Optimized sequential method assisting design and implementation of electro-pneumatic/hydraulic circuit

Abstract

Abstract Electro-pneumatic circuits returned to be an important topic of research after the need of ventilator due COVID-19. Not only for this type of device but to assist economy restarting, the electro-pneumatic/hydraulic systems will be one of the industrial automation cornerstones after COVID pandemic. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) are one of the main components of these circuits and the standard of industrial automation; however, its application is highly dependent on programmers skills. Usually, electro-pneumatic/hydraulic solutions rely on sequential circuits. Different methods are found in the literature to design that systems, but they involve complex analyzes and intuitive strategies in cases that the actuators extend and retract more than once within the cycle of movements, and within simultaneous movements. As consequence, the resulting circuits mostly require a large number of valves and electronic components in order to be implemented. The objective of this work is to describe a novel method that can be applied in the design and implementation of optimized circuits using PLC's, eliminating intuitive solutions. Examples are presented to illustrate the theoretical procedures and experimental tests performed to validate the method. The results prove the generality of this work, the simplicity of its implementation, and introduce a bridge between design and implementation of electro-pneumatics and electro/hydraulics circuits with PLC's.