Design of a Miniature Pressure Regulator for

use with a Pneumatically Actuated

Artificial Arm

Suzanne Lochert a1078416

Supervisors: Frank WornleGeorge Osborne

Overview

• Introduction• Aims of the Project• Current Limitations of Regulators• The Design• Benefits of the Design• Matlab Simulations• Future Work • Conclusions

Introduction

• A pressure regulator is used for Pneumatic applications

• A regulator reduces pressure and also regulates it

• For this application the pressure entering the Air Muscle needs to be controlled

• Wide Variety of Pressure Regulators– Spring or Weight Loaded– Single or Multiple Diaphragms– Pilot operated pressure regulator

Gas and Fuel corporation of Victoria (GFCV), 1976Popeck, 2001

Aims of the Project

• Create a miniature pressure regulator• This regulator is to be used with the Air Muscle

to allow applications to be autonomous• This requires

– a portable air supply – a small and lightweight regulator

The Air Muscle developed at the University of Adelaide, photo Suzanne Lochert, 2005

Current Limitations of Pressure Regulators

• Size of Regulators• Inability to

– Vary outlet pressure– Handle large pressures – Reduce the pressure sufficiently

• Hence current regulators do not meet specifications for project

Photo Suzanne Lochert 2005, Regulator courtesy of Mick Irvine, Office of the Technical Regulator

The Design

Benefits of the Design

• Spring Loaded*

• Single diaphragm• Safety pressure

relief*

• Valve positioning system

• Ease of Assembly

*Gas and Fuel corporation of Victoria (GFCV), 1976

Matlab Simulations

• A static model of the system was created using an m-file and simulink to determine system parameters

• A dynamic simulation of the system was then created using information from the static model and modelled in Simulink

Dynamic model of Regulator with no disturbance Dynamic model of Regulator with a disturbance

Future Work

• The regulator once manufactured will be tested

• These tests will be based on tests from Australian Standards

• The regulator will then be utilised for applications using the Air Muscle

Conclusions

• The Miniature Pressure Regulator has been designed by combining aspects of available regulators to be the optimal design for this application

• The simulations performed using Matlab helped to optimise the design of the pressure regulator