3
Mounting and installation
Festo – MPAC-VI-EN – 2017-12a – English
25
3.3
General installation instructions
Warning
Uncontrolled movements of the connected actuator technology and loose tubing can
cause injury to persons and/or damage to property.
Before carrying out mounting, installation and maintenance work, switch off
the following:
– Compressed air supply
– Operating and load voltage supply.
The components of the valve terminals contain electrostatically sensitive components.
The components could be damaged if you touch the contact surfaces of the plug connect
ors or if you do not observe the handling specifications for electrostatically sensitive
devices.
Note
Handle all modules and components of the valve terminal with great care.
Note especially the following:
– Exact placement of screws in the plastic thread (to avoid damage to thread)
– Screws screwed in manually
– Compliance with the specified torques
– Clean connecting services (avoidance of leaking and contact errors) and intact
seals and sealing surfaces
– Sealing of unused ports with blanking plugs to avoid contamination and maintain
reliability.
For optimum performance of the valve terminal, we recommend that the valves should be supplied via
more than one supply and exhaust line if more than 6 valves are switched simultaneously to allow flow.
Back pressure
When exhausting large-volume actuators or if the exhaust performance is too small, back pressures
can build up in the valve terminal exhaust ducts. The back pressures can lead to pneumatic actuation of
other valves, especially with unswitched 3/2-way valves that are normally closed.
To avoid back pressures:
Optimise the pressurisation and ventilation capacity of the valve terminal, for example, by using
larger diameter tubing or an additional compressed air supply via supply plates VMPAC-SP-O or
manifold sub-bases VMPAC-AP-14-SP-….
Possibly separate exhaust ducts through use of pressure zones (
è