Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

This post is brought to you by Bimba Technical Tips.

How you mount your cylinder affects both cylinder performance and cylinder life expectancy. That’s because the wrong mounting or incorrect installation can result in side load. Side load occurs when a load is placed on the piston rod without guidance or support, or when the mounting and piston rod connection are misaligned. Side load creates excessive wear on the piston, piston rod, rod bearing and seals. Excessive wear leads to leakage and ultimately cylinder failure.

This post is brought to you by Bimba Technical Tips.

When specifying cylinders, it’s important to consider the operating environment. That’s because temperature, air quality and radiation can have a direct, negative effect on your cylinder’s performance. By taking the time to factor in the operating environment, you’ll be better prepared to select a cylinder with the right type of seals, materials and finishes for long life and optimum performance. Let’s look at a few environmental factors.

Acceleration: Rate of change of velocity; the speeding up of a motion.

Back Pressure: The pressure of fluid in the exhaust lines tending to restrict the cylinder motion or force.

Blowby: A seal failure condition wherein air pressure readily blows past the piston.

Bimba’s PneuMoment® is more than just a non-rotating actuator. It is guided, so side loads and moment loads can be handled simultaneously. It is hard coat anodized for durability, corrosion resistance, and lubricity. And its extruded exterior complements your machinery’s appearance while providing built-in switch tracks.

However, many benefits of this unique actuator are not immediately apparent:

• Designed for clean room applications 
• Flexible air supply connections 
• No pinch points 
• Flexible mounting options 
• Fits into tighter space than linear thruster 
• Weighs less than cylinder with external guide rods 

Clean Room Applications

In the end cap is a vacuum port. As shipped the cylinder vents through a filter installed in the port. For clean room service, or where venting is not desired, simply connect a vacuum hose to the port.

Flexible Air Supply Connections

Auxiliary ports (option R), unique to the PM, are incredibly useful. They allow air or vacuum to be supplied to the rear of the actuator and be conveyed internally to the front end cap for use by another device such as a gripper or rotary actuator. This simplifies the plumbing and eliminates hose snags, kinks, and fatigue especially in multi-axis applications.

The PneuMoment® has both end and side ports in the end cap, with plugs in the side ports. Order the Y option and we will plug the end ports instead of the side ports, no charge. The plugs can be removed and reinstalled, so no matter how it is ordered, active ports can be changed at will.

Safety

The PneuMoment® has no pinch points. In other words, there is no a way that a finger can be placed between moving parts.
For machinery that is open and accessible to operators, this is an important safety advantage. For this reason the PneuMoment® is often chosen to replace actuators with guide rods.

Flexible Mounting

Mounting can be via the base, front, or optionally via an end flange.

Built-in Stroke Adjustment

Internal stroke adjustment, available for all bore sizes except the 17 and 50, adjusts extend and retract separately. For stroke
adjustment on 17 and 50 bores use Option EB – external bumpers. External bumpers reduce noise and limit stroke, internalbumpers reduce noise only. Shock absorbers are available to absorb kinetic energy and limit stroke.

1. Weight- What is the weight of the load that you need to move? Select a force factor that is 25% greater than the load to help compensate for friction.
2. Speed- How fast will you be moving the load? When you have higher speeds you will need to increase your force factor to move the load quicker. Depending on speed and weight the force factor could be as much as twice or greater than the load itself.
3. Air Pressure- This is critical for the proper performance and getting the most life out of an air cylinder. Too low of a pressure and your load won’t be moved efficiently or speed requirements not met. Too high of a pressure creates stress on the cylinder and could possibly damage the cylinder as well as the load.
4. Bore Size- Select the correct bore size to determine your force factor at your selected pressure. There are charts available to assist in this selection from the manufacturers or you can consult with your Automation Specialist.
5. Mounts- How a cylinder gets mounted affects the performance and life expectancy. By selecting the correct cylinder mount you will optimize cylinder strength, efficiency and alignment. Selecting the correct Pivot or Rigid mounting style will help you avoid side load problems which are the major cause of cylinder failure.

Interested in a Cylinder?

Using pneumatic motion control is not only a safer and cheaper way of operating equipment, but it is also more reliable, much simpler to use, and it can even be used in the case of a power failure.