pic: Recycle Rush Re-design Part 2

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Ari423

Well the reason I gave was solenoid switching restrictions, but it was actually more than that. We did devise a method of dealing with the solenoid. When we tried using in without any down pressure, it worked but it was painfully slow when only lifting one tote. Gravity just wasn't strong enough to overcome the friction (granted we also had a pulley system to make sure both sides were the same height that could have added some friction). We settled on about 15 psi of down force, which was below the rated min pressure but it worked out ok. Perhaps with a strategy where you lift 2 totes minimum you can get away with a lower pressure or even no pressure.

You definitely either have too much friction, or you have the wrong flow control valve installed. This is a great application for one-way flow control valves, which restrict air going in but not out. My team had a stacking mechanism that would quickly and easily lower itself even without the weight of any totes on it; unless you have an extremely inefficient system this should work fine.