Two and three port, pilot operated, solenoid valves, with high pressure performance answer process industry and PET machine builder's requests for use with air or inert gas.
Two and three port solenoid valves take high pressure Two and three port, pilot operated, solenoid valves, with high pressure performance answer process industry and PET machine builder's requests for use with air or inert gas. Process industry and PET machine builder's requests for both two and three port, pilot operated, solenoid valves, with high pressure performance are now answered with the launch of SMC's latest Series VCH range. Designed for use with air or inert gas, these new valves can operate up to a maximum pressure of 5.0MPa thereby substantially exceeding SMC's existing VXH high pressure series.

With large flow passages, and ISO1179-1 conforming port thread sizes of G1/2 to G1, high flow rates are ensured and due to a reduction in the overall volume of the pilot chamber their responsiveness can now only be measured in milliseconds.

Additionally, the VCH range offers enclosure protection equivalent to IP65 and a DIN type electrical connector as standard and due to its unique collision-less armature construction, with rubber buffers and urethane diaphragm, early indications have confirmed that the valves operation life time will exceed 10 million cycles.

Currently the VCH Series is available in four different valve configurations; two port valve normally closed - VCH41, two port valve normally open - VCH 42, our three port option - VCH410, plus a check valve - VCHC40.

Manufacturer of filling machines is using the precision movement capabilities of rodless pneumatic cylinders for handing delicate liquids that can froth or foam in an instant.
RCS Filling Machines has harnessed the precision movement capabilities of rodless pneumatic cylinders for handing delicate liquids that can froth or foam in an instant. Manufacturers of soaps, detergents and the many other products that can foam-up have to take particular care when it comes to the final packaging or filling stage of their manufacturing operation. Many turn to Nottingham's RCS Filling to develop bespoke machines that allow them to maintain production speeds yet be confident of successful filling.

The basic technique employed by RCS is to keep the dispensing nozzle just below the surface of the liquid as it fills the drum.

This is done using a rodless cylinder made by Hoerbiger-Origa to raise the nozzle at a precisely regulated speed.

In use, empty drums are delivered to the filling station, usually by conveyor, and the rodless cylinder lowers the filling nozzle into the drum to a point just above its bottom.

Delivery begins slowly, but once the nozzle is immersed in liquid it can speed up.

If the nozzle were to stay in a static position back pressure would soon build up and slow down delivery.

Therefore the nozzle begins to retract at a rate proportional to the delivery flow such that it always remains just below the surface.

Normally the drum is cylindrical, so the rate of retraction is a steady speed, relatively easy for RCS to set up.

This can be achieved with an open loop control algorithm, although RCS prefer to close the loop using a load cell to constantly weigh the amount of liquid that has been delivered and convert this into an exact determination of the level in the drum.

However, if the drum is of a profiled shape the rate of the rise in level is non-linear and either a specific control algorithm has to be developed or the level monitored in real time.

In either case RCS has to be confident that the Origa cylinder can accurately maintain position.

Once filling is complete the nozzle has to retract fully to allow capping to proceed to complete the cycle.

'Typically we will insert the nozzle rapidly, raise it slowly during filling, then complete the final retraction at high speed,' explains RCS technical director Stuart Margetson.

'It is quite a demanding duty cycle in a tough environment and operation may well be 24x7'.

'We use the Origa cylinder because it was the original rodless and has an enviable track record.' The Origa has three other major advantages appreciated by RCS's designers.

Its robust design allows it to be used as a structural element of the machine, reducing the amount of support engineering needed considerably.

The design is identical for all sizes from the smallest 16mm bore to the largest 48mm, which means RCS can use the same design details for all their machines regardless of overall size.

Finally the stroke length is infinitely variable up to 3m as standard, again rationalising machine design for RCS.

Pneumatic actuation is critical for RCS because many times the working environment is Zone 1 or Zone 2 explosive, where sparks from electrically driven actuators could be disastrous.

Hoerbiger-Origa pneumatic cylinders satisfy the demands of today's Atex regulations for explosive atmospheres, and equivalent regulations in other territories.

Some RCS machines have multiple nozzles for simultaneously filling a number of drums, and in others the nozzles have to be able to index in X and Y directions to fill drums on pallets.

Such machines will typically use several Origa cylinders to provide the necessary three dimensional movements.

Pick and place or quality control can benefit from better sensor detection - machine builders can now incorporate the most cost-effective trimmer auto switches into their machines.
When engineers from SMC Pneumatics, the world leaders in automation control, recognised that applications involving pick and place or quality control could benefit from better sensor detection, their extensive research and development team went into action. Thanks to their efforts, European machine builders can now incorporate the most cost-effective Trimmer Auto Switches into their machines - SMC Series D-#7K/D-R#K. Previously, machines builders requiring high and low actuator end stroke detection had to use two separate sensors.

This often required extensive set up time and in some cases resulted in less than accurate switch placement.

However, by adopting this new solid state auto switch, with its two independently adjusted outputs, it is simply no longer the case.

By setting the outputs using trimmers, via an amplifier, just one auto switch can now accurately distinguish up to three different sized work pieces with detection differences from as little as 0.5mm with a repeatability of +/-0.2mm.

Connected using an e-con type connector, both the sensor and the amplifier units can be quickly replaced should the need arise and the mounting options include direct and din rail mounted amplifier and direct or rail mounted sensor options.

Designed to be used with over ten different SMC air operated actuators and grippers, the sensor and the amplifier units have IP67 and IP40 enclosure protection respectively.

By switching from an electrically powered gripper to pneumatic actuation, a company developed a gantry system with an enhanced gripper for transporting packs of polystyrene panels.
When crane and gantry lifting systems specialist Crane Services was asked to develop a gantry system which would offer an enhanced gripper mechanism for transporting packs of polystyrene insulation panels, it knew it was facing a challenge, but found a solution in switching from an electrically powered gripper to pneumatic actuation. The gantry system was required for picking up and transporting shrink wrapped polystyrene blocks, which are supplied to the construction industry as insulation materials. With the new Part L Building Regulations requiring greater energy efficiency, more insulation than ever is bought and fitted.The moulded blocks of polystyrene come in shrink wrapped packs measuring up to 2700 by 1200 by 600mm, and can weigh anything from 13kg up to 100kg depending upon the density of the polystyrene.

In production, blocks of polystyrene are taken from the moulding machine, passed through a hot wire cutter which cuts them into panels 15-50mm thick, and shrink wrapped ready for transportation.

The gantry system then comes into operation, transporting the finished packages to an automated pallet stacking station.

The loaded pallets are subsequently accumulated on a powered outlet roller conveyor for and removed by a forklift truck for storage and transportation.

With Crane Services' hoists and gantry actuation systems generally being electrically powered, electro-mechanical actuation had always seemed the natural choice to drive the gripper paddles.

But the problem presented in this case by the challenge of picking up the various sizes of shrink wrapped polystyrene blocks suggested to Crane Services that an alternative technology was needed.

'Our initial idea was to use electrically operated screw jacks to drive the gripper paddles to the ends of the packs,' said Crane Services managing director Rob Lewis.

'But the wide variation in pack length caused problems, particularly with the jacks jamming.' Looking for an alternative means of actuating the grabber mechanism, the company considered pneumatic operation.

'Pneumatic operation looked attractive, because a constant pressure could be applied to the ends of the packs, regardless of the pack length,' said Lewis.

'And it could be safely operated to a stall condition whilst gripping the packs - something which can cause problems of 'burn out' with electric motors.

But against this, the operation of two simple, conventional pneumatic cylinders to operate the grab paddles presented a problem of its own, in that you could never be sure that the cylinders would operate at the same speed and travel the same distance, so the polypacks wouldn't be centrally picked.' The answer to the problem came in the form of an engineered solution built around Hoerbiger-Origa's BHD heavy duty linear belt drive, which offers the unique option of a bi-parting version.

Although normally powered by electric motors, Hoerbiger-Origa designed a system with the motive force supplied by four of its OSP-P rodless pneumatic cylinders.

Because of their modular design and shared external dovetail profile, the pneumatic actuators were able to be close coupled to the BHD drives using a standard 'multiplex' mounting arrangement.

'We realised straight away that this would solve the problem,' said Lewis.

Operating in parallel, two BHD units now form the main construction of the grabber unit, providing an effective stroke of 1450mm.

Each is powered by two OSP-P 32x300mm pneumatic rodless cylinders, with Hoerbiger-Origa also providing the speed control equipment, FRL equipment, and all fittings, tubing and accessories.

'The design has eliminated a great deal of fabrication engineering, and because the units are mechanically coupled, we are assured of perfectly synchronous movement,' said Lewis.

'On top of that, the arrangement is neat and compact, and offers simple control, with a single 5/2 valve operating all the cylinders.

The grab force can easily be varied by adjusting the operating pressure, allowing the system to accommodate the density and resistance of wide range of different size and weight blocks being handled.' In the completed design, the grab system is mounted to an overhead gantry hoist.

The gantry is driven by an AC inverter, allowing speed and acceleration parameters to be optimised for peak performance.

The lowering and raising of the gripper is also controlled via AC inverter, which powers a winch reeling a four-wire rope that supports the gripper mechanism.

Four micro switches are mounted on the faces of the grab plates, to detect the package being gripped and to initiate the lift cycle.

'The operating speed of the system is now impressively quick,' said Lewis, 'with the pneumatically powered mechanism helping to provide a 48s handling cycle per package.

Highly effective, the system is particularly simple, compact, lightweight and attractive,' Lewis added.

'And it is already generating interest from a number of our customers with handling problems of their own.

He concluded: 'We are increasingly becoming involved with turnkey automated handling systems of this type.

The demand to eliminate mechanical handling inefficiencies from existing production processes is a key growth area for Crane Services and we believe that the balance of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic and electronic control technologies and innovative engineering used in this installation show cases our capabilities as an organisation.'