Assembly rules for cartridge valves

Cartridge valves fit into cavities, for MDTools we have 2 type of cavities: standard and “sun cavities”. Standard means a cavity with C’Bore, Sun Cavities take origin to Sun Hydraulics valves, they mate with a Locating Shoulder that’s inside the cavity. Below we see 2 examples of cavities taken from MDTools Library Manager.

Standard Cavity, mating plane = SpotFace

Sun Cavity, mating plane = Locating Shoulder (LS)

Cartridge valve rules are set through MDTools Set Constraints dialog. For a cartridge valve we need 3 constraints: top face, bottom face, axis.

Each of these geometries must be set directly in the valve 3d model

MDTools Set Constraints command is available in both assembly and part environment for SolidWorks and Autodesk Inventor.

Top face is always required, it is not relevant when the cartridge will not have any additional item assembled on top (i.e. a coil, a nut). 

Coils, nut… will require same constraints to be assembled automatically by MDTools

Below example of Bottom Face / Top Face for Cartridge, Coil and Nut for a Solenoid Valve assembly.

Video showing how to set Constraints and create assembly with MDTools on SolidWorks. MDTools on Autodesk Inventor behaves very similarly so each item described is applicable. If you need more info feel free to contact us

Exercise nr.4

Practice with MDTools on a more complex block, a mix of surface mounted valves and cartridge valves. In this exercise I introduce the “net table”, a document you can create manually to help you with the design. Net Table is not needed in case of design from HyDraw CAD.

Circuit

Target

Net Table

Nets highlighted in the circuit

The block is designed with MDTools 970 for SolidWorks. Below you find

3d models used in the design

mbxml block file