One solenoid for 4 cylinders

Programming Support VEXcode V5 Tech Support
1

Hi,

We are redesigning our end game lift mechanism using 4 cylinders. And have three ideas

  1. 1 single solenoid to control air to 4 cylinders at the same time. 4 t-fittings required to split air.

  2. 2 solenoids to control air to 4 cylinders. So each solenoid controlling 2 cylinders. 2 t-fittings required .

  3. 4 solenoids to control air to 4 cylinders individually.

I guess the question is. Is the above setup producing same force or 1 is less powerful than 2. 2 is less powerful than 3?

Thanks for the discussion.

2

All the same, all air cylinders receive same pressure, thus same force is developed.

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3

depending on your materials, but I would do 1 so you don’t have your cylinders deploying at different times

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4

As long as all of your solenoids are being fed from the same tank and regulator (if used), the force from all setups will be identical.

Looking at your options:

  1. (1 solenoid, 4 cylinders):
  • This is the simplest setup electrically and programmatically. The cylinders may move a little bit slower, but I doubt it will be noticeable (you are already pulling all of the air through a single regulator).
  • You will need 3 t-fittings per cylinder end (6 if they are double-acting). I would go for one t-fitting with each end feeding another t-fitting which feeds 2 cylinders (balancing your architecture makes things cleaner).
  • This setup also guarantees all cylinders get the same pressure at the same time (electrical or programming issues cannot impact only some cylinders).
  • All tubing downstream of a solenoid is depressurized when the solenoid operates. This means that having lots of tubing between the solenoid and the cylinder leads to higher air usage. Not a problem if you are only operating a couple of times, but adds up if you move things a lot.
  1. (2 solenoids, each with 2 cylinders):
  • This is really a compromise between setups 1 and 3. It doesn’t really give you any big benefits.
  • The biggest reason to use this would be packaging. If you have 2 closely-spaced cylinders on each side of the robot, this lets you keep your tubing lengths between solenoid and cylinder quite a bit shorter.
  • A programming, electrical or component failure (solenoid fails, isn’t plugged in, wire breaks, etc) can lead to only 2 of your cylinders moving. If this will break parts of your robot, this might be a bad design…
  1. (4 solenoids, each with 1 cylinder);
  • This may give you the shortest tubing between each solenoid and cylinder.
  • It requires the most electrical and programming work.
  • If actuating only some of the cylinders and not others will bend or break your robot, this might cause problems…