Can the air pushed out from a pneumatic piston when extended be vented directly into the air or does it have to flow back to a solenoid?
We have vented them out of the cylinder, because we never found a rule prohibiting it. Have you found such a rule?
Don’t know about a piston but the exhaust from a pneumatic cylinder can be vented to the atmosphere.
This is the best way to achieve max speed of the rod.
I could not find any rule about venting which is why I asked. Venting it into the atmosphere provided a lot more power but my team did not want to develop a system to so if it was not allowed.
https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/pneumatic_components/special_purpose_pneumatic_fittings/quick_exhaust_valves/qeu14
You are looking for a quick exhaust valve like this one. If there is air pressure applied to the one side it stays closed. When the pressure is released it vents the air out the port on the side. I believe the fitting on the side can have a tube hooked up to it to vent it somewhere else.
I think they just want to leave the fitting out of the cylinder, and let it breathe in and out right there.
you can also get a single acting cylinder, then it’s not an issue.
So would this mechanism be extended by something other then air and be retracted with air pressure?
I don’t know what you’re building…I can only guess.
There are cylinders that have only one fitting for air, something else (some include an internal spring) makes them return.
Usually you get much more useful answers if you explain everything about what you want to do, and sketches/pictures help also.
Or the other way around.
Spring-return cylinders use a spring to retract and air to extend.
As far as inspection is concearned its irrelevant. We only care that the compreasor switch works and that the working pressure is 60 after the regulator.
If you’re going to engage in this level of pedantry, at least spend some time explaining the difference between a “piston” and a “cylinder.”
Somehow I feel like that just makes it worse.
In 2014 we had a two-cylinder pneumatic catapult, and we did not add a fitting or hose to the retract port of one of the cylinders so that the extend went faster and the retract was not so fast and violent.
How did you go about retracting the cylinders because that sounds like a very similar system to what my team is looking to use.
Surgical tubing is a great choice and won’t cost you much energy.
we had the same type setup in 2014, and gravity and putting a ball into the catapult, made the cylinders return
The two cylinders were mechanically linked.
Photo of 2014 robot - the angle isn’t great, but this is the side with the cylinder plumbed normally, the one on the left side didn’t have a fitting on the upper port.
Writing this reminded me of another thing. I think we used an entirely separate valve for the retract motion, and about a second after retracting we vented that so that all sides of the cylinders were open to atmosphere. This also made shooting faster by not having to force pressurized air out of the cylinder.
We have used these quick exhaust valves before, work really well if you need something to move faster.
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