Hello, I'm an HVAC guy with a ho 1

[ROCHESTER]

Hello,

I'm an HVAC guy with a hobby of flight simulators. I'm working on some projects for force cueing hardware.

I use pneumatic cylinders pressurized by an I/P to apply a proportional force. This works great, but others don't have the option of compressed air. And, there are the hazards of working with pneumatics.

Question: Is there a electric actuator that can be driven to provide a proportional force?

Thanks

 

[ROCHESTER]

Here's what I did:

...got the cylinder/spool-valve mounted with the spring. Below is a schematic of the basic components. It's not an exact component representation, just basic concept.

Here's the rig:

Here's a movie of the thing running:

http://simhardware.org//img/steering_rack02.WMV

 

[jraef]

Cool, I just learned that you can post pix directly to this forum!

"Venditori de oleum-vipera non vigere excordis populi"

 

[ROCHESTER]

Hello,

It's been a while, but I'm still plugging away at finding an affordable electric force actuator design. Thanks again jraef and jbartos for the ideas.

I've gotten the electric actuator test rig assembled and running. This is a 1/2 HP(0.4 KW) motor driven by a TBWoods "Variable Frequency Drive" (VFD)

http://www.tbwoods.com/products.php?level=4&GID=37&PID=30&MID=2

.

I'm experimenting with a "viscous coupling" to allow the motor to run at full load speed while providing a stalled torque output. I modified a automobile "fan clutch" on my test rig.

Initial performance is promising. The dynamic response is very good and the output torque is smooth and even. Now I need to gear-up the 2 ft-lbs torque to about 100 ft-lbs,