anybody have a schematic for air tanks? (was: i have a question)

[Pankowgears]

Does anyone have a scemactic for just air tanks?

[Jared Russell]

Do you mean a pneumatic circuit schematic using just pre-compressed air tanks and no compressor?

Or do you mean a blueprint/CAD drawing of a physical air tank?

[dtengineering]

Use the schematic on page 11 of http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/oth...s%20Manual.pdf

Remove the compressor package, and just plug the end of the Clippard Air Receiver Cylinder to which it is attached. You may also remove the Nason Pressure Switch. EDIT: You may NOT remove the nason pressure switch, as per R101. Thanks to those below who caught my oversight. R103 also insists that the compressor be controlled VIA Spike by the RC.
Now you have a FIRST-Legal pneumatic circuit. To charge the system, connect your compressor's output to the Parker System Pressure Vent Valve (with a piece of tubing and a quick connect... remember to attach the pressure relief valve to the compressor before you do anything with it!). Open the Pressure Vent Valve. Run the compressor until the system is charged (120 psi). EDIT: Control this using the NASON pressure switch and the program on your RC. If you don't reach 120 psi you may need to adjust the pressure relief valve on the compressor... if you exceed 120 psi, you will DEFINITELY need to adjust your pressure relief valve. EDIT: Generally pressure relief valves do not need adjusting, and are not allowed to be adjusted from their set point.

Turn off the compressor, close the vent valve. Detach the compressor.

You have a charged pneumatic system.

Good luck, and have fun,

Jason

[Pankowgears]

Do you mean a pneumatic circuit schematic using just pre-compressed air tanks and no compressor?

Or do you mean a blueprint/CAD drawing of a physical air tank?

yes, we need the schematic for pre-compressed air tanks, and not the schematic that first gives us.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Use the schematic on page 11 of http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/oth...s%20Manual.pdf

Remove the compressor package, and just plug the end of the Clippard Air Receiver Cylinder to which it is attached. You may also remove the Nason Pressure Switch.

Now you have a FIRST-Legal pneumatic circuit. To charge the system, connect your compressor's output to the Parker System Pressure Vent Valve (with a piece of tubing and a quick connect... remember to attach the pressure relief valve to the compressor before you do anything with it!). Open the Pressure Vent Valve. Run the compressor until the system is charged (120 psi). If you don't reach 120 psi you may need to adjust the pressure relief valve on the compressor... if you exceed 120 psi, you will DEFINITELY need to adjust you pressure relief valve.

Turn off the compressor, close the vent valve. Detach the compressor.

You have a charged pneumatic system.

You might have trouble with this setup, I seem to recall that we did this last year and needed to make some changes to pass inspection. We used the pressure switch to tell the controller to turn on a spike when pressure was below 120 psi (or whatever it is set at), then connected the spike to the compressor with quick connect terminals. We had to add a TEE and another manual valve to discharge the air from the compressor to manual valve hose, so we could safely release the pressure before disconnecting the compressor hose.

I may be wrong on the details....but the point is that the system you described might not pass inspection at all events, so be prepared to do it differently.

[Mike Betts]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Use the schematic on page 11 of http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/oth...s%20Manual.pdf

Remove the compressor package, and just plug the end of the Clippard Air Receiver Cylinder to which it is attached. You may also remove the Nason Pressure Switch.

Now you have a FIRST-Legal pneumatic circuit. To charge the system, connect your compressor's output to the Parker System Pressure Vent Valve (with a piece of tubing and a quick connect... remember to attach the pressure relief valve to the compressor before you do anything with it!). Open the Pressure Vent Valve. Run the compressor until the system is charged (120 psi). If you don't reach 120 psi you may need to adjust the pressure relief valve on the compressor... if you exceed 120 psi, you will DEFINITELY need to adjust you pressure relief valve.

Turn off the compressor, close the vent valve. Detach the compressor.

You have a charged pneumatic system.

Good luck, and have fun,

Jason

Jason,

Some comments on your advise...

As per rule <R101> you may not remove the Nason Pressure Switch from the robot. It must be connected to the RC and must shut off the compressor (at about 115 PSI) before the pressure relief valve actuates (about 125 PSI).

As per rule <R102> you are not allowed to adjust the pressure relief valve.

Regards,

Mike

[Mike Betts]

Originally Posted by squirrel

...We had to add a TEE and another manual valve to discharge the air from the compressor to manual valve hose, so we could safely release the pressure before disconnecting the compressor hose...

Jim,

Your advise is well put. It is not spelled out in the rules but it is certainly a safer way on implementing an off-board compressor.

Mike

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Mike Betts

Jason,

Some comments on your advise...

As per rule <R101> you may not remove the Nason Pressure Switch from the robot. It must be connected to the RC and must shut off the compressor (at about 115 PSI) before the pressure relief valve actuates (about 125 PSI).

As per rule <R102> you are not allowed to adjust the pressure relief valve.

Regards,

Mike

Thanks... my advice did ignore R101... it was written late at night, but I have edited the original post to highlight this oversight. As for R102, however, our pressure relief valve (for the first time, I might add) was not tight when it arrived and would release at less than 100 psi. It was necessary to adjust it to return it to FIRST specs, and it is now tightly locked in place at 120-125psi.

Jason

[Mike Betts]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Thanks... my advice did ignore R101... it was written late at night, but I have edited the original post to highlight this oversight. As for R102, however, our pressure relief valve (for the first time, I might add) was not tight when it arrived and would release at less than 100 psi. It was necessary to adjust it to return it to FIRST specs, and it is now tightly locked in place at 120-125psi.

Jason

Jason,

You (and anyone else having this problem) should post this information to the FIRST Q&A. They need to realize that this is happening and revise the rule accordingly.

Mike