Maximising spool valve island design choice

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 11, 2001

Asco/Joucomatic's new concept in valve design, MEGA spool valve islands, offer the user and OEM total flexibility in their construction, mounting and the t

Asco/Joucomatic's new concept in valve design, MEGA spool valve islands, offer the user and OEM total flexibility in their construction, mounting and the type of control that they perform.

The MEGA's modular construction requires no tools for assembly yet enables almost any configuration of valves to assembled, enabling all OEM control needs to met from a single manifold platform - which itself is compatible with standard fieldbuses such as Profibus-DP, Interbus-S and DeviceNet.

The reduced size, modularity, low weight, high flow rate (900 litres/min) and connection via 6mm or 8mm instant fittings, make the MEGA valve islands the ideal product for installations where compactness and high performance are essential requirements.

The flexibility of the MEGA design means that the valve islands can be mounted directly on machines, in panels or near pneumatic actuators, thus fulfilling automation requirements in industrial environments such as assembly, food processing, packaging, process control, textile and paper industries.

MEGA valve islands comprise up to a maximum of sixteen valves.

These can be monostable or bistable, double 3/2, 5/2, or 5/3 solenoid air operated spool types, with space saving, low wattage (1.6 Watts) push/pull coils, with additional features such as spool valve position indication and LED visualization.

As an added means of enhancing flexibility, the MEGA's monostable and bistable spool valves are of the same size.

This allows the islands to be equipped with intermediary modules for additional pressure supplies or blanking plates, enabling them to be supplied with 2 or 3 different pressure levels or vacuum.

In addition, the plates also allow the channelled exhaust to be isolated.

Importantly, much time and effort is saved by the user as assembly of the MEGA islands is achieved without tools: the different elements are simply clipped onto connecting rods.

The effectiveness of this procedure can be judged from the fact that it takes less than 20 seconds to mount a spool valve on a MEGA island.

Moreover, once complete, the assembly, because it is IP65 rated, can be mounted directly onto what it is controlling, reducing the size of an installation, or mounted conveniently in a control panel on industry standard DIN rails.

The flexible design philosophy employed to create the MEGA range offers the OEM and user the best possible range of connection options to meet almost all requirements.

These include: *The "Classic" connection with a size 15 connector, in a standard IP65 (Pg7P) version, or an IP65 or IP20 version with a LED diode and integral electric protection *MULTIPOL IP20 or IP65 single, multi-wire connection, with SUB-D coupling, for use with a PLC.

*Connection with the AS interface network, using a vampire plug for simple and instant connections of flat profiled cables.

This interface, with or without inputs, can supervise 8 monostable or four bistable valves.

*Connection with the "intelligent" VCS - Valve Connection System - compatible with standard communication protocols, such as Profibus-DP, Interbus-S and DeviceNet, this revolutionary system eliminates the need for cable stripping and fastening.

Comprising an interface, intelligent connectors and a flat profiled cable, it links solenoid air operated valves together in an easy, quick and economical manner.

The VCS cable is placed in a connector with a snap shut cover (one connector per valve).

Only one VCS interface is needed for up to 127 valve connectors and 254 inputs for a maximum distance of 2.5km.