Safety First

Wherever electricity is used, a basic requirement would be to ground the system properly. Poor earthing is the main reason for systems failing intermittently. It is difficult to trace and very costly. Ensure proper earthing is achieved.

Designing a Solution

Leverage is one of the oldest techniques used to move stuff. If we can apply this in any design today, we can incorporate smaller actuators which are less expensive to buy in the first place, and more economical to run in the long term.

Remember too that when designing rotary processes it is important to take into consideration the "limiting mass moment of inertia" of the product.

Use a pressure regulator to keep the response of a system constant.

Speed control accessories can help to fine tune actuator response time down from the maximum achieved with the set pressure.

Always make use of properly qualified and experienced personnel to do systems design, installation and commissioning. Many technologies have been shot down in the past because of “poor performance” when in reality the main reason lies in a bad design or installation. Read the user manual of any products incoporated in your design.

Thinking About the Design of Products

Industrial fieldbus networks were designed to simplify the wiring of larger automated systems. This means much less cables running through the plant, much shorter installation time and therefore much cheaper. Implemented correctly it will shorten your downtime by means of diagnostic feedback, assist management in planning scheduled maintenance sessions which all again comes down to less cost. Implement these networks wherever possible.

Servo Pneumatic Positioning is the process of positioning an actuator by controlling the air flow and pressure on both sides of the piston. It is 30% faster than conventional shock absorber solutions, less expensive than electrical positioning solutions and is much less noisy than other systems.

Actuators are limited to the amount of energy they can absorb when moving high loads, high speeds or a combination of both. If the energy at then end of the stroke is above the limiting energy, fit external stops or shock absorbers.

When selecting valves to control the actuators remember that it is the speed of the actuator that determines the size of the valve and not the total consumption of the actuator. Hence the vast difference between flow rate and consumption.

Larger diameter tubing gives more laminar flow and hence better performance from not only actuators but also vacuum equipment.

Privacy Statement