Hello everyone. I'm currently trying to make an automated test bench for my company. What it needs to do is burnish friction material, and as part of our burnishing process, we need to turn on a ball valve which allows air to pass through a cold air gun to cool the part. The goal is for the valve to be adjustable, so a PLC can open it just enough for the part to maintain a specific temperature. Right now on our manual test bench, we have a quarter-turn ball valve that we open to different amounts for different parts to achieve the proper cooling.
However, I can't seem to find any valves that have this kind of functionality. The electric valves I've seen are simply open/closed, not partial turn, but then again, I'm not sure what kind of PLC output/language they use. I've only ever used digital before, so what kind of PLC output/language could perform this operation, and what would a valve need to use it? I'm very new to PLCs, so forgive me if my terminology isn't correct.
However, I can't seem to find any valves that have this kind of functionality. The electric valves I've seen are simply open/closed, not partial turn, but then again, I'm not sure what kind of PLC output/language they use. I've only ever used digital before, so what kind of PLC output/language could perform this operation, and what would a valve need to use it? I'm very new to PLCs, so forgive me if my terminology isn't correct.