I'm looking for a solenoid (like) valve which will have 1 flow input, and which depending on the applied signal, will switch between 1 of 2 flow outputs.
The electronic equivalent of what I'm looking for would be Single-Pole Double-Throw (SPDT) switch, but for gas (hot air) piping.
This valve would ideally be for 5mm tubing and I would control its actuation through an Arduino. If I can't do this directly, I can use some sort of power transistor or relay.
My question is: Does anyone know where I can find such a valve? Or even what such a valve might be called?
All my searches on ebay and google so far have not dug up what I'm looking for.
Best Answer
The general term is "three way" valve. You want a valve with three ports and two positions.
I don't know what you mean by "hot air", but there are plenty available for various purposes. You will almost certainly require a driver of some kind, and probably a power supply that is higher than 5V and capable of some watts. Some valves are latching with two coils and some do not latch and have only one coil. Maybe latching with a single coil in some cases too (bipolar).
Compressed air valves have a lot of variants because often you want to vent one side rather than blocking it off (something you'd probably want to avoid with other fluids such as hydraulic oil or water).
One gotcha is that some valves are "pilot" type and use fluidic amplification to actually switch the flow. The solenoid only controls a small flow. As such they require a certain amount of pressure to work at all. I believe most water solenoid valves used on utility water pressure are in this category.