll order some larger pistons. Could you link me to the solenoid you're referring to?
Quote:
Originally Posted by couvillion
You want the arm down position to have the direction of extension be pointed at the axle that the arm rotates about. You can then pre-charge the cylinder with out it moving. Then use a cam to break the linkage out of a straight line and it will extend rapidly gaining speed as the leverage on the arm increases.
It would be best if the piston wasn't all the way in when the arm is down. Hopefully geometry of the existing robot will favor you.
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Sorry, what do you mean by a cam?