{"id":2388,"date":"2018-07-31T14:07:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T21:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/?p=2388"},"modified":"2023-12-06T14:53:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T22:53:21","slug":"avc-up-to-air-relay-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/avc-up-to-air-relay-update\/","title":{"rendered":"AVC Up to Air relay update"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Auto Valve Controller (AVC) is used to open and close valves on PHI surface analysis systems such as the 5000 series XPS and 660 scanning Auger systems.\u00a0 The AVC has a small built in microprocessor and so it also has the ability to protect the user from inadvertently opening a valve out of sequence and dumping the system.<\/p>\n

The AVC needs to know that the turbo pump is on before certain valve functions are available. For example the V4 ion gun differential pump valve will not open under any circumstance if the turbo pump is not on.<\/p>\n

So, how does the AVC know that the turbo pump is on? The Up to Air relay in the AVC auto valve controller is energized by a voltage from the turbo pump controller.<\/p>\n

\"Up

When the AVC was designed PHI used Balzers (now Pfeifers) turbo pumps which had a 240 VAC output voltage when the turbo pump controller was ON.\u00a0 So, the Up to Air relay in most AVCs has a 240VAC coil.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today and some of those original Balzers\/Pfeifers turbo pumps and controllers are now obsolete.\u00a0 So when one of those controllers fails, it needs to be replaced with a new state of the art turbo pump and controller.<\/p>\n

These days most turbo pump controllers have a 24 V DC output voltage that can be used to control the AVC up to air relay.\u00a0 Both Edwards and Pfeifers have low cost replacement packages that are 4.5\u201d CF flange mounted and also dry pumped backed. See information on those pumps at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n

The direct replacement 24 V DC\u00a0 Up to Air relay<\/a> is Grainger part number 1YCZ6.\u00a0 This relay is the same form factor as the original Up to Air relay only it has a 24V DC coil instead of a 240 VAC coil.<\/p>\n

\"24V

Updating an AVC to this relay is a simple two-step process;<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Replace the Up to Air relay in the AVC<\/li>\n
  2. Connect the Up to Air cable to the new turbo pump controller.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To replace the Up to Air relay in the AVC first make sure that all valves are closed and that the turbo pump is OFF.<\/p>\n

    Turn OFF the AVC and also unplug the power from the back of the AVC control.\u00a0 Depending on your system configuration the AVC is located in the front left hand side of the electronics console, or in the back of the vacuum console.<\/p>\n

    If the solenoid manifold is located on top of the AVC, remove the screws that hold the manifold to the cover and then remove the cover from the AVC.\u00a0 You should be able to move the solenoid manifold towards the back of the AVC and not need to unplug the wire bulkhead connector. Just balance the manifold on the edge of the AVC chassis.<\/p>\n

    If your AVC has the solenoid manifold mounted on the back of the AVC, then just remove the AVC cover.<\/p>\n

    Slide the AVC out enough so that you can get at the screws which mount the Up to Air relay to the side of the AVC.\u00a0 The Up to Air relay is located on the right hand side of the AVC chassis.<\/p>\n

    Make a drawing or use your phone and take a picture of the connections to the Up to Air relay\u00a0 to make sure that you put the connectors on the same way when you install the new relay. Remove the 240 VAC Up to Air relay bracket and install the new 24V DC relay.<\/p>\n

    Reattach the relay bracket to the side of the AVC.<\/p>\n

    Reattach the cover and solenoid manifold.<\/p>\n

    Reattach the power cord and slide the AVC back in.<\/p>\n

    Next, you need to attach the Up to Air cable to the new turbo pump controller.\u00a0\u00a0 Refer to the turbo pump manual for information on how to make that connection.\u00a0\u00a0 There will be a Setpoint output or some kind of external status connection that provides 24V DC when the turbo pump is ON.<\/p>\n

    Note the polarity of the wires on the Up to Air cable.\u00a0 On the end that plugs into the back of the AVC, the larger connector is the negative (ground) wire and the smaller one is the positive (+24V) connector.\u00a0 \u00a0There are only two wires in the Up to Air cable.\u00a0 Red is positive and Black is ground.<\/p>\n

    If your turbo pump controller has some other voltage for the status signal (such as 12V or 5 V DC) then you will need to find a version of the Up to Air relay with that same voltage.<\/p>\n

    Once the new Up to Air relay modification is complete then you should hear the V5 vent solenoid click when the turbo pump is turned ON.<\/p>\n

    The V5 vent valve is designed to vent the turbo pump in order to prevent back-streaming of oil vapors into the system in the event of a system dump.\u00a0 When the AVC was first designed the backing pumps were all rotary vane mechanical pumps that used oil.<\/p>\n

    New state-of-the-art turbo pumps are typically backed with a dry pump and also have built in vent valves.\u00a0\u00a0 If your new turbo pump is also dry backed (both of the turbo pumps listed below are then you do not need the V5 vent function.<\/p>\n

    The V5 vent valve was mounted on the rough side of the old turbo pump. If your new turbo pump is dry backed all you need to do to disable the V5 vent valve is to close the little needle valve that is either on the V5 vent valve itself or on the solenoid manifold near the V5 vent solenoid.\u00a0\u00a0 (The largest solenoid is V1 and then you count out from there, V2, V3\u2026.)<\/p>\n

    If your new turbo pump is backed with a rotary vane oil pump then the V5 vent valve still needs to be connected to the rough line. The V5 needle valve is set to 1\/4 turn CCW from the fully closed (full CW) position.<\/p>\n

    In addition, you want to make sure that the mechanical pump turns OFF when the turbo pump is turned OFF. \u00a0If you need help with that contact RBD Instruments.<\/p>\n

    The affordably priced turbo pumps below can replace the original Balzers TPU 040 thru TPU 062 turbo pumps on older PHI surface analysis systems.\u00a0 If you order one, make sure that you order it with a 4.5\u201d CF flange.\u00a0 A 4.5\u201d CF flange will make it easier to adapt the new turbo to the existing vacuum connections.<\/p>\n

    Pfeiffer Hi Cube 80 Eco<\/p>\n

    \"HiCube

    https:\/\/www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com\/en\/products\/vacuum-generation\/pumping-stations\/turbo-pumping-stations\/hicube-eco\/?detailPdoId=20022<\/a><\/p>\n

    If you get one of the Pfeiffer\u00a0 Cubes then this is the cable that you will need to connect to the Up to Air connector on the back of the AVC –\u00a0 Digikey PN A120881-ND\u00a0\u00a0 made by TE and the TE PN is 22730001-1<\/p>\n

    Here is the Cable Data Sheet ENG_CD_2273000_A1<\/a><\/p>\n

    On the controller you will need to set option 36\u00a0 Configure the Accessory B1 to 0.\u00a0 Then the up to air relay will energize when the turbo pump control turns the turbo pump on.<\/p>\n

    Edwards T station nETX85H<\/p>\n

    \"T

    https:\/\/shop.edwardsvacuum.com\/products\/ts85d3002\/view.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

    ———————————————————————————————————<\/p>\n

    Become part of the RBD community! \u2013 Click here to sign up for occasional email updates from RBD Instruments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Auto Valve Controller (AVC) is used to open and close valves on PHI surface analysis systems such as the 5000 series XPS and 660 scanning Auger systems.\u00a0 The AVC has a small built in microprocessor and so it also … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[162],"tags":[264,263,16,193],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Up-to-Air-relay-inside-AVC.jpg?fit=2016%2C1512&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2DEXo-Cw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3501,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/avc-auto-valve-controller-theory-and-operation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":0},"title":"AVC Auto Valve Controller Theory and Operation","author":"Randy","date":"February 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Theory and operation of Auto Valve controller (AVC) used on older Physical Electronics surface analysis systems.","rel":"","context":"In "Operation and Calibration Procedures"","block_context":{"text":"Operation and Calibration Procedures","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/operation-and-calibration-procedures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AVC-controller.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AVC-controller.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AVC-controller.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/AVC-controller.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1890,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/v4-differential-valve-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":1},"title":"V4 Differential Valve Problem","author":"Randy","date":"February 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"V4 Differential Valve Problem This post describes how to fix the problem of the V4 differential valve not opening on an AVC when the DIFFY PUMP ION GUN button on the AVC remote box is depressed.\u00a0 Look at the photos at the bottom of the post for additional information. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Operation and Calibration Procedures"","block_context":{"text":"Operation and Calibration Procedures","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/operation-and-calibration-procedures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"clean_the_contacts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/clean_the_contacts.jpg?fit=504%2C378&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2538,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/avc-solenoid-replacement-procedure\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":2},"title":"AVC solenoid replacement procedure","author":"Randy","date":"June 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This procedure describes how to replace the solenoids in the Auto Valve Controller (AVC) used on Physical Electronics PHI surface analysis systems such as XPS Photo-electron and scanning Auger electron spectrometers. The AVC provides control of the pneumatic valves on the system by using 24V DC solenoids to route air\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Optics and Vacuum"","block_context":{"text":"General Optics and Vacuum","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/general-optics-and-vacuum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"remove screw","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/remove-screw.jpg?fit=972%2C648&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/remove-screw.jpg?fit=972%2C648&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/remove-screw.jpg?fit=972%2C648&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1173,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/auto-valve-control-adjustment-procedure\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":3},"title":"Auto Valve Control adjustment procedure","author":"Randy","date":"July 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Auto Valve Control (AVC) controls all of the air valves on many PHI systems. It has built in logic that uses two thermocouple sensors and a mechanical switch to determine the status of the system. There are four common problems with the AVC: 1. The V4 ion gun valve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Optics and Vacuum"","block_context":{"text":"General Optics and Vacuum","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/general-optics-and-vacuum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AVC-control-board","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/AVC-control-board.png?fit=726%2C351&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/AVC-control-board.png?fit=726%2C351&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/AVC-control-board.png?fit=726%2C351&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2891,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/argon-bottle-installation-procedure\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":4},"title":"Argon Bottle Installation Procedure","author":"Randy","date":"June 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This procedure explains how to install and pump out a 25cc argon gas bottle for an 04-303 or 06-350 ion gun used on PHI XPS and AES systems.","rel":"","context":"In "General Optics and Vacuum"","block_context":{"text":"General Optics and Vacuum","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/general-optics-and-vacuum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"25cc-argon-bottle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/25cc-argon-bottle.jpg?fit=756%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/25cc-argon-bottle.jpg?fit=756%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/25cc-argon-bottle.jpg?fit=756%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2409,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/hastings-rv-16d-vacuum-gauge-repair\/","url_meta":{"origin":2388,"position":5},"title":"Hastings RV-16D Vacuum Gauge Repair","author":"Randy","date":"October 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hastings RV-16D thermocouple vacuum gauge is used in the Physical Electronics' (PHI) Auto Valve Control (AVC) to read the vacuum in the load lock and also at the turbo pump.\u00a0 There are two DV-6M thermocouple sensor tubes connected to the back of the AVC and a relay selects which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Operation and Calibration Procedures"","block_context":{"text":"Operation and Calibration Procedures","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/category\/operation-and-calibration-procedures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Failed Resistors on RV-16D","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Failed-Resistors-on-RV-16D.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3927,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions\/3927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}