
Martin Engineering M4097-05/18 1Martin®Air Cannon Controller - multiple circuit
Introduction
General The Martin®Air Cannon Controller is a reliable, practical system for firing
Martin®Air Cannons at predetermined intervals. The controller uses
programmable logic to energize the air cannons’ solenoids. It reduces the
chance for human error and is expandable to control multiple air cannons in
several structures where material flow problems exist.
The controller is used to fire cannons in a timed sequence. It is available with
up to 10 outputs.
Each controller has a factory-set on-time of 1 second and an adjustable off-
time of 1 to 65,000 seconds. Manual override selector knobs are mounted on
the outside of the enclosure.
Overview of
controller
operation
The controller can be used to fire air cannons in three ways:
• Manually fire individual cannons using the manual override selector knobs.
• Automatically fire all cannons in a timed sequence.
• Automatically fire all cannons in a timed sequence when activated by an
external switch.
(An example of an external switch is a paddle-type flow switch that
monitors flow of material as shown in Figure 1. When material stops
flowing from the hopper, the flow switch inputs are closed and the controller
is enabled to begin the firing sequence. Whenever material is flowing from
the hopper, the flow switch inputs are opened and the controller is disabled;
the firing sequence is deactivated.)
To manually fire individual cannons, it is not necessary to program the
controller. The selected cannon fires when activated by the selector knobs on
the outside of the controller.
To automatically fire all cannons in a timed sequence, the controller must be
programmed for the desired number of air cannons to sequence (from 1 up to
10 air cannons) and the desired off-time (the length of time between each
cannon firing).
To automatically fire all cannons in a timed sequence when activated by an
external (flow) switch, the controller must be programmed as described
above, and the switch must be connected to the controller as follows:
• When connected to the controller’s ENABLE terminal block, the cannons
will fire in the programmed sequence (e.g., cannons 1 through 10 fire in
sequence) until the switch disables the controller and deactivates the firing
sequence. When the switch enables the controller again (activates firing),
the controller resets the sequence to begin with cannon 1 (e.g., if the switch
disabled the controller after firing cannon 3, the sequence will start by firing
cannon 1 the next time it is activated).
Introduction