Fluid power

A fluid power diagram shows pneumatics, hydraulics and vacuum as ISO 1219 draws them: valves, cylinders, pumps, the air preparation and the lines between them. In the program it is a page of its own kind; its solenoids, sensors and switches are the devices of the schematic.

A fluid power page

Make one with New page… → Type: Fluid power. Give it the location of the machine (+FIELD), as a P&ID: the devices on it then have the tags they have on the schematic. On such a page the Symbols tab opens its Fluid power section.

The Wire tool (W) draws lines from port to port, as on a P&ID; they are no circuits. A part with two ports put on a straight line goes into it, and the line grows back when it is deleted. The properties of a line:

• Kind: working line (solid), pilot or drain line (dashed), flexible hose (bowed), mechanical link (double). New lines take the kind chosen last.
• Size of the tube or hose (Ø8×1, 12L), written over the line when Show the size is on.

The ports of the symbols carry their designations: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 12, 14 in pneumatics (ISO 5599), P, A, B, T, X, Y in hydraulics (ISO 9461). Port designations in the page properties hides them. A frame round an assembly is a rectangle with Line: Dash-dot.

Directional valves

Insert → Directional valve… (or Other valve… at the end of the Directional valves group) draws any valve as it is chosen:

• Ports / positions: 2/2, 3/2, 4/2, 5/2, 3/3, 4/3, 5/3;
• At rest (2/2 and 3/2): closed or open; Middle position of three: all ports closed, A and B to exhaust, A and B under pressure, floating, tandem, all connected;
• Left and Right: solenoid, solenoid with pilot (servo), proportional solenoid, pilot pressure (with its port 14 / 12, or X / Y), lever, push button, pedal, roller, plunger; manual override of a solenoid; return by spring or detent;
• Medium: pneumatic or hydraulic, which names the ports.

The left actuator works the left position; with two positions the right one is at rest, and the ports are on it. Configure… in the properties of a placed valve opens the same dialog: the valve is drawn anew, and its lines stay on the ports of the same name.

The Symbols tab offers the common valves ready: 3/2 and 5/2 with solenoid and spring, 5/2 bistable, 5/3 with each middle position, hydraulic 4/2 and 4/3.

Symbols

• Check, flow and pressure valves: check valves (also spring-loaded and pilot-operated), throttles, one-way flow control, pressure compensated flow control, shuttle (OR) and two-pressure (AND) valves, quick exhaust, pressure relief (direct and pilot-operated), reducing, sequence and counterbalance valves.
• Cylinders and actuators: single- and double-acting cylinders, with magnetic piston, cushioning, through rod, clamping unit; rodless, plunger and telescopic cylinders; semi-rotary actuator, parallel gripper.
• Pumps and motors: hydraulic pumps and motors (fixed, variable, two directions), air motor, pump unit, the electric motor of a pump.
• Air supply and preparation: compressed air supply, compressor, receiver, filters, water separator, regulator, lubricator, service unit, shut-off valve.
• Tanks, accumulators, filters: tank, line to tank, gas-loaded accumulator, filters (with bypass, with clogging indicator), cooler, heater.
• Measuring and switching: gauge, pressure switch, pressure transducer, thermometer, level indicator, flow meter, test point, position sensor on a cylinder.
• Vacuum: ejector, vacuum pump, suction cup, vacuum switch, filter and gauge.
• Exhausts and fittings: exhaust, silencers, plugged port, quick couplings.

Valve terminals

Insert → Valve terminal… places a manifold of 1 to 24 places, 40 to 64 mm apart: a dash-dot frame, the supply 1 and the exhausts 3 and 5 common to all places, with their ports on the left. A directional valve put over a place stands on it, its ports 5, 1, 3 on the channels. The terminal and each valve are devices of their own (-QM1 the terminal, -QM2… the valves).

With the schematic

• Solenoids: type the tag of each solenoid's coil in the properties of the valve (Solenoid left, Solenoid right, e.g. MB1). Draw the coil with that tag on the schematic: the solenoid shows where the coil is (/6a.2), Jump (F) goes from one to the other, and the properties show the coil's PLC channel.
• Sensors and switches (position sensors on a cylinder, pressure and vacuum switches, transducers) and the electric motor of a pump are pictures of devices of the schematic, as on a P&ID: give them the device's tag.
• Check project warns of a solenoid whose coil is on no schematic and of a sensor that is no device of a schematic, and notes a cylinder port without a line.