1.

0 TITLE
TRANSFER STATION (AUTOMATION LAB)


2.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Using a transfer station, blocks are to be transferred from a magazine to a
processing station. The blocks are pushed out of the magazine by cylinder 1A
and transferred to the processing station by cylinder 2A. The piston rod of
cylinder 2A may only return when the piston rod of cylinder 1A has reached
the retracted end position. The magazine is monitored by means of a limit
switch. If there are no more blocks in the magazine, it is not possible to start
the cycle. The control is to be operated continuously and can be stopped at
any time. Include any other performance enhancement of the automation
system.


Figure 2.1 : Positional sketch of the transfer station







3.0 OBJECTIVES
The objective of the experiment was listed below :
i. To design and realize coordinated sequential motion control with
auxiliary conditions
ii. To enhance the performance of the transfer station with students
creativity

4.0 INTRODUCTION (BACKGROUND & THEORY)

On an automation system one can find three families of components,
which are sensors valves and actuators. An adequate technique is needed to
project the logic circuit to integrate all the necessary components and execute
the sequence of movements properly. For a simple direct sequence of
movement an intuitive method can be used, but for indirect or more complex
sequence the intuition can generate a very complicated circuit and signal
mistakes. It is necessary than to use another method that can save time of the
project, make a clean circuit, can eliminate occasional signal overlapping and
redundant circuits.

The electro-pneumatic system can be defined as a control system for
pipe organs. The air pressure, controlled by an electric current and operated
by the keys of an organ console, opens and closes valves within wind chests,
allowing the pipes to speak. This system also allows the console to be
physically detached from the organ itself. The only connection was via an
electrical cable from the console to the relay, with some early organ consoles
utilizing a separate wind supply to operate combination pistons.

An electric circuit is completed when the organ key is depressed, by
means of a switch connected to that key. This causes a low-voltage current to
flow through a cable to the windchest, upon which a rank or multiple ranks of
pipes are set. Within the chest, a small electro-magnet associated with the key
that is pressed becomes energized. This causes a very small valve to open.
This, in turn, allows wind pressure to activate a bellows or "pneumatic"
which operates a larger valve. This valve causes a change of air pressure
within a channel that leads to all pipes of that note. A separate "stop action"
system is used to control the admittance of air or "wind" into the pipes of the
rank or ranks selected by the organist's selection of stops, while other ranks
are "stopped" from playing. The stop action can also be an electro-pneumatic
action, or may be another type of action.
One of the advantages of the electro-pneumatic system is the console
of an organ which uses either type of electric action is connected to the other
mechanisms by an electrical cable. This makes it possible for the console to
be placed in any desirable location. It also permits the console to be movable,
or to be installed on a "lift", as was the practice with theater organs. For the
disadvantage, the electro-pneumatic system used the large quantities of thin
perishable leather, usually lambskin and sometimes requires an extensive "re-
leathering" of the windchests every twenty-five to forty years depending upon
the quality of the material used, the atmospheric conditions and the use of the
organ.



Figure 4.1: The example of electro-pneumatic system



5.0 METHOD OF APPROACH

1. The displacement-step diagram was design.
2. The pneumatic and electric circuit diagram was design
3. The pneumatic and electric circuit construction has been carry out
4. The sequential motion control system was implemented and realized
5. Check and trouble shoot the sequence of the circuit.
6. The report is prepared based on this case study.




6.0 APPARATUS


Component List
Description Quantity
Double Acting Cylinder 2
5/2-way double solenoid pilot valve 2
Limit Switch 4
24 DC power supply 1


7.0 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

1. The electro-pneumatic circuit was set up in the required sequence.



2. Once the circuit has been set up, the push button is pressed to turn on the
system.




3. The first limit switch is pressed. The limit is used as a sensor to sense the
block that needs to be moved.



4. Once the limit switch is pressed, the sequences of cylinders were observed.


Figure 7.1 : Cylinder 1A extends first


Figure 7.2 : Cylinder 2A extends after cylinder 1A is fully extended and cylinder
1A begin to retract once cylinder 2A is fully extended.


Figure 7.3 : Cylinder 2A starts to retract when cylinder 1A is fully retracted


5. The cycle repeats every time the sensor detects the block.



8.0 RESULT AND DATA ANALYSIS

9.0 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Check the Sequence of the Circuit
As been mentioned before, the design displacement-step of the circuit is:-




Sequence of operation pneumatic circuit :
1. Cylinder A is extended (A+), while cylinder B is retracted in position.
2. When cylinder A is fully extended, then the cylinder B is started to extend
(B+). Note that the cylinder A is still in that position.
3. When the cylinder B is fully extend, then the cylinder A is starting retracted.
It should note that the cylinder B is still in fully extending position.
4. When cylinder A is fully retracted the cylinder B then started to retract. This
operation is continuous until the transfer block or component is completely,
or stop button is pressed.
5. Therefore the sequence of this circuit is 1A+, 2A+, 1A-, 2B-.
Sense object
Extend 1A
Sense object
Extend 2A
Retract 1A
Retract 2A
An electro-pneumatics circuit above was design to operate the mechanism of
two double acting cylinders where the operation is applied at the transfer
station of the conveyer system where the double acting cylinder A is extended
to push the magazines from the slot to the left. Then, the double acting
cylinder B will extend and push the magazines into the box. The detail
sequence as follow :
1. When main supply switched on, air is supplied to the directional control
valve. If main supply switch is deactivated then the air supply to the
system is switched off.
2. When limit switch (L1) is in detected by block of magazines it will
activate the 5/2-way double solenoid pilot valve. 5/2- way double
solenoid pilot valve is control the air for the cylinder A to extend.
3. After the cylinder A is fully extended, block of magazine will touch the
limit switch (L2) and it will active the 5/2- way double solenoid pilot. The
5/2- way double solenoid pilot will control air at double acting cylinder B
to extend fully. It should not that double acting cylinder A still extend
fully.
4. Once the cylinder B is fully extended, block will touch the limit switch
(L3) in which it will activate the 5/2- way double solenoid pilot and it will
control the air for the cylinder A retracted.
5. When cylinder A fully retracted, it will touch the limit switch (L4). Then
the cylinder B will retract fully in the transfer station.

Limit switch (L1) detect other block and the operation or cycle will be
continuous until limit switch (L1) not detect any block

From the steps, it is related to the problem that has been given which blocks
need to be transferred to one station to another station by using pneumatic
system. The steps are needed to satisfy the given problem so that no problems
occur during the system being operated. More creative design could be
implemented in order to have different kind of sequence but still fulfill the
objectives.

Trouble Shoot of the Circuit

The control of pneumatic cylinders could be affected by manual,
mechanical, pneumatic and electrically actuated valves. Electrical energy has
certain specific advantages over all other forms of control energy. However,
electrical controls in pneumatic system should not be used where there exists
the possibility of hazards due to fire-borne accidents which may be caused by
electrical sparks.
In comparison to other types of mechanical systems, pneumatic
systems are found to be less problematic. However, industrial experience
shows that even best of system sometimes fails and hence need to take
necessary care in order to keep the system runs at the optimum efficiency. A
systematic procedure for finding and eliminating faults reduces the downtime
of pneumatic systems. Faults are generally occurs by external failures of
machine components and internal failures within control system. Typical
problems are seal wear, internal leakage and valve seal wear.

In order to have a good and efficient pneumatic system, students should:
Understand the circuit function and component symbols of the total
system including the construction
Understand the port-numbering system valves
Analysis the circuit problems
Troubleshoot from bottom to top of the circuit

Component with good and well planned preventive maintenance
programmed, pneumatic components are expected to last quite a long period
of time without any unexpected and untoward failure.





10.0 CONCLUSION

The electro pneumatic system is successfully designed and the
coordinate sequential motion with auxiliary conditions is realized. A new idea
for the performance of the transfer station is get from the understanding the
basic pneumatic system and some basic about programming controller of the
circuits.

The programming of the controller does not use PLC languages, but a
configuration that is simple and intuitive. With electro-pneumatic system, the
programming follows the same technique that was used before to design the
system, but here the designer works directly with the states or steps of the
system. With a very simple machine language the designer can define all the
configuration of the step using four or five bytes. It depends only on his
experience to use all the resources of the controller.

The controller task is not to work in the same way as a commercial
PLC but the purpose of it is to be an example of a versatile controller that is
design for an specific area. Because of that, it is not possible to say which one
works better; the system made with microcontroller is an alternative that
works in a simple way.





11.0 RECOMMENDATION


i. Emergency stop button
Emergency stop (E-Stop) buttons are an important safety component
of many electrical circuits, especially those that control hazardous
equipment such as gas pumps, moving machinery, saws, mills, and
cutting tools, conveyor belts, and many other types of equipment.
They are designed to allow an operator or bystander to stop the
equipment in a hurry should anything go wrong.

ii. Relay
A relay is a simple electromechanical switch made up of
an electromagnet and a set of contacts. Relays are found hidden in all
sorts of devices. In fact, some of the first computers ever built used
relays to implement Boolean gates. For example, in this case study,
relay can be used to act as a switch to control the flow of blocks.
When the sensor detected the block was empty, the relay will switch
off the circuit to saving electricity.

iii. Counter
In digital logic and computing, a counter is a device which stores (and
sometimes displays) the number of times a
particular event or process has occurred, often in relationship to a
clock signal. In practice, there are two types of counters :
Up counters, which increase (increment) in value
Down counters, which decrease (decrement) in value

For example, in this case study, we recommend that the circuit used a
counter in order to count the total number of blocks transfer or used in
a cycle.


iv. Buzzer
A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling device, which may
be mechanical, electro-mechanical, or electronic. Typical uses of
buzzers and beepers include alarms, timers and confirmation of user
input such as a mouse click or keystroke. For example, in this case
study, we also recommended to use a buzzer in order to detect the
problem that occurs in the system/circuit.

v. Timer
A timer is a specialized type of clock. A timer can be used to control
the sequence of an event or process. Whereas a stopwatch counts
upwards from zero for measuring elapsed time, a timer counts down
from a specified time interval, like an hourglass.
Timers can be mechanical, electromechanical, electronic (quartz), or
even software as all modern include digital timers of one kind or
another. When the set period expires some timers simply indicate so
(e.g., by an audible signal), while others operate electrical switches.





12.0 REFERENCE

i. Amit M. Rampure, Pneumatic Training Report, Mumbai
ii. S. R. Majumdar, 1996, Pneumatic Systems: Principles and
Maintenance, Tata McGraw-Hill
iii. J. widera, G. Wszoeka, W. Carvalhob, Programmable controller
designed for electro-pneumatic systems, Silesian University of
Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May 2005