just a question do you have to mount the relief valve on a certain side of the compressor
I dont think so.
No, you can mount it any where easily accessible. We mounted ours on the boom last year so we didnt have to reach inside the chasis to get to it.
The two outlets on the compressor are different sizes. The emergency relief valve will only fit in the larger of the two, so I guess the answer is that yes, you do have to mount it on a specific side.
Not unless you put an adapter on the smaller end or pipe it somewhere else.
Which you are not allowed to do. See Rule <R95>.
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I always consider your advise and rule quoting to be definative but don’t see a clear or even a lawyered stretching of the rules to disallow what was suggested above in <R95>
<R95> Teams are not allowed to adjust the 125-psi relief valve. The valve has been calibrated
prior to shipping. The relief valve must be attached to the compressor. If the compressor is
not used on the ROBOT, then an additional relief valve must be obtained and included in the
primary pneumatic circuit on the ROBOT (see Rule <R91>).
As long as one doesn’t adjust the lock nut thereby adjusting the calibration, isn’t it legal to mount it anywhere in the primary pneumatic circiut? The text of <R91> follows.
<R91> If pneumatic components are used on the ROBOT, the pneumatic system on the ROBOT
must contain as a minimum the following components, connected in accordance with this
section.
Pressure gauges to display the “working” and “stored” air pressure.
An easily visible and accessible pressure vent valve to manually relieve the stored
pressure.
A pressure relief valve, calibrated and set to release at 125psi.
A pressure switch, calibrated and connected to the Robot Controller.
When we mounted this year’s compresser it didn’t have the relief valve mounted on it from the factory so we used an adaptor and put it on the side that allowed us more room for the rest of the fixutures. I’ll change it if need be but need someone to point out my mis-reading of the quoted rules:)
You provided the answer in your own citation. Specifically, see the third sentence of Rule <R95>:
<R95> Teams are not allowed to adjust the 125-psi relief valve. The valve has been calibrated prior to shipping. The relief valve must be attached to the compressor. If the compressor is not used on the ROBOT, then an additional relief valve must be obtained and included in the primary pneumatic circuit on the ROBOT (see Rule <R91>).
To me, that makes it very clear that you can not take the relief valve and “pipe it somewhere else.” In addition, this exact topic has also been addressed in this Q&A system answer.
-dave
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Well the GDC reply to the posting makes a very clear statement that I still don’t see in .
The pressure relief valve must be connected directly to the Thomas compressor. No intermediate connectors are permitted. This is required by Rule <R95>.
This would disallow adding an adapter so that one can mount it on the opposite side of the compressor. Not being a lawyer with the rules, I read
The relief valve must be attached to the compressor. If the compressor is not used on the ROBOT, then an additional relief valve must be obtained and included in the primary pneumatic circuit on the ROBOT
as being able to add an adapter to mount it to the compressor but can now see a literal meaning that the valve must be directly connected to the compressor via the GDC clarification. I post this response only to provide insight into future definitions in the robot design document.
Interesting note, if one doesn’t use the compressor, the size of the of the port to which you are attaching relief valve to does not matter.
You can use the compressor, but have it “off board”, ie not mounted to the robot. This way you can charge up the tank(s) with air pressure before a match, and not have to carry the compressor’s weight on the robot. This only works for limited air use, such as shifting or running a small cylinder to do some infrequent task.
If you do this, you need two relief valves, one directly connected to the off-board compressor, and another on the robot plumbed to the storage tank side of the regulator.
(clarification welcome…this is just an example)
ya doing that is perfect for teams that have 2 speed transmissions and only switch gears once a match , its saves some weight.
I know a few teams that did that in AIM HIGH