Electric Solenoids for Shifting

[MetaEngineer]

My apologies for the ninja edits.

I read rules R90 and R91 closer and realized that there is no way to remove the regulator from the robot. The scheme in R91 doesn't really save any weight and severely limits your air storage to 60 PSI max instead of 120 PSI.

The diagram in Figure 8-14, R90, makes more sense, as it allows 120 PSI storage regulated down to whatever you want <= 60 PSI. Shifting may still reliable at lower pressures. If you do go this route, please report back what you find so others can more easily tune their shifters to use air more efficiently.

Keeping air tubing short between solenoid valve and cylinders will save some air as well.

[Sky Captain]

@MetaEngineer

Thanks for the breakdown of the FIRST rules, I'll report these findings to the students working the shifters. We'll discuss them and see what they say. We are debating whether or not to include a pneumatic system, probably w/o a compressor.

@Both
If we do so, we'll run a few tests to see how many shifts we get with a few different tank configurations.

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. I'll come back to this thread when we have results.

[DonRotolo]

One speculative method is a custom-made screw-type actuator, which uses a (relatively) small motor to turn a screw, which drives a nut into or out of the gearbox to effect the shift.

This is essentially a tiny linear actuator, and can be far faster and more powerful than a servo.