Design of Pneumatic System for Automatic Door Opening and Closing

Abstract

There are huge steel doors inside mines which are huge and heavy; techniques that can handle such heavy loads have to be used for automatically operating them. From hydraulic to pneumatic systems, multiple techniques are available for actuating heavy loads, but when we deal with mines and tunnels, solutions need to be leak proof, explosion-free and safe. Pneumatic systems offer provides a better alternative in such working conditions. In terms of cost as well, pneumatic systems are substantially cheaper than most other systems. The work is based on an automatic operating mechanism using Directional Control Valves (DCV’s) to facilitate opening and closing of doors from both sides. The FluidSim simulation software is considered for designing the pneumatic circuit diagram. The hardware connections have been further developed based on the simulation obtained. Further design analysis of the mechanism has been considered for the developed hardware. A proposed model for more intelligent design based on Programmable Logic Controllers, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and ultrasonic sensors have been suggested further.