Potential Energy stored in a pneumatic ram

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

As a reminder to all teams and those that are reading this thread...
R01> Energy used by FRC ROBOTS, (i.e., stored at the start of a MATCH), shall come only from the following sources:
A. Electrical energy derived from the onboard 12V battery (see Rule <R40> for specifications and further details).
B. Compressed air stored in the pneumatic system, stored at a maximum pressure of 120 PSI in no more than four Clippard Instruments tanks. Extraneous lengths of pneumatic tubing shall not be used to increase the storage capacity of the air storage system.
C. A change in the altitude of the ROBOT center of gravity.
D. Storage achieved by deformation of ROBOT parts.

I'm kinda wondering - maybe this should be put on the FIRST Q&A. If we were to use a system that had the ability to use a pre-charged kicker cylinder it seems we would have to demonstrate to inspection that there is NO pre-charge condition prior to match start. I suppose putting a gauge on the cylinder circuit downstream of the valve could demonstrate there is NO pre-charge while the robot is in the fielded 'disable' mode.

What say you Al ? Should I put it to the Q&A ? We want to use something like this.

Ed