There might be a proper term for what I'm looking for, but forgive me, I'm not a professional engineer. I have a small cylinder with compressed air that connects using push-to-connect's (like these). I am looking for a device that, like a solenoid, takes the pressurized air as an input and then can switch which port the air comes out of. The difference is that I want to have more than two output ports. Something in the range of 4-8 would be nice. I will be controlling this with an Arduino. Does such a device exist? If so, what's it called?
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1$\begingroup$ Yes, you buy a manifold to hold individual solenoid valves. $\endgroup$– Phil SweetCommented Feb 1, 2020 at 2:13
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2 Answers
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I'm sure someone has invented such a thing, but you could do the same with a distribution header/pipe and multiple outlet solenoids. Your software would determine which solenoid were turned on or off. This would have the exact number of outlet solenoids you desire. A device to do this as a single entity would likely just be a block with several solenoids, each controlled separately.
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1$\begingroup$ ... and the multiple standard off-the-shelf parts would be cheaper than a specialty device. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 31, 2020 at 22:43
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One tube with a long axial slot which tightly fits inside another which has holes spaced such that rotating the internal tube connects to each hole in turn.
One issue is when you need to get to hole 12 from hole 1 all the hole in between may be activated for a short time, cutting the flow may be a solution.
