Festo (www.festo.com) has introduced a pneumatic, storm water holding tank solution that uses solar and wind energy to generate electricity. This energy self-sufficient solution eliminates the need for operators to manually open and close the valves to drain the stored water, effectively saving money and time.
The system stores energy, which is used to operate the pneumatic actuator and to power the control unit, whenever necessary. In case of power supply failure of one of the energy sources, the system’s built-in emergency function ensures continuous operation of the gate valves until a replacement or repair has been carried out.
Meanwhile, a Festo GSM modem enables the entire system to be monitored and controlled from the remote control center, while the status monitoring of the system as well as the opening and closing of the valves can also be performed centrally.
With a valve terminal type VTSA and a Festo electrical terminal type CPX at the heart of the pneumatic solution, users are offered with an energy self-sufficient system that can directly control tasks on site as well as comprehensive diagnostic functions. Signals can be processed through the CPX terminal while modules for pressure regulators, temperature measurement or even pressure sensors can be added.
The system’s control valves are actuated with the company’s pneumatic linear actuators type DLP and DFPI, some of which are fitted with positioners. When utilized outdoors, such as the case with water technology, the use of pneumatic drives are recommended since they are corrosion-resistant, extremely robust and can be used in an ATEX zone.
For optimum performance, the harmonized positioners and displacement encoders of the variable-speed actuator DFPI are harmonized and integrated into a housing. This ensures that all parts are well protected while making the solution extremely compact.
Filed Under: Actuators, Pneumatic Tips, Linear motion • slides
