Air control valve for Air Hogs

[rwa2004]

How do you keep one tool/machine from hogging all the air?

We have an air compressor and system that is sufficient 98% of the time. Every once in a while a tool/machine will be used that uses a ton of air and the compressor cannot keep up. This is ok except for when a CNC machine errors out in the middle of a program because someone else was an air hog.

Is there an air valve that would make sure that one direction gets priority of the air pressure and another line only gets air if there is sufficient pressure? I think if this were hydraulics, this would be a sequence valve. Has anyone installed something that would cut-off the secondary air lines if the pressure drops too low?

 

[stonesfan68]

Yes, you want a back-pressure regulator or priority valve. Here is an example of one, there are many other brands some of which are faster acting or more precise.

https://kimray.com/Products/SubItems/1

You should also figure out the volume of air that you need to maintain the system pressure during the peak event. A large receiver tank can be useful in these situations and is a lot less money that running an additional air compressor.

 

[sweetk30]

Yes, you want a back-pressure regulator or priority valve. Here is an example of one, there are many other brands some of which are faster acting or more precise.

https://kimray.com/Products/SubItems/1

You should also figure out the volume of air that you need to maintain the system pressure during the peak event. A large receiver tank can be useful in these situations and is a lot less money that running an additional air compressor.

i was going to say a 1way check valve and a storage tank for that specific machine would be my simple easy option to try .

 

[nadogail]

Distributed storage added to your system will add capacity to meet sudden instantaneous demands.

Your compressser will have to charge the storage tanks, think of them as batteries hooked to a DC system to smooth peak demands.