Pneumatics

What is pneumatics and what is it used for?

In pneumatics, compressed air or gases cause a system to move

Voorbeeld van een (eenvoudig) pneumatisch systeem

A compressor compresses air to a certain pressure level. Mounted to this compressor is a pneumatic hose with a number of valves. In pneumatics, these valves ensure which hose gets compressed air or not. The valves also determine the pressure of the compressed air flowing through the hoses. A valve is therefore a kind of switch in pneumatics. The moment a valve is open, compressed air flows through the hoses to, for instance, a cylinder. The cylinder is a pneumatic actuator and is set in motion by pneumatics. As the cylinder starts moving, pneumatic energy is converted into kinetic energy.

Pneumatics is used in various machines and devices. For instance, opening and closing the doors in trains and buses. You recognise here pneumatics by the hissing sound when the doors open and close. Furthermore, pneumatics can be also used for pneumatic-tools. This can be for instance tightening screws or bolts. In addition, pneumatics can be used in machine line systems in the process industry.

What are the advantages of pneumatics?

Pneumatics as a drive technology has a number of advantages. Pneumatic systems have low costs and are also reliable. In addition, pneumatics has a number of other advantages, namely:

• flexible;
• easy to store;
• simple operation;
• control is simple;
• light tool;
• not sensitive to temperature differences (except for condensation in the pipes);
• fire- and explosion-proof (this, of course depends on the environment).