Speed Control of Pneumatic Cylinder using Particle-Excitation Flow Control Valve

We have developed particle-excitation flow control valve. The valve uses a piezoelectric oscillator which is driven in the resonance and the valve’s features are simple structure, lightweight and high flow rate / weight. The valve can control flow rate by controlling the voltage amplitude. In this report, we used the valve to control the speed of pneumatic cylinder. We measured response time of the vale that is important parameter for servo system. And we evaluated characteristics of the meter-out circuit using the valve and we compared with using a general speed controller. Additionally, we performed experiments to switch cylinder speed when the cylinder piston comes near the stopping end. Through this study, we show that this control valve has advantage for pneumatic cylinder control system.