Does any one know how you’de be able to make a closed loop pneumatics system with the parts in the kit??
Yup, you take one end of tubing, and then you attach it to the other. Finished. Done. Otherwise, it’s a good question. I don’t know how you could do that without compromising pressure into both ends, making no movement. Hmmmm…
Thinking about it, would would need some way to build pressure in one part of the system but not another to get movement, and I do not see how to do it with the parts allowed. Or at least without the compressor. At witch point you do not need a closed system. Trying to save weight?
You wouldn’t necessarily be trying to loose weight by doing this. I would be bad to create a closed loop system and not put on the compressor just for the fact that there is do way to keep 100% of you pressure. There will always be leaks. But if you’re using your pneumaitcs a lot quickly, it would be a solution to running out of steam so to speak so quickly. I know when we still had ours on, you could only move our arms in and out and move the drive system up and down a couple times before having to wait for a good 10 seconds to recharge the pressure. It’s an interesting theory though.
I’d agree with Adam’s response. If your interest is in capturing exhaust air beware of any leak to the system. If you’re trying to eliminate the compressor, this was attempted a few years back with a volume chamber (bulky and limited flow resource). Pneumatic systems use pressure for force and flow for speed. Reducing line lengths will generally make things faster, as well as using only one flow control. To create more volume, perhaps use one side of an air cylinder as an additional volume chamber.
thanks for all your help you guys, I appresiate it very much.
Depending on how many times you operate your Pneumatic elemnts and how much each of them take, you might not need the compressor. We happily eliminated the compressor from our bot this year. I was VERY against the idea initially, but in test we did not need it. Our two grabbers each run at 60psi but aren’t used enough times to be a threat to the system. Engineering also entered into it because our grabbers only use the pneumatic to RELEASE. The only other pneumatic element is our ball dumper thing.
We stock the balls in our basket then the piston retracts and the door opens letting out the balls. For safety we can actually close off the basket piston and there is enough air in the lines from the cut off to the valve that we could power the dumper twice, but it doesn’t autoreset itself so we only are ABLE to dump once (mechanically). we are running off of the storage tanks @ 120psi. We can release a goal about 20 times, we have never gone off of the field with less then 40psi, usually above 60. Well actually at the LI Semi-finals a robot stuck their grabber into us and made a hole in the lines coming fromt he storage tanks, so we went off the field with 0psi:( Just saying that if you engineer it, you don’t necesarily need the compressor.