Abstract
Pneumatic actuating systems are an important power system in industrial applications. Due to exhaust loss, however, pneumatic actuating systems have suffered from a low utilization of compressed air. To recycle the exhaust energy, a novel pneumatic circuit was proposed to realize energy savings through recycling exhaust energy. The circuit consisted of three two-position three-way switch valves, which were used to control the exhaust flows into a gas tank or the ambient environment. This paper introduced the energy recovery configuration and working principles and built a mathematical model of its working process. Then, the mathematical model was verified by experiments. Finally, through experiments in which the air supply pressure, the critical pressure and the volume of the gas tank were regulated, the energy recovery characteristics of the pneumatic actuating system were obtained. Using the new circuit, the experimental results showed that the energy recovery efficiency exceeded 23%. When the air supply pressure was set to 5 bar, 6 bar, and 7 bar, the time required for pneumatic actuation to complete the three working cycles were 5.2 s, 5.3 s, and 5.9 s, respectively. When the critical pressure was set to 0 bar, 0.5 bar, 1 bar, and 1.5 bar, the times for pneumatic actuation to complete the three working cycles were 4.9 s, 5.1 s, 5.2 s, and 5.3 s, respectively. When the volume of the gas tank was set to 2 L, 3 L, 4 L, and 5 L, the number of working cycles was 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively. This paper provides a new method of cylinder exhaust recycling and lays a good foundation for pneumatic energy savings.
Highlights
Compressed air is widely applied in many industries
At different air supply pressures, the time required for pneumatic actuation to complete the three working cycles is different
The time required for pneumatic actuation to complete the three working cycles is different
Summary
Compressed air is widely applied in many industries. According to some reports, compressed air systems account for approximately 10% of total industrial energy use [1]. Harris et al [18] and Hepke et al [19] reduced air consumption by adjusting the gauge pressure of the air supply in the system, that is, reduced the overpressure in the cylinder piston retraction phase This can save nearly 30% of the input energy. Many other methods are used to improve the energy efficiency of cylinders, such as differential drive [23], recovering energy through a rubber bladder and storing strain energy [24], or reusing exhaust gas for power generation [25]. The research lays a good technical foundation for further research on highly efficient pneumatic actuating system
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