Development of electro-pneumatic fast switching valve and investigation of its characteristics

The paper describes the development of an electrically operated pneumatic fast-switching valve for pneumatic position control systems. The valve was designed and fabricated as an on–off valve with 2/2-way function and its characteristics were investigated. The detailed theoretical analysis and preliminary tests were carried out on the manufactured valve and showed that the switching time of the single stage valve is about 4.5 ms and provides a 460 l/min of flow rate at standard air conditions. Production and assembling of the valve is rather simple and does not need a manufacturing operation with tight tolerance and therefore, it is envisaged as a low cost valve. The four of 2/2-way function valves are applicable for the realization of pneumatic actuators driving with a well-known established technique of the pulse width modulation (PWM).