Pressure control grinder

I am looking for a mechanism that I can attach between the end of my robot arm and a grinding head. This mechanism needs to be self controlled and closed loop to hold a constant pressure on the grinder. The pressure setpoint will be supplied with an analog signal from my PLC or robot. I searched the web and came up with an Emerson (Brooks) 5866M. Does anyone know if this would work if I attached it to a cylinder. Any other ideas. I want to use my robot to grind metal enclosures while keeping the pressure on the grinding head constant.

Craig

How much pressure are you talking about here? If you have an analog signal from your PLC why not use the PLC for the closed loop on cylinder pressure? Are you just looking for a pressure transducer to measure the pressure? I assume the metal enclosures will be stationary but what size enclosures and what parts of it need grinding?

Something is very wrong with what you are asking for.

If constant pressure is maintained, then your grinding device could grind completely through the part!

I think I know what effect you really want, but I'll wait to hear your clarification.

We are trying to keep a constant pressure of 15-20lbs on the grinding head. We are also going to use a servo to keep a constant speed on the grinding disk. The quality of the grind and the life of the grinding disk increase by keeping the pressure and speed constant.

Terry - We won't grind the enclosure through because we will only grind for a certian amount of time, and we will be moving throughout the box. We will use this to both grind the corners and weld seams of our enclosures along with buffing the stainless steel enclosures.

Tomneth - I did think about using a pressure sensor with a 4-20ma pressure regulator and closing the loop through the PLC. That was one possiblity. I would need to find a regulator that could control and adjust fast. I need quick response time and was wondering if there was other options. Possibly a standalone unit that could be mounted on the end of the robot arm.

Sorry I didn't clarify enough.

Craig

Craig,

I think http://www.proportionair.com/ has something that will work. I have used a few of their proportional air regulators, and I've been happy so far. They have good tech support - just tell them what you are trying to do, and they will get you started.

Good Luck-
Kevin Hammond

You may want to consider putting a small accumulator in the system to take care of minor fluctuations in pressure.