Pressure Sensor

[josneville]

I would like to know how to program a sensor to measure the pressure so that I can limit the amount of pressure a bimba so that it can travel a certain distance.

Thankx in Advance

[DonRotolo]

Let me see if I understand your question:

You want to limit the distance a pneumatic cylinder's piston will travel based on the pressure that is used to move it?

If that is indeed the intent, then I feel compelled to advise you that it is not a good idea. The piston's movement cannot be predicted that easily.

In general, a pneumatic cylinder's piston has two very well-defined positions: Fully retracted and fully extended. Those are the only two positions you can be sure about. Anything in-between cannot be assured easily, since the position of the piston will vary based upon the load on the piston.

In addition, you will need pneumatic solenoid valves that can provide an "all stop" position, where the air pressure on both sides of the piston are equal and unchanging. These are readily available, but are not supplied in the KoP.

My best advice is to find a different mechanism if you need anything other than full-extend or full-retract.

FYI: Bimba is the name of a company.

[josneville]

We were going to use a magnetic reed switch which will make the bimbo (im still not sureabout the name) stop at certain levels. Any idea on how to program that????

[Dkt01]

If you need specific positions, maybe you can try a ball screw with an encoder or a potentiometer.

[RoboMaster]

Originally Posted by josneville

We were going to use a magnetic reed switch which will make the bimbo (im still not sureabout the name) stop at certain levels. Any idea on how to program that????

This is not a programming problem. It is a physical issue. As described by Don, an pneumatic piston can only be fully out or fully in. There are ways to make it stop in, say, the middle, but they are not FRC accessible. You need special hardware to do it easily. Even with the pneumatic hardware we can use from the Kit, I don't even think it would be possible, much less just difficult, to hook up and control a piston in this way.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by RoboMaster

but they are not FRC accessible.

No, teams may most certainly use hardware that allows this. But again, it won't do what you want, well.