Air cylinders are mostly offered in a variety of shapes, sizes, and types. At first, the number of permutations involved in an air cylinder can be a bit overwhelming. Additionally, most industries select pneumatic air cylinders based on their ability to work, and production requirements, while ensuring a long application life for the cylinders. Therefore, in this post, we have compiled a list of some essential cylinder selection considerations that might come handy while selecting an air cylinder:
Know The Loads
Always try to choose a cylinder design that minimizes moment loading, i.e. the design must prevent premature cylinder failure. There are some types of cylinders that can easily handle higher moments of loads while some others are designed to work on a limited load. For those requiring greater capabilities, incorporating a stop tube can significantly extend the life of the cylinder.
Air Quality
It is usually advisable that dry, clean, humid and sometimes lubricated compressed air is an optimal fit for cylinder performance and life. However, the air is usually less predictable in dynamic movement of cylinders. Therefore, there must be adequate extra force designed into the system that can help incorporate such less predictable changes.
Testing
Once the application is in place, it can be extremely costly to make adaptations for a larger diameter size cylinder. Therefore, as a rule of thumb always try to opt for a bit oversized cylinder to avoid complete redesigning later.
There is no doubt to the fact that buying an air cylinder calls for intensive investment in terms of money, energy, space, and resources. Thus, it is advisable that while buying pneumatic air cylinders one must adhere to the above-mentioned considerations.
