By Vicki Burt, Contributor One of the benefits in choosing a compact cylinder is getting effective motion in a small footprint. These short-stroke, low-profile, air cylinders are designed to fit into tight spaces and are available in a variety of mounting options. Pancake cylinders are a trademarked line of compact air cylinders from Fabco-Air Inc. […]
How do pneumatic rodless cylinders/slides work?
Contributed by Vicki Burt In a rodless air cylinder — also called a rodless slide — motion is transmitted through the body length by an internal piston moving with the cylinder, driven by compressed air. The piston is attached to a shuttle or carriage, which supports the load and moves it in a linear direction […]
DSNU-S standard ISO round cylinders are small, slim and light
The new DSNU-S round cylinder is the latest response from Festo to the need of machine designers for smaller versions of standard components so they can shrink the footprint of their machines or production lines accordingly. The DSNU-S, part of Festo’s core product range of always-in-stock components, is up to 40% slimmer, 35 mm shorter, […]
What are single-acting pneumatic cylinders?
Contributed by Frances Richards Pneumatic cylinders, also called air cylinders, pneumatic actuators, or pneumatic drives, are relatively simple mechanical devices that use the energy of compressed air and turn it into linear motion. Lightweight and low maintenance, pneumatic cylinders generally operate at lower speeds and less force than their hydraulic or electric counterparts, but are […]
How do you specify pneumatic cylinders?
Contributed by Darryl Powell, Doc’s Hydraulic-Pneumatic Training LLC When specifying pneumatic cylinders, you may think that the most important information needed is the bore size and stroke. While these details are certainly important, the application’s requirements are more critical. For example, several questions should be considered: is the cylinder in a wet environment (maybe salt […]
Hydraulic cylinder design: preventing side loading
Contributed by James Czegledi, Engineering Manager Quality-built hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders are designed to last for long life, and when installed and maintained properly, cylinders are expected to meet or exceed projected lifecycles. However, misalignment and/or side load on the rod bearing and/or the piston can cause premature damage leading to cylinder failure. Cylinder side…
The Roof Wing Opening System of the UAE Pavilion
Far-reaching hydraulics powers a show-stopping display. Contributed by Paolo Leutenegger, General Manager • Duplomatic Motion Solutions, Parabiago, Italy Expo 2020, delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, opens October 1 in Dubai. The world’s fair, set to welcome 190 participating countries with an estimated 25 million visitors from across the globe, aspires to increase awareness about the…
Helping to keep saltwater at bay
Saltwater can be a challenge for farms as it limits the amount of land used to grow crops and cannot be used for any kind of irrigation. For some farms in Vietnam, this is a serious issue, especially for those between the Cái Bé and Cái Lớn rivers. Rice farms in this area have been…
Hydraulic cylinder repair: Metric in an Imperial world
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor We live in a global village where local preferences seem to matter less, and acceptance of unfamiliar ideas more widespread than ever. Thirty years ago, the idea of metric bolts, nuts, threads or other objects measured in round numbers was cringe-worthy, especially in the manufacturing space. Many found it annoying […]
New ARC cylinder technology helps to increase life by 25% or more
Milwaukee Cylinder is proud to announce its new patent pending ARC (Automatic Recirculating Cylinder) Technology. ARC Technology is designed to increase cylinder life by 25% or more and is available on selected rod and bore combinations of the Milwaukee Cylinder H-Series (3000psi) hydraulic family of cylinders. “The problem with traditional cylinders is that, depending on […]
Bosch Rexroth redesigns hydraulic linear drives
Bosch Rexroth’s new CytroForce, introduced at this week’s Hannover Fair, takes hydraulic linear drives to a whole new level, said company officials. The evolutionary concept manages to squeeze previously bulky structures into a smart compact axis for power, movement and positioning tasks. The out-of-the-box system consisting of flow-optimized standard modules reportedly sets new benchmarks in…
Ortman Fluid Power launches on-demand configurator
Ortman Fluid Power has added a 3D CAD catalog of configurable NFPA cylinders, built by CADENAS. The new tool provides on-demand access to design NFPA cylinders as well as Ortman’s 101 series cylinders online. This tool empowers customers to find, configure, download, and generate pricing for products directly from the Ortman website. The Spacesaver line is…
Functional safety with pneumatic rod locks
Functional safety features in pneumatic machines and systems are critical in reducing the risk of injury without impacting operational efficiency and productivity. Designers of functionally safe pneumatic systems have put in fail-safe mechanisms to detect potentially dangerous conditions and to activate a protective or corrective device, such as a pneumatic rod lock, that will prevent […]
How does hydraulic cylinder repair work?
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor When well cared for, hydraulic cylinders should last decades. So long as they were designed for their application — meaning they perform within the bounds of their environment — there should be no reason for damage or wear outside of regular use. The mount, rod and raw material should have […]
Line of pancake cylinders for tough jobs in tight spots
SPX FLOW Hydraulic Technologies has extended its portfolio of hydraulic cylinders with the RGP Series. This innovative cylinder is designed for applications requiring compact, high pressure linear motion. The RGP cylinders excel at lifting bridges, construction projects, and a broad spectrum of low-height requirement industrial applications. “Power Team’s RGP Series of construction pancake cylinders are ideal for…
What are the most common hydraulic cylinder piston rod problems?
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor It would help if you never underestimate the importance of your cylinder rod. The rod is not just the object transmitting the force from the cylinder’s piston but also the interface between that cylinder and your machine. Before you can correctly select and then design the piston rod, you must […]
How can you achieve cylinder flow reduction?
Looking for ways to further reduce your compressed air demand? Consider investigating air cylinder actuation. Often times, air cylinders in production machinery only require significant force during a single power stroke, but still use full line pressure to return the cylinder to resting position. Let’s compare the air consumption for double acting versus a spring […]
Efficiency benefits of new hydraulic-electric linear axis
As interest in climate-change mitigation continues to grow around the world, many industry and technology leaders say that the efficiency of manufacturing processes must improve. One target is to replace conventional drives with highly efficient electrically powered systems. For years, manufacturers of energy-saving electromechanical drives have been trying to displace hydraulic drives from applications requiring…
Modular actuation system combines electrohydraulic and electromechanical actuation
Moog Industrial Group, a division of Moog Inc., has introduced the new Modular EAS System, a highly flexible system with excellent scalability and variability and can be easily adapted to most types of industrial manufacturing machinery. The Moog Modular Electrohydrostatic Actuation System (Modular EAS) features standardized modules with a wide number of customization options available.…
Smart hydraulic actuators simplify hydroform tube processing upgrade
A chassis system manufacturer needed to retool a Tier-1 automotive hydroforming line to accommodate a new model design change. The new line required the flexibility to produce both the current OEM product and the new product at higher volumes. As a requirement for the new machine design, the manufacturer wanted to eliminate the messy and…
Hydraulics in mining: safe and reliable
Eliminating downtime and ensuring safety in mining — two benefits hydraulics provides consistently. By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor More than almost any other industry appropriating fluid power, mining is where safety sits front and center from design to execution. Surface mining enjoys bragging rights to some of the most massive machines ever manufactured by humans. […]
Compact cylinder reduces downtime, maintenance for building materials manufacturer
A national building materials manufacturing company was needing to replace cylinders on a shingle palletizing machine three times per year. To make sure the shingles are straight and lined up, the side-pusher cylinders are activated as a set of shingles is added to a pallet. These cylinders had a male thread rod end that would […]
Aluminum pneumatic cylinder boosts machine speeds and cuts downtime
Machine builders and their end-user manufacturers can increase machine speeds and reliability with the new AVENTICS TM5 TaskMaster aluminum cylinder from Emerson. The NFPA-compatible pneumatic cylinder reduces cost, energy consumption, equipment wear and downtime. With its rugged aluminum body construction and a steel piston rod, the TM5 TaskMaster features Emerson’s state-of-the-art pneumatic cushioning technology that […]
Hydraulic slip-sheet loads containers in minutes
Loading shipping containers is labor intensive, slow, and carries with it the risk of injury to operators as well as damage to goods. In the case of longer items like lumber or pipes, workers typically use one forklift to lift and maneuver products laterally in front of the container opening, and a second forklift to…
What’s the difference between honing and roller-burnishing?
Hydraulic valves, piston pumps and cylinders require increasingly close fits between the piston or spool and bore to reduce internal leakage. The components also need precision surface finishes for high performance and long seal life. That’s according to Phil Hanna, product manager for machines/gages at Sunnen Products, St. Louis. Hanna offered these observations in a…