Pneumatics - Regulators
Normally
you would hold a supply tank of compressed gas which would be at too higher
pressure for use in the actuators and circuits. So, in order to bring the
pressure down, you would need a regulator between the high pressure (supply)
and low pressure (circuit). The picture here shows our Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
regulator taken from a soft drink machine. Because it is designed for CO2,
it can handle in excess of 3000psi on the high pressure side. As the limit
in Robot Wars is 1000psi for pneumatics, we are well in the safety zone.
The following is a quick guide to the regulator shown here.
(a) This is the input pipe which connects, via a 1/2" screw connector, to the supply cylinder. Different gases use different thread types so that you cannot accidentally connect gas to equipment in a dangerous combination. It is a solid metal pipe to be able to withstand the high pressure. If you wanted to extend this part you would either need to build a new pipe (dangerous if you don't know what you are doing) or use hydraulic pipe with a high pressure rating.
(b) This is the output pipe. The pressure here is anywhere up to about 10 bar. The connections are fairly standard, but tend to be quite narrow, therefore restricting the air speed.
(c) This is the high pressure gauge. It shows the pressure inside the tank, so is a constant figure which will gradually drop as the tank is discharged. (Remember that as gas is vented, so the compression on the remaining air is reduced and pressure drops.)
(d) This is the adjuster. It is a simple screw which you turn to adjust the output pressure. It has locking nuts so that you can fix a consistant output.
(e) This is the low pressure gauge. This is on the output side of the regulator and will only show the pressure when a circuit is attached (ie when there is back pressure). Not really so useful once the output pressure has been set. You could easily use a blanking plug and remove this.