Published November 7, 2022 © MIT

Drive a pneumatic system using a single chip

Driving 9 solenoid valves and a DC compressor using the Infineon TLE94112ES 12-fold half-bridge Shield for Arduino.

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours424

Drive a pneumatic system using a single chip

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Infineon DC Motor Shield with TLE94112ES for Arduino

Infineon Boot Kit XMC1100 (Arduino shield compatible)

Solenoid Valve, 2 Way

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Laser cutter (generic)

Story

Do more with less! - pneumatic systems

The first part of our "Do more with less!" mini-series is all about pneumatics.

Pneumatic systems are great solutions, especially when a fast linear actuator is needed!The system setup is quite easy. All you need is

a compressor
an air tank
a valve (mechanic or mechatronic)
an actor (such as a cylinder)

and you are ready to rock.

One chip to run them all

A perfect solution to drive a pneumatic system is the Infineon 12-fold half-bridge driver Shield for Arduino or 12-fold half-bridge driver HAT for Raspberry Pi. Both feature the TLE94112ES multi-half-bridge IC - one driver with 12 half-bridge outputs to drive DC motors, resistive or inductive loads.

For our project we use 3 of the 12 outputs to drive our compressor. Despite the fact that it runs at quite low currents there is a current spike at startup. By using 3 channels in parallel we are on the safe side here.

The other 9 outputs are used to drive solenoid driven "pneumatic 2/3 valves". These can block air or let is pass in one way (2 status/ IN -> OUT), while the air can escape the system through a third opening in the valve (OUT -> RELEASE).

Pneumatic solenoid valve, XMC1100 Boot Kit on top

All is controlled by a XMC1100 Boot Kit (similar to an Arduino Uno) and programmed in the Arduino IDE.

The System can be wired up as following diagram shows:

System setup

We built a 3x3 array out of our 9 pneumatic actors, which are 60mm long pneumatic cylinders. They are only driven one sided - meaning the controlled valves will only push them up. To keep everything in place we laser-cutted tube and cable guides as well as our baseplate and engraved the positions of the actors on it.

1 / 3

Attached Arduino code will push the cylinders up in a random order every 500ms. Are you fast enough to push them down? - and can you already guess where this mini-series will lead us? ;)

Code

Pneumatic baseplate

#include <TLE94112.h>
#include <TLE94112_Motor.h>

Tle94112Motor aktor1(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor2(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor3(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor4(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor5(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor6(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor7(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor8(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor aktor9(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_NOPWM);
Tle94112Motor kompressor(tle94112, tle94112.TLE_PWM1);

void push(int i)
{
  switch (i) {
    case 1:    // your hand is on the sensor
       aktor1.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor1.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 2:    // your hand is close to the sensor
       aktor2.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor2.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 3:    // your hand is a few inches from the sensor
       aktor3.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor3.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 4:    // your hand is nowhere near the sensor
       aktor4.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor4.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 5:    // your hand is on the sensor
       aktor5.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor5.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 6:    // your hand is close to the sensor
       aktor6.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor6.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 7:    // your hand is a few inches from the sensor
       aktor7.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor7.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 8:    // your hand is nowhere near the sensor
       aktor8.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor8.stop(0);  
      break;
    case 9:    // your hand is nowhere near the sensor
       aktor9.start(255);
       delay(100);
       aktor9.stop(0);  
      break;
  }
  
}

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  // call begin for the TLE94112 firs
  tle94112.begin();
  
  aktor1.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB8, aktor1.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor2.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB12, aktor2.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor3.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB7, aktor3.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor4.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB10, aktor4.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor5.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB11, aktor5.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor6.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB9, aktor6.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor7.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB6, aktor7.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor8.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB3, aktor8.HIGHSIDE);
  aktor9.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB4, aktor9.HIGHSIDE);
  
  kompressor.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB5, kompressor.HIGHSIDE);  
  kompressor.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB2, kompressor.HIGHSIDE);
  kompressor.connect(tle94112.TLE_HB1, kompressor.HIGHSIDE);

  aktor1.begin();  
  aktor2.begin();
  aktor3.begin();
  aktor4.begin();
  aktor5.begin();
  aktor6.begin();
  aktor7.begin();
  aktor8.begin();
  aktor9.begin();
  kompressor.begin();
  }

void loop(){
  int a = random(1,10);
  Serial.println(a);
 //   tle94112.clearErrors(); 
 //   delay(200); 
  kompressor.start(255);
  //Serial.println("motor start");
  delay(500);

 // push(int (random(1,9)));
  push(a);

}

Credits

Infineon Team

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Drive a pneumatic system using a single chip

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Do more with less! - pneumatic systems

One chip to run them all

System setup

Schematics

Pneumatic baseplate wireing

Code

Pneumatic baseplate

Credits

Infineon Team

Comments

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Drive a pneumatic system using a single chip

Drive a pneumatic system using a single chip

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Do more with less! - pneumatic systems

One chip to run them all

System setup

Schematics

Pneumatic baseplate wireing

Code

Pneumatic baseplate

Credits

Infineon Team

Comments

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