Have you ever looked at a pneumatic blueprint and felt that your eyes are just glazing over? Pretty much everyone has had that kind of issue, especially if they’re working with plans developed by someone other than their own crew.
Fortunately, it’s not that hard to develop a system from scratch. In fact, it might be easier to do so than to attempt to modify an existing installation.
Designing Compressed Air Systems
When people want to first start laying out a system, they need to consider the different types of tubing that they could arrange. In some cases, you’ll need to ensure that all of your tubings are flexible or possibly positioned in such a way to avoid ruptures.
Fortunately, SMC Pneumatics has also made sure to stock a collection of different types of air hoses that can aid those who wanted to put together almost any type of installation.
In some cases, you might want to consider portability. If that’s the situation you’re dealing with, then you’ll want to make a collection of portable modules.
Once you’ve gotten these kinds of basics out of the way, the next step of designing a compressed air piping system is to consider whether or not there are going to be any switches or other diversions of the airflow.
Switch Placement In Compressed Air Piping Systems
Engineers have often suggested that the best way to plan switches is to look through your schema and then cut out half of them. While this is quite extreme and an oversimplification especially as far as modern pneumatic equipment goes, it does carry some wisdom with it.
Simple designs always tend to work the best, so you might want to restrict the total number of switches you allow yourself to connect to any particular pneumatic circuit. Fortunately, you have quite a choice when it comes to finding reliable devices.
Take a few moments to view a catalog of pneumatic actuators and switches. Pay particular attention to any options that are made from durable corrosion-resistant materials that won’t hold you back.
Once you’ve found some, you’ll be in a better position to figure out the best way to hook everything up together.
Planning For Pneumatic Air Fittings
Several different kinds of air fittings are currently on the market, which should help those who have to make some difficult decisions when it comes time to actually screw all of their circuits together.
KQ2 one-touch fittings, for instance, are offered in both metric and customary sizes. While a majority of technicians working in North America would probably prefer to work with customary sizes measured in inches, you always have the option to order these in purely metric sizes delineated in SI measures as well.
Those who are reworking an existing installation should find this particularly useful. For instance, pretend that you’re an engineer who has only ever worked with customary measurements and prefers to do math infractions.
You might be in for some culture shock when it comes time to deal with metric parts. That being said, you won’t have to fear because you can simply consult a ready guide with our part builder and find the exact piece you’re looking for to replace things.
Fittings come in several different styles. Some of these physically screw together for a hard connection while others rely on the one-touch paradigm, which is an ideal option for anyone who wants to put together an installation that they’re going to drag around between different work sites.
Consider portability whenever you’re planning a design, especially if you actually do have any plans to carry your equipment with you.
Portable Compressed Air Circuit Designs
Entertainment industry operators have long put down pneumatic installations that stay in a single place for the long term. This is the same sort of behavior that’s expected out of those in the manufacturing and automation sectors as well.
Construction specialists and others that have to move from site to site, however, often have to be prepared to move readily. As a result, they need something more than just one-touch fittings to ensure portability.
Smaller air cylinders, compressors and other miniaturized components are often a great option for anyone who finds themselves planning this sort of configuration. You’ll certainly want to consider overall weight,, especially if you’re planning on bringing it anywhere with you. On top of this, you’ll want to consider whether or not the equipment is in condition to be packed up regularly.
Once you know more about your organization’s specific requirements, you’ll be in a better position to start drawing up actual plans.
Designing The Final Compressed Air Piping System
Make sure to get measurements of all the clearances in the areas that you want to run tubing in. Start the planning process by mapping out any particular problem areas. For instance, you might want to invest in flame-resistant double layer tubing, which is useful in areas where sparks from spot welders and other pieces of industrial equipment could damage the tubing.
In other situations, you might want to layout PU or nylon tubing. Fluororesin is a good option as well, and it too is available in both metric and customary sizes. Some people might even need to reduce sliding motion damage by deploying water-resistant tubing around areas that are humid or potentially moist.
Improve Your Compressor System With SMC Pneumatics
Here at SMC Pneumatics we do our best to stock as much material as possible in order to help those who find themselves revamping an existing system. In fact, with just a few pointers you shouldn’t have all that much difficulty tracing even complex installations.
Regardless of what design you come up with in the end, you’ll want to take a few moments to contact us at SMC Pneumatics and voice any special concerns that you might have run into. Our team of experienced specialists will work with you to sort out potential problems and plan out the most efficient compressed air system that you’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.