PRODUCT MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL

LESSON 17: CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING OF PNEUMATIC COMPARATOR

Objective:
Our objective in this lesson is to learn construction and working of pneumatic Comparators. Figure 2 shows the working principle of a pneumatic comparator. A pressure reducer and regulator reduces the high-pressure air supply to a value of about 0.007 N/mm2 and this pressure is maintained closely by including a restriction between the regulator and dip tube A. Initially, the levels of liquid in the tank B and the dip tube are the same. When the air under pressure is supplied to the system, the liquid in the dip tube will be pushed out into the tank. Any pressure greater than needed to just clear-the dip tube will escape through it into the tank as air bubbles. Thus, the pressure between the regulator and the control orifice O1 will always, be exactly the same, irrespective of any variation in air pressure. Air after passing through the control orifice O1 will reach the mouth of measuring orifice O2. Back pressure will build up behind the measuring orifice if it is not able to pass the coming air flow. Due to this back pressure the level of the liquid in the manometer tube will change. Back pressure is created due to the restriction at the mouth of the orifice O2 caused by the variations in the dimensions of the work being checked. Thus, the manometer tube can be calibrated to give the measurement deviation from a standard.

Motivation: By learning this lesson, you will know about last but not the least type of comparator which is pneumatic comparator

Introduction:
In last lesson, we have seen the electrical and optical comparators. Let me now continue with the pneumatic comparator and describe for your benefit, its aspects .

Pneumatic Comparator. In pneumatic comparators, either air flow or air pressure is measured to give measurement deviations from a standard. The response of the comparators working on air flow is quicker than those working on air pressure, but the later are more versatile than the former, The pneumatic gauging is based on Bernoullis theory. The basic principle of a pneumatic comparator is explained in Figure 1. If air at a low but constant pressure, Ps is allowed to flow through a small jet or orifice O1 into an intermediate chamber and then through a second orifice O2 to atmosphere, then the intermediate pressure pi in the intermediate chamber will depend on the relative sizes of the two orifices, Since the flow of air through the two orifices is the same, the pressure drop across them will depend on the resistances they offer to the flow, that is, on their sizes. If the size of the orifice O1 is kept constant, then the change in Pi will depend upon the variation in the size of the orifice O2. The change in the intermediate pressure, Pi can be calibrated in terms of the change in the size of the orifice O2 which can be the measurement deviation from a standard.

Figure 1 Basic principle of pneumatic comparator The first application of such a gauge was in the checking of the bores of motorcar cylinder blocks and it is now almost the universal method of doing this in production. The magnification that can be provided depends on the relative size of the orifices O1 and O2 and may be as high as 20,000:1, but are usually about 1000-5000:1.
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Figure 2 Working principle of pneumatic comparator Another design of pneumatic comparator is shown in Figure 3. Air pressure from about 0.42 to 0.875 N/mm2 is reduced to about 0.07 to 0.14 N/mm2 as it enters a calibration valve. This air is set with the help of a standard test piece and all other workpieces are checked against this standard. Any difference in size from that of the standard test piece will result in a difference in air pressure. These air differences will be indicated by a float in a calibrated glass tube, which is sealed in the lowpressure side of the comparator. If a given workpiece is undersize, the float position will be below the standard position and a high float position indicates oversized work

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piece. For gauging external surfaces, the reverse will be true. This comparator can be used to check true dimensions of out of round bell mouthing, parallelism, flatness, camber and concentricity.

4) Engineering Metrology by R. K. Jain

PRODUCT MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL

Notes

Figure 3 Pneumatic comparator Important features of a typical comparator are shown in Figure 4. Measuring head moves up and down the vertical column. For moving the head vertically, the clamp for the head is loosened. There are two devices for coarse adjustment and fine adjustment of the measuring head. Coarse adjustment causes the measuring head to move vertically along the column. Fine adjustment is used for bringing the pointer to zero. When the required movement of the measuring head is achieved, it is champed with the help of head clamp.

Figure 4 A typical comparator This brings us to the end of this lesson wherein you have learnt what is pneumatic comparator . I hope that you have aware of this topic to a great extent. Let us now move onto some helpful exercise.

Exercise:
1) Explain the principle of pneumatic comparator. 2) Explain the features of pneumatic comparator with the help of neat sketch.

Reference:
Apart from this course pack, I would like you to refer following books for your betterment. 1) A text book of Production Engg. By P. C. Sharma 2) Production Technology by R. K. Jain 3) Production Technology by O.P. Khanna
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