2

Applied Circuits
Applications of 12

Hydraulic & Pneumatics

By: Alireza Safikhani 1

Actuators Double acting magnetic

• Pneumatic actuators are made in a wide variety of • A magnetic band around the circumference of the
sizes, styles and types including the following piston operates reed switches to indicate positions of
• Single acting with and without spring return stroke.
• Double acting
– Non cushioned and fixed cushioned
– Adjustable cushioned
– Magnetic
• Rodless
• Rotary
• Clamping
• Bellows
 Clamping cylinder Clamping cylinder
• Normally sprung instroked • Double acting double ended piston rod

Click the illustration to start and stop animation Click the illustration to start and stop animation

Non rotational guiding Non rotational guiding

• For applications where loads
• ISO 32 to 100 bore cylinders with non rotating piston rod.
attached to the piston rod
end need guiding to • Feature continuous flats running the length of the rod which
maintain orientation run in a matching bearing.
• Guided compact cylinders • For resisting light torsional loads only.
incorporate twin guide bars • twist in an outstroked rod can occur at higher torque.
running in bearings within
the extruded cylinder body
 Non rotational guiding
• Add on guide block units
– with slide or roller
guides.
– provide non rotational
guiding and greater
support against higher
loads.
– For low friction and best
support use the version
with twin roller guides
– These units can be fitted
with twin passive or
active locking cartridges.
Locking and braking
• For safety in the event of air
failure or as part of a
machine sequence.
• Stop and hold a load at any
position in the stroke.
• Passive or active piston rod
locking unit
• A range of these add on
units is designed to suit ISO
cylinders from 32 mm to 125
mm bore.
Non rotational guiding
• Linear slide units.
– For precise actuation
– high quality slide
bearings
– provide exceptional
torsional rigidity with a
twin through-
through-rod layout
– magnetic piston
– choice of port connection
positions.
Rodless Cylinders
Rodless cylinders for: Large range:
• Variants in structural
• Limited spaces
strength
• Simple installation
• Twin stroke
• Long strokes
• Active braking
• Neat attractive styling • Passive braking
• High speed • Curved design
• Precision control
• Electric drive
• Corrosion resistant
 14

Operating principle Rodless applied

• The sealing strips are parted and closed as the • For action across a strip
piston moves through the stroke process
• Adjustable cushions • No overhang or mechanism
required compared to a
• Dual connection ports at the left hand end conventional piston
rod cylinder
• The application shows a
flying knife typical of use in
the paper production
industry

Rodless applied Rodless Overview

• Lifting in places with limited • Extruded aluminium alloy • Magnetic piston option
headroom cylinder barrel with integral • Dual integral grooves for
• Actuation contained within bearing guides sensor mounting
the length of the cylinder • Internally or externally
body guided carriage
• Roller guided carriage
• Double carriages
• Integral valve option
• Bore sizes 16 to 80mm
• Strokes up to 8.5 m
• Adjustable cushion
• Single end connections
 Mountings Twin stroke rodless cylinders
• Provide movement in two • To satisfy applications where a long reach or double movement
planes is required.
• A right angle mounting • Twin stroke cylinders have two carriages that move in opposite
system style ‘X’ allows the directions.
carriages of two rodless • The powered carriage is connected by a belt to the free carriage.
carriage.
cylinders of the same bore to
be joined
• Styles ‘X1’
X1’ and ‘X2’
X2’ allow the
combination of cylinders
with different bore sizes

Click the illustration to start and stop animation

Twin stroke rodless Bellows

• Fix the primary carriage to an
• Also a version with the port
external mounting position
• The secondary carriage will
advance by twice the normal
stroke
connections in the carriage
to avoid long trailing pipes
• Bellows are durable single acting concertina like actuators.
• Extend when inflated.
• Provide powerful short strokes.
• Have all round compliance allowing them to bend in any
direction.
• Can be used as air springs and are ideal for insulating the
vibration of supported loads.
• Caution: the maximum extension and compression of the bellows must
be limited by external restraints. The bellows must never be
pressurised while unrestrained as it will over extend and the end
end plate
is likely to be blown free and could cause serious injuries. When
When the
bellows is exhausted the load must be prevented from crushing it. it.

Click the illustration to start and stop animation

 Bellows Speed control
• Double convolution type • The maximum natural speed of a cylinder is determined by:
– the cylinder size,
– the ports size,
– inlet and exhaust valve flow,
– the air pressure,
– the bore and length of the hoses,
– the load against which the cylinder is working.

Speed control Increasing speed

• Once a valve, cylinder, pressure and load are selected, • In some applications
adjustable speed control is effected with flow regulators. cylinder speed can be
• Speed is regulated by controlling the flow of air to exhaust increased by 50% when
• The front port regulator controls the outstroke speed and the using a quick exhaust valve.
rear port regulator controls the instroke speed. • When operated, air from the
front of the cylinder
exhausts directly through
the quick exhaust valve.
• Built in cushioning will be
less effective.
 Quick exhaust valve Response times
• Air flows from the control valve in to the cylinder past a • Likely time of one cycle.
Bore Valve Cv Time
poppet lip seal. – overall response time of ports m secs
• When the control valve is operated the falling pressure from the valve and cylinder.
20 1/8 0.3 225
the valve allows the poppet seal to snap open. • Table of guide times for
50 1/8 0.4 700
• The air in the cylinder rapidly exhausts through the large double acting cylinders.
63 1/4 1.0 525
exhaust port and silencer. – 150-
150-mm stroke.
– one cycle out and 100 1/4 1.0 1100

2 instroke 160 ½ 3.5 950

1 – 5/2 solenoid / spring 200 ½ 3.5 1560

2 2
valve. 200 1 7.8 650
– 6 bar pressure supply. 320 1 7.8 1280
– 1m of tubing between
valve and cylinder. Cv:
Cv: typical combinations of valve
1 1 – no load on the piston rod

Cylinder air consumption Cylinder air consumption

• For a double acting cylinder the volume of free air
• There are two parts to the air consumption of a
displaced by the piston in one complete cycle
cylinder.
• One is the volume displaced by the piston 2 -6
z V
multiplied by the absolute working pressure.
Push stroke
= D . S . ( Ps + Pa) . 10
• Two is the unswept volume such as cavities in the
end cover and piston, the cylinder ports, tubing
4
z Pull stroke
and valve cavities, all multiplied by the gauge -6
pressure. V = ( D 2-d 2 ) . S . ( Ps + Pa) . 10
• The unswept part is likely to be a small Where 4
percentage and will vary with individual D = cylinder bore mm
installations. A general allowance of around 5% d = rod diameter mm
V = volume in dm3 free air
can be added to cover this. S = stroke mm
Ps = supply gauge pressure bar
Pa = atmospheric pressure (assumed to be 1 bar)
 Cylinder air consumption Table of consumption
• To estimate the total average air consumption of a Bore
mm
Rod
mm
Push stroke
consumption
Pull stroke
consumption
Combined
consumption
• Take each figure
and multiply by
pneumatic system make a calculation for each dm3/mm of dm3/mm of dm3/mm of
the stroke in mm.
stroke at 6 bar stroke at 6 bar stroke/cycle
cylinder in the system. Add these together and add For pressures
5% . 10 4 0.00054 0.00046 0.00100 other than 6 bar
12 6 0.00079 0.00065 0.00144 multiply by the
• It is important to understand that the instantaneous 16 6 0.00141 0.00121 0.00262 absolute pressure
flow requirement for a system will be higher than 20
25
8
10
0.00220
0.00344
0.00185
0.00289
0.00405
0.00633
divided by seven.
the average and in some cases very much higher. 32 12 0.00563 0.00484 0.01047
40 16 0.00880 0.00739 0.01619
50 20 0.01374 0.01155 0.02529
63 20 0.02182 0.01962 0.04144
80 25 0.03519 0.03175 0.06694
100 25 0.05498 0.05154 0.10652
125 32 0.0859 0.08027 0.16617
160 40 0.14074 0.13195 0.27269
200 40 0.21991 0.21112 0.43103
250 50 0.34361 0.32987 0.67348

Table of thrust and pulls d/a

Cylinder Piston rod Thrust N at Pull N
bore mm diameter 6 bar at 6 bar z The pull values are lower
(inches) mm (inches)
8 3 30 25
due to the annular area of
10 4 47 39 the piston
12 6 67 50
16 6 120 103 z The values shown here
20 8 188 158 are for a working pressure
25 10 294 246
32 12 482 414 of 6 bar
40 16 753 633
z For another pressure in
44.45 (1.75) 16 931 810
50 20 1178 989 bar, multiply the thrust
63 20 1870 1681
76.2 (3) 25 2736 2441
values in the table by that
80 25 3015 2721 pressure then divide by 6
100 25 4712 4418
125 32 7363 6881
152.4 (6) (1 1/2) 10944 10260
160 40 12063 11309
200 40 18849 18095
250 50 29452 28274
304.8 (12) (2 1/4) 43779 42240
320 63 48254 46384
355.6 (14) (2/14) 59588 58049