Pneumatic Cylinders

Pneumatic cylinders and actuators

We offer a wide range of Pneumatic Cylinders and Actuators - ISO / VDMA Profile / Round Cylinders, Compact Cylinders, Miniature Cylinders, Slides and Clamps for the Pneumatics. You will also find grabs for pick and place, air bellows and shock absorbers from one of the most renowned brands on the market, such as Festo, Camozzi, Aventics, and Emerson

How do pneumatic cylinders work?

Pneumatic cylinders use the energy of the compressed air to move the piston in the desired direction. The pneumatic cylinder can provide linear or rotary movement. The operation of pneumatic cylinders is reminiscent of, for example, syringes. Since they use compressed air as the main force producing the movement, they are also known as air cylinders.

Which pneumatic drives are common:

In a pneumatic cylinder, compressed air is used to exert force on a cylinder piston and thus move it in a certain direction. The movement of the piston is transmitted to the workpieces to be moved via the piston rod or the magnetic force lock. A pneumatic cylinder is an actuator that is operated with compressed air, usually up to a maximum of 12 bar, to generate linear or rotary motion. A distinction is made between single-acting and double-acting cylinders (working only in one direction or in both directions). Typical application areas for pneumatic actuators are clamping, lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, feeding, turning, gripping, clamping and holding, joining, stopping, stamping, embossing and much more. Pneumatic drives are characterized by high acceleration and deceleration. The attainable speeds are between 10 mm/s and a maximum of 3 m/s. Pneumatic drives are robust and flexible due to the compressibility of the air.

Standard cylinders

Standard cylinders are pneumatic cylinders with standardized dimensions and mounting interfaces. In terms of these dimensions, standard cylinders are identical to a standard. There are standards for piston rod cylinders in round design (ISO 6432), in compact design (ISO 21287) and for large cylinders (ISO 15552).

Double-acting or single-acting cylinders?

With double-acting cylinders, a force is exerted via the compressed air on both the outgoing stroke and the incoming stroke. The outward stroke always has more power because the workable area is greater than the inward stroke. The difference is in the surface of the piston rod.

In single-acting cylinders, the force of the outgoing or incoming stroke is provided by a spring. This cylinder is usually used in pneumatic applications where a force only needs to be exerted to one side. This single-acting cylinder is also used where a safe position must be taken when the compressed air fails. The spring ensures that in the event of a power failure, the cylinder spring return moves to the safe position.

Piston Rod Cylinders

• Round pneumatic cylinders
  Cylinder with round or almost round cylinder tube and cover
  Due to their round shape, round cylinders can be installed in a space-saving manner even in confined spaces. To detect the position of the piston, the proximity sensors can be attached to the cylinder barrel using a kit.
  Ebora offers round cylinders with piston diameters from 2.5 mm to 63 mm and pneumatic cylinders according to the ISO 6432 standard. The piston rod cylinders are available in double-acting and single-acting versions.

• Tie rod cylinders / profile tube cylinders
  Cylinder with piston rod and profile construction
  Piston rod cylinders with profile tube or with tie rods from Festo are based on ISO 15552. Both cylinder types have identical mounting interfaces, dimensions and technical data . These linear drives differ mainly in the way the proximity sensors are mounted: on the profile tube they are mounted protected in the groove, on the cylinder with tension rod. In the future, the proximity sensors are mounted on a drawbar with a separate mounting kit.

• Compact, short stroke and flat cylinders in pneumatics
  Cylinder with piston rod, typically with shorter hoses and optimized installation length
  Compact cylinders are pneumatic cylinders whose total length, in proportion to the stroke length, is extremely compact. The compact cylinders are typically used in places where space is extremely limited and where transverse load requirements are low. The compact cylinders belong to the group of directly mountable cylinders and are mainly mounted without specific mounting accessories.
• Multimount cylinders and screw-in cylinders
  Multimount cylinders: cylinders that can be mounted on one or more sides without additional fixing parts (except screws).
  Screw-in cylinders: Cartridge cylinders that can be screwed directly into a housing (bulkhead)
  Screw-in cylinders can be installed and controlled in a threaded hole directly in the system. Separate accessories for mounting these piston rod cylinders and connecting the air supply are not necessary. This enables an extremely space-saving setup

• Pneumatic cylinders with clamping unit
  On standard or non-standard cylinders with integrated or attached clamping unit or cartridge.
  These are piston rod cylinders with additional clamping unit for clamping the piston rod. The clamping is achieved by friction as soon as the minimum operating pressure is not reached and, depending on the type, may or may not have play. Clamping cartridge cylinders are used in pneumatics for static holding. For dynamic braking and for use in safety-relevant control systems, a clamping unit with an associated test certificate is required.

• Stainless steel pneumatic cylinders
  Cylinders made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel and therefore very easy to clean.
  Stainless steel cylinders are characterized by their corrosion resistance, even in aggressive environments. Especially high-quality stainless steels 1.4301 and 1.4401 are used.
  The high-alloy, field-proven stainless steels serve as protection against chemical stress and damage that can be caused by cleaning agents and disinfectants.

Pistonless  pneumatic cylinder

Piston-rodless linear drives are pneumatic drives whose power is transferred to the piston via a lateral connection. The required installation space is therefore significantly smaller than that of a comparable piston rod cylinder. The connection to the piston is made mechanically via a groove in the profile tube or magnetically via a closed profile tube.

• Mechanically coupled cylinders
  Mechanically coupled cylinders describe pneumatic rodless linear drives whose slides are moved by means of a mechanical coupling to the piston. In this design, the pneumatic space is open longitudinally and is closed outwardly by a flexible sealing tape in front of and behind the piston. These linear drives are mainly used in pneumatics when the piston rod cylinders require too much installation space or when the required stroke length is greater than is possible with piston rod cylinders.
• Magnetically coupled cylinders
  Magnetically coupled cylinders describe pneumatic rodless linear drives whose slides are moved by means of a magnetic coupling with the piston. In this design, the pneumatic space is closed and hermetically sealed. These linear drives are mainly used in pneumatics when the piston rod cylinders require too much installation space or when the required stroke length is greater than is possible with piston rod cylinders.
  
  

Pneumatic slewing drives

Compact swivel drives with limited installation space and adjustable swivel angles, also modular as a double-piston rotary drive. Selected types are suitable for explosion-hazardous areas in accordance with ATEX guidelines. With the pneumatic slew drives, rotational movements up to a slew angle of 270° possible. The highest precision is just as characteristic as the high performance and the variety of the drives.

• Swing-wing swing drives
  Pneumatic swing-wing swing drives are distinguished by their compact design. The energy of the compressed air is directly converted into a rotational movement via the swivel wing. Swing wing drives have therefore no additional transmission is required. That is why the compact and light construction is a great advantage. Swivel wing drives achieve a swivel angle of 270° without any problems.
  Festo is one of the world's leading manufacturers of swing wing drives and offers the right solution for every application with its different series. In addition, there are numerous additional functions that expand the Festo product range in a targeted manner. These include a tandem leaf version with a maximum torque of 80 Nm, a continuous hollow flange shaft for cable or medium passage, a heavy-duty bearing for high load moments and versions with ATEX approval for use in explosion-proof areas.
• Rail/pinion slewing drives
  With rack/pinion pneumatic slewing drives, the linear movement of a piston is converted into a slewing movement via a pinion. Pneumatic rack/pinion drives are used in pneumatics in product handling, for example when a swivel angle of up to 180° required.
  The rack/pinion slewing drives are characterized by their flat design, the continuous hollow flange shaft for cable or medium passage and the simple attachment of the gripper to the drive itself. This makes these rotary drives ideal for pick-and-place or robotic applications.
  Festo is one of the world's leading manufacturers of rack and pinion slewing drives and offers the right solution for almost every application. The bandwidth varies from 0.2 to more than 110 Nm torque. Different damping variants allow suitable end position damping for a wide range of applications. Depending on whether the focus is on the shortest possible swing times or on a high moment of inertia.
• Slewing linear drives
  Pneumatic combined slewing and linear drives combine the function of slewing drives with the movement pattern of a linear cylinder. This combination results in a compact unit with which swivel and linear movements can be optimally matched. Performance varies up to a torque of 20 Nm. Different damping variants allow suitable end position damping for a wide range of applications. Depending on whether the focus is on the shortest possible swing times or on a high moment of inertia.

Tandem cylinders, high power cylinder and multi-position cylinder

Multi-speed actuators pneumatic actuator

Pneumatic multi-speed actuators are available in two functional principles. According to the first principle, the multi-position drives consist of two separate cylinders which are connected to each other by a kit and whose piston rods project in opposite directions. This allows this type of cylinder to assume up to four positions, depending on the steering and stroke distribution. According to the second principle, the multi-position cylinders consist of two to five series-connected cylinders with different stroke lengths. With this type of cylinder, only one piston rod is visible, moving to different positions in one direction.

High power cylinder

A high power cylinder is a cylinder design defined by a series of pneumatic compact cylinders. By connecting up to four pistons in series, the cylinder force can be multiplied analogously. The resulting force is transferred to the external piston rods and can be used on site. The resulting force is applied throughout the stroke – up to 5 mm before reaching the end position.
The cylinder of the first stage is always used for position detection, because it performs the visible stroke.

Tandem cylinder

These are two identical profile cylinders arranged side by side to double the pushing force in both directions of movement. By using the DNC cylinders, the mounting interfaces comply with the ISO 15552 standard. This means that the mounting accessories from the piston rod cylinder range DSBx and DNC can be used in the same way as the piston rod accessories. Both profile cylinders of the tandem have magnetic pistons and can be detected with proximity sensors. The proximity sensors can be easily mounted and secured in one of the sensor grooves without additional accessories. The adjustable pneumatic damping allows the energy to be absorbed reliably. The DNCT is available with a freely selectable stroke length up to a maximum of 500 mm, either in the standard version or in a heat-resistant version up to a maximum ambient temperature. ur of 120 °C. More variants on request

Guide cylinders

Pneumatic actuators with slides, rod guides or precise piston rod guidance.
Pneumatic cylinders with guides are very robust, load-bearing, compact and accurate.
Drives with guide rods are attached to the yoke plate, which is thereby secured against rotation and is therefore robust and resilient. Sled drives are characterized by high precision and repeatability, which is often desired in pneumatics.

Stopper cylinders and singulators

Piston rod cylinders with reinforced piston rod and bearings for absorbing greater lateral forces. For stopping or separating workpiece carriers during the transport to stop them softly, quietly and reliably.

• Singularators
  With its singulators we offer solutions for product handling. The singulators facilitate the workpiece feeding process.
  The singulator series are used when continuously arriving workpieces have to be separated (eg from a spiral conveyor or on a conveyor belt) and passed individually to a machine behind it. Depending on the workpiece to be separated, singulators with one plunger or singulators with two plungers can be used. The first can be used for general singulation or as a pure stopper. The advantage of the series of singulators with two tappets is the mechanical synchronization of the two fingers and the associated reduction of the actuation to a single valve. They are used for small workpieces.
  The pushers each offer mounting options for individual attachments, allowing the product to be perfectly adapted to the separation task. The space-saving solution of the sensor concept is another advantage of the singulators. Proximity sensors can be mounted as accessories directly in a sensor groove on the housing.
• Stopper cylinder
  Pneumatic cylinders for stopping movements in machines or workpiece carriers on internal transport systems, whether or not damped. In internal transport systems, stop cylinders with damping can hold loads up to approx. 800 kg.

Clamping cylinders

Short cylinders without a diaphragm piston rod and a significantly shorter stroke than bellows cylinders.
Clamping cylinders hold or clamp workpieces directly with a pneumatically actuated clamping element or via kinematics. The clamping element is swiveled out of the workspace when inactive. Very high holding forces can be achieved with low energy consumption by means of kinematics.

• Clamping modules
  Clamping modules are extremely flat diaphragm actuators with short strokes for clamping and clamping tasks. Given these extraordinary properties, there are many possibilities in clamping module pneumatics where other clamping cylinders reach their limits, such as use in narrow gaps. A clamping force of up to 1640 N is possible. Irregularities and dimensional deviations can be perfectly compensated for. There are round and elongated models with which both flat and more line-oriented clamping tasks can be realized. Due to the hermetically sealed construction, the clamping modules are also suitable for rough, dusty environmental conditions. The properties of a hermetically sealed actuator are advantageous where the environmental conditions for conventional cylinders are difficult.

• Linear hinge clamps
  The linear hinge clamps are characterized by a combination of linear and swivel movement. This also allows the workpieces to be inserted and removed above the clamping point. Theoretical clamping forces of up to 1,600 N and clamping strokes of up to 50 mm are possible.
  Linear hinge clamps are clamping tools for a wide range of applications in pneumatics; they reliably clamp workpieces of all kinds, from wooden parts to sheet metal and printed circuit boards. Furthermore, use in welding applications is also possible.

• Hinge cylinder
  Hinge cylinders are special clamping cylinders that are characterized by a clevis head at the end of the piston rod and a pivot fork at the front cover. This simplifies installation in clamping systems. In addition, the hinge cylinders are particularly suitable for clamping workpieces in the welding process. Clamping forces up to 3016 N are possible. A variant with a clamping unit can also be used to prevent the piston rod from slipping in the unpressurized condition. This way, the workpieces are clamped and held firmly.

Bellows drives

Bellows drive and diaphragm drives
Diaphragm drives without piston rod, the construction consists It consists of two metal sheets with a rolled-in rubber bellows or hose.
Bellows and diaphragm drives form a separate class in the world of pneumatics with special properties. For example, they do not have a stick-slip effect. They offer a wide range of applications as drive or air suspension elements.

• Bellows Cylinders
  Bellows Cylinders are both drive and air suspension elements and fall under the diaphragm drive category. The pneumatic drive has no piston rod, but the simple construction consists of two metal plates with a rolled-in rubber bellows. The great force is generated directly by the pressure on a relatively large surface at the front. A spring return is not necessary, because the return usually occurs through the weight of the load placed on it. A major advantage of bellows cylinders is the particularly low installation height compared to cylinders and the free movement.
  This allows for greater axis adjustments and angular deflections of up to 20° possible. Even the slip-stick effect, which is often a nuisance with conventional cylinders, does not occur with bellows cylinders. The double bellows are designed for longer strokes.
  Use with different media such as compressed air, gases and liquids is possible if the properties of the rubber are taken into account.
  Festo bellows cylinders are the right solution for many applications in pneumatic drive technology. They are available in diameters from 80 mm to 385 mm. Strokes of up to 230 mm are possible with these products. The maximum load capacity is 70 kN at 8 bar.

• Pneumatic Muscle

Indexing tables

Building units for indexing tasks on automatic assembly and packaging machines, drilling stations and other applications with rotating workpiece or tool movements.
With pneumatic indexing tables, endless rotational movements can be realized. Rotary indexing tables are used, for example, in pneumatic assembly applications. A variable direction of rotation and freely selectable divisions allow a wide range of applications.

Cylinder valve combinations

Actuators with integrated or mounted valve
This is a unit consisting of a pneumatic actuator with an integrated or connected valve for actuation. Installation of the pre-assembled unit is easy. Due to the short distance from the valve to the drive, there are fast switching times.

Shock absorbers

Shock absorbers absorb the energy of a moving actuator. The movement of the drive piston is stopped by rubber elements and/or hydraulically. The relatively soft stop for the end position prevents a strong impact and springback and also protects the drive and the machine parts against wear or destruction.

Cylinder attachments and accessories

Mounting elements, attachments, piston rod attachments and guides for drives.

Mounting elements for drives

• Slot nut
• Center element
• Swivel tap attachment
• Bearing block
• Foot attachment
• Hinge mounting
• Flange mounting
• Instant confirmation
• Multi-position kit

Mounting elements for sensors
Stop, holder mounting plate, …

• Mounting element for proximity sensor
• Adapter kit
• Profile strip
• Mounting kit
• Mounting element for inductive sensors

Piston rod attachment
Clevis head, pivot head, adapter, threaded rod, power transfer bracket, cleats, flexo coupling slip-on flange, coupling piece

• Hinge head
• Fork head
• Coupling piece
• Framer
• Drive attachment
• Slip-on flange
• Nut
• Adapters
• Piston attachment

Linear guides
Linear guides without a drive, with precise guidance and the option of mounting a drive.

Accessories for direct valve mounting
Connection plates, mounting kits and throttling components for direct valve mounting on cylinders.

• Mounting kit
• Intermediate plate

Clamping elements

Clamping elements, special parts, stops for drives

• Parking brake
  A power pack for static hold and dynamic emergency stop of rods and round material.
• Clamping cartridge
  For self-assembly of clamping units. Not certified for use in safety-related controls
• Clamping unit
  Holds a round material in any position: clamping unit with spring force.
• Clamping element
  End position locked ing for slewing drive

Freewheel
View of the exit side, rotation direction left or right
Take-off element that converts a swinging movement of a swing cylinder into a turning movement.

Accessories for the damping elements
Shock absorber mounting, buffer, oil press.

Drive specific accessories

Intermediate position modules, indexing kits, diagnostic modules and transducers

Grapples

A gripper is a pneumatic or electric drive and is used to hold, position and move a workpiece. A gripper represents the connection between the workpiece and the handling system.

Mechanical Grippers

Parallel grippers, three-point grippers, corner grippers and swivel grippers
Grippers and gripper technology from Festo offer solutions for a wide range of handling applications worldwide.
Mechanical grippers are moved by an internal drive and convert the drive movement into a gripping movement of the gripping claws. This movement of the gripping jaw is called stroke. Depending on the stroke and the gripping force, workpieces of different sizes can be gripped.
Mechanical grippers can be operated both pneumatically and electrically. Festo offers long stroke grippers, both pneumatic and electric. Mechanical grippers also differ in the number of gripping jaws. Pneumatic grippers with two gripping jaws are available in parallel, radial and angle gripper versions. There are also pneumatic grippers with three gripping jaws.

Bag grabs

Pneumatic grippers for sensitive and safe gripping
The Festo bellows gripper is a soft and safe internal gripper. By increasing the bellows diameter, the payload is clamped onto the inner contour. The gripper is suitable for gripping and transporting parts with circular openings, such as glasses, cups or bottles. Two different bellows materials are available: EPDM is suitable for higher loads, silicone for higher temperatures.

How to operate pneumatic cylinders

Pneumatic cylinders can be controlled via an actuator (valve), the part responsible for the movement of a mechanism or system. Actuators work thanks to the combined action of a control signal and an energy source, which in this case is represented by pneumatic pressure. When the actuator receives the pressure as a signal, it converts its energy into mechanical movement. Depending on the type of motion actuators that cause them, they are divided into two main types: linear actuators and rotary actuators.

What are the advantages of pneumatic actuators?

They require relatively small pressure changes to produce significant forces, converting the energy generated by high-pressure compressed air into motion (linear or rotary).

• More powerful and cheaper than other types
• Often more reliable and secure
• The power source does not need to be stored in reserve for the system to run, allowing for a quick response when needed to start and stop the cylinder.

What are pneumatic cylinders and actuators used for?

They are used in the main engine control systems, in the manufacturing industry (such as opening valves or rotary belts) and in the automotive sector (for example for brakes and suspensions in cars and trucks).