Save Energy, Reduce Air Consumption: SMC’s Vacuum Savings Valve

As children, we were told repeatedly to "turn off the lights when you leave a room." It was sound advice then, it is sound advice now. Translating this command to our machinery can be a challenge though; however a new "smart valve" Series ZP2V, developed by SMC, has mastered this command. How does the ZP2V work? It detects when a part needs to be picked up and turns "on" and when it sees that a part does not exist to be picked up, it turns "off."

In this example, only the ZP2V valves touching the blue disk are activate. Those that are not exposed to the blue disk have significantly decreased air flow.

When no part is present, the vacuum air flow closes the check valve which restricts but does not totally eliminate the air flow.

The reduction of air flow substantially reduces air consumption in the vacuum system. When a part is present, the vacuum air flow is reduced further which allows the spring to overcome the air flow. This causes the internal check valve to open fully and full vacuum flow will realized.

Beyond acting as a great energy saver, the ZP2V can be used as a "fail safe". Here's how. Because the vacuum flow is restricted when the work piece is not present, a cup failure causes high flow to be present and therefore the flow would be restricted. The rest of the vacuum cups would function normally.

Using the ZP2V would allows users to pick up multiple sized parts with the same system. Just as detailed above, it restricts the vacuum flow to the vacuum cups that are not being used and the vacuum cups that are being used would function normally.

SMC's vacuum saving valve is a smart and easy way to reduce air consumption.

The ZP2V is available in: