Pneumatics Blog

I am not up to date on the latest developments in pneumatics and it may be that the development has stagnated a bit.

The last new development I can think of is the rodless cylinder.

What I would like to know is what happened to the pneumatic digital and logic units.

I can't remember now what it was called but I know roundabout 1970 a lot of development had been done on this. It quite intrigued me at the time and I read all I could get hold of about this, then it suddenly died.

Was quite nifty and the units had been made very small using very little air.

There were amplifiers, and, or, nand, flip flop and other components.

I suppose they could not compete with electronics.

Eureka, it was called Fluidics (fluid logics).

ARO, Telemechanique and Crouzet call it "Air Logic". Unlike "Fluidics" it was miniaturized 3 and 4-Way air valves plus other controls to give Timing, Seqencing and such. You can do anything electrical does with these controls but you cannot operate a Light Bulb. There are Indicators that change colors but only work in lighted situations.

IMO its downfall was the lack of people who would take the time to learn how to apply it, Then the PLC came along with NUMEROUS persons who could apply them and used Solenoid valves to control actuators.

AirLogic is still available from the above companies and an be a great asset on circuits that must operate in areas wher Explosive materials are processed. I sold a lot of it in my sales days to the Naval Ammunyion Depot to De-Mil outdated explosives and other devices that could not have electrical sparking possibilities near them. Also worked well on machines that had Coolant Flushing and the problems that causes electrical equipment that is not completely sealed.

You can see a Fluid Power training book at this site that has a Chapter on Air Logic if you are interested in learning anything about the components and how they funtion. http://www.hydraulicspneumatics.com/200/eBooks/

I wrote the Basic book to teach Maintenance and Engineering persons the basics of Hydraulics and Pneumatic equipment and how it is used in an industrial setting. The Circuit Design Book is for an advanced class as a follow up and teach how Fluid power and its coponents are applied in everyday circuits. Check out the section on Air Logic to see circuits that have been are being used in actual applications.

Fluidics came and went as far as Industrial Equipment was concerned since it was not only complicated to learn but was subject to even simple pressure changes due to its low operating pressure. Fluidics was also a big Air Waster.

Good Technology definetly. What I found many times around is that many times when an improvement are been made to a piece of equipment and is back on line the old pneumatics hardware are left sitting there to be take it out for later and that didn't happen. Then the fun part is when a different or the new kid in the block are being called to solve another trouble at that same unit that now is pack up with the newest updated hardware previously installed plus the old hardware that was left hanging there like an spider web. I dont know what to tell ya' at such point but is kind of frustrating got catch up in such trap. Probably it's called "Job Security" for some but is actually a waste of time trying playing somebody else -Fun & Games-. Is a shame that in so many commercial and even residential settings such wasting of time are created by some which are not even qualify/certified to being experimenting with those ancillaries. Unfortunatly, I'd had to dealed before with some of those self called "Building Engineers" and is a - No Win Situation - scheme, actually their interest are climbing the ladder by make the new kid in the block look bad instead in order to gain terrain within corporate levels that's all, again everything is about the bottom line. No good for the industry in general since those people are pretending something instead of being doing what they are supposed been doing it, not pretending.

Is a shame but it may be happening everywhere there are big bucks involved or bottom line conflicts. Be careful a watch out for those spider web set-ups. Smart to always ask --Who Did It ? Why ? and How Come ?

The 5 W's Time,

MC