ELECTRO-PNEUMATICS
Electro-pneumatics is successfully used in many areas of industrial automation. Production, assembly and packaging systems worldwide are driven by electro-pneumatic control systems.
The change in
requirements together with technical advances has had a considerable impact on
the appearance of controls. In the signal control section, the relay has
increasingly been replaced by the programmable logic controller in order to
meet the growing demand for more flexibility. Modern electro-pneumatic controls
also implement new concepts in the power section to meet the needs of modern
industrial practice. Examples of this are the valve terminal, bus networking
and proportional pneumatics.
COMPONENTS OF ELECTRO-PNEUMATICS
The various components and assemblies used in Electro-pneumatics used are as follows:
Power supply unit
The signal
control section of an electro-pneumatic controller is supplied with power via
the electrical mains. The controller has a power supply unit for this purpose.
The individual assemblies of the power supply unit have the following tasks:
·
The
transformer reduces the operating voltage. The mains voltage (i.e. 230 V) is
applied to the input of the transformer. A lower voltage (i.e. 24 V) is
available at the output.
·
The
rectifier converts the AC voltage into DC voltage. The capacitor at the
rectifier output smoothes the voltage.
·
The
voltage regulator at the output of the power supply unit is required to ensure
that the electrical voltage remains constant regardless of the current flowing.
