CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PNEUMATIC SYSTEM

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION TO PNEUMATIC SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION

Pneumatic system is one of the important systems in fluid power. It has been widely used

before the World War II and introduced in The United States before spreading to the entire

Europe. In early 1960s, new technologies had emerged and introduced by The United States

to industrial countries. Both technologies are known as “Fluidics” and “Pneumatic Switching

Technology”. Both principles or technologies were originated from the concept of “Wall

Attachment” (Coanda Effect) and “Turbulence Amplifier”. However, it was not very much

accepted because the cost of electricity was very expensive at that time. Furthermore, the

lack of knowledge and inadequate components had also been the main causes of the failure

to develop suitable “Fluidics” supply system.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this chapter, students should be able to:

1) describe the properties and the application areas of pneumatic including the definitions.

2) explain the basic physical principles of pneumatic which involved quantities, units,

formulas, and several gas laws’ principles that are useful in pneumatic systems.

1.1 PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION AREAS OF PNEUMATIC

Fluid power is the technology that deals with the generation, control and

transmission of power, using pressurized fluids. Fluid power includes hydraulics,

which involves liquids, and pneumatic, which involves gases. Generally, if the

application requires speed, medium amount of pressure, and only fairly accurate

control, a pneumatic system may be used. If the application requires only medium

amount of pressure and more accurate control, a combination of hydraulic and

pneumatic may be used. If the application requires a great amount of pressure and/or
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extremely accurate control, a hydraulic system should be used. The extensive use of

fluids to transmit power is due to the fact that properly constructed fluid power

systems possess a number of favorable characteristics: ease in accuracy and

control, constant force or torque, able to multiply force and also its simplicity, safe

and economy. In a pneumatic system, the power source is air as Figure 1.1 below:

Atmospheric Air

Reduced in Volume by
Compression

Increased in Pressure

Figure 1.1 Air as the power source in a pneumatic system

Compressed air was used as early as 2500 BC in the form of bellows. Further

developments saw compressed air used in organ construction, mining and

metallurgy. The introduction of pneumatic into mechanization and automation began

in the middle of the 20th century. Nowadays compressed air can be found in almost

all fields of engineeering such as industry, trade, rail transport, air transport, motor

vehicle, mining, shipping, medicine, construction and defence alike.

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1.1.1 DEFINITION

The term pneumatic is a combination of two words. It was taken from Greek

words: “pneuma” which means air, wind, or breath, and “matic” refers to power. It

describes the use of compressed air in drive and control engineering. Pneumatic

system uses compressed air as a medium to transmit power. The surrounding air is

compressed by a compressor that is operated using electrical motor as an example

illustrated in Figure 1.2 below.

Figure 1.2 Two-Stage Piston Compressor

1.1.2 APPLICATION AREAS

The application area of pneumatic is very wide. It has been used in the

generation of linear motion for clamping tools, feed units for linear movement and

positioning. Pneumatic can also be used when lifting and lowering objects, closing

and opening mechanism, swivelling objects, press machines, transfer-tables, turn-

tables, industrial robot, welding clamps, ejector, vibrators and braking.

Pneumatic can also be used for generation of rotary motion such as screw

drivers, grinders, thread cutters, drills, shears amd nibblers. In aspect of control,
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pneumatic is applied in sequence control, locking, deceleration of motion, storage

and even scanning mechanism. Other types of applications such as workshops

compressed air source, paint spraying, extinguishers and pneumatic post for

delivering documents. Some of the applications in manufacturing industries are

illustrated in Figure 1.3 and Figure 1.4 below.

Figure 1.3 Compact Disc Printing and Handling

Figure 1.4 Tighten and Loosen Movement

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1.1.3 PROPERTIES OF PNEUMATIC

Pneumatic uses compressed air in drive and control engineering, whereby it

produces high power density drive to do work. Air are also insensitive to external

influences such as high and low temperatures, dirt, mechanical vibration, humidity

and electrical noise. In a pneumatic system, no return piping is necessary because

the exhaust air will not pollute the environment. The conversion of energy can simply

be done into rotary or linear motion and it can be transmitted over long distances.

Pneumatic circuits and devices are uncomplicated to built and provide simple

maintenance. They also have high reliability, operational dependability, and long life

of drive and control devices. Air can travel very fast and provide fast reactions if

compared to the hydraulic system.

However, stable speed are not possible due to compressibility of air. The cost

of energy is also expensive because air preparation are necessary to provide clean,

dry and lubrication element to the air. Leakage must be prevented to ensure high

efficiency of the system.

1.2 BASIC PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES

Personnel who operates, services or designs fluid power system should have

knowledge of physics and properties of fluid and their behaviors under different

circumstances. A fluid is defined as a substances which changes its shape easily and

adopt the shape of the container. Earth is surrounded by a blanket of air – the

atmosphere. As air has weight, the atmosphere exerts a pressure at any point due to

the column of air above that point. When making calculations, an atmospheric

pressure of 14.7 psia is used as a standard. Air is not only readily compressible, but

its volume varies to fill the vessel containing it. The interactions of pressure, volume

and temperature of gas are determined by a set of gas laws. Air behaves very

closely to predictions made by the Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, Gay-Lussac’s Law and
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the general gas law for the pressure, volume and temperature ranges experienced by

pneumatic systems.

1.2.1 QUANTITIES, UNITS AND FORMULAS

A basic knowledge of the physical properties of the respective energy sources

is necessary. Thus, in order to describe these properties, their quantities, units and

formulas need to be defined. Table 1.1 indicates the basic units and Table 1.2

indicates the derived units.

Table 1.1 Basic Units

Table 1.2 Derived Units

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When one end of a bar of solid metal is struck, for example with a hammer,

the main force of the blow is carried straight through the bar to the other end as in

Figure 1.1 (a). This happens because the bar is rigid. The direction of the blow

almost entirely determines the direction of the transmitted force. The more rigid the

bar, the less force is lost inside the bar or transmitted outward at other angles to the

direction of the blow.

However, when a force is applied to the end of a column of confined liquid, it

is transmitted straight through to the other end and also equally and undiminished in

every direction throughout the column — forward, backward, and sideways, so that

the containing vessel is literally filled with pressure. Figure 1.5 illustrates the

transmission force.

(a) Solid Material, (b) Confined Fluid

Figure 1.5 Transmission of force through (a) a solid material, and (b) a confined fluid.

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Figure 1.6 Pascal’s Law

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) discovered that pressure is equal to force per unit

area, or the force is divided by the area on which it acts. He discovered that any force

applied to a confined fluid is transmitted in all directions throughout the fluid

regardless of the shape of the container. In simplified words, Pascal’s Law states that

pressure is transmitted undiminished in a confined body of fluid. In Pascal’s Law,

there are three important quantities such as Force (F), Pressure (P) and Area (A) as

illustrated in Figure 1.6.

1.2.2 FORCE

Force (F) cannot be seen but we can see their effects. A force applied to an

object has the effect of causing:-

i. a movement to begin or change; or

ii. the shape of an object to change.

Force means a total push or pull. It is the push or pull exerted against the total

area of a particular surface and is expressed in pounds or grams. In pneumatic

applications, force is produced by a compressed air pressure acting onto a surface

(usually a piston, a valve or a diaphragm) as illustrated in Figure 1.7.

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Figure 1.7

1.2.3 PRESSURE

Pressure (P) is defined as force per unit area as illustrated in Figure 1.8. It

means the amount of push or pull (force) applied to each unit area of the surface and

is expressed in pounds per square inch (psi or lb/in2) or grams per square centimeter

(gm/cm2). Pressure maybe exerted in one direction, in several directions, or in all

directions. This means that if we want to find out the pressure required for a certain

pneumatic application, we have to measure or determine two quantities such as:

i. the size of force required.

ii. the area over which the pressure is acting.

Figure 1.8

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1.2.4 AREA

The only important area (A) is the surface on which the pressure can act that

will produce the force required for the job. This area is called an effective area where

it can be in terms of square or circular.

By using these three quantities such as Force (F), Pressure (P) and Area (A),

their relationships can be defined as:

F F
Force, F  P. A Pressure, P  Area, A 
A P

The effective area on which pneumatic pressure can act to produce the

required pneumatic force is either the projection of ball seat area, the projection of

the pressure exposed piston area or calculated effective piston area.

1.2.5 BOYLE’S LAW

Robert Boyle’s (1627-1691) experimental gas law states that if the

temperature of a given amount of gas is held constant, the relationship between

volume (V) and pressure (P) can be expressed as the below equation:

P1V1  P2V2

Example 1.1:

An air receiver with a volume of 6 m3 must be filled with compressed air to a

maximum pressure of 900 kPa (9 bars). Calculate the volume of free air to be

pumped by the compressor.

V2 = 6 m3 ; V1 = ? m3 ; P1 = 101.3 kPa (abs) (Atmospheric Pressure)

P2 = 900 kPa + 101.3 kPa = 1001.3 kPa (abs)

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Solution:

P2V2 (1001 .3kPa  6m 3 )

V1  
P1 (101 .3kPa)

= 59.3m3

1.2.6 CHARLES’ LAW

Charles’ Law states that if the pressure of a given amount of gas is held

constant, the relationship between volume (V) and temperature (T) can be expressed

as the below equation:

V1 V2

T1 T2

Example 1.2:

A balloon with gas volume of 0.1 m3 at temperature of -140C is heated to a

temperature of 900C. Determine the increased gas volume if pressure remains

constant.

V1T2
V2 
T1

Solution:

V1T2 0.1m3  (90 0 C  273 0 C )

V2  
T1 ( 14 0 C  273 0 C )

= 0.14m3

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1.2.7 GAY-LUSSAC’S LAW

Gay-Lussac’s Law states that if the volume of a given amount of gas is held

constant, the relationship between temperature and pressure can be expressed as

the below equation:

P1 P2

T1 T2

1.2.8 GENERAL GAS LAW (IDEAL GAS LAW)

The general gas law for an ideal gas contains all the three gas parameters

(pressure, temperature and volume) stated in Para 1.2.5 to Para 1.2.7 above, since

none are held constant during a process, i.e. from state 1 to state 2. The general gas

law states that for a given weight of any gas, the product of the absolute pressure

and the volume occupied, divided by the absolute temperature, is constant. In

equation form, it is expressed as follows:

P1V1 P2V2 P V
 
T1 T2 T

For 1 pound of gas,

P1V1 P2V2 P V
   R (a constant)
T1 T2 T

Example 1.3:

Gas at 70 bars gauge pressure and 37.8 °C is contained in a 12,900 cm3

cylinder. A piston compresses the volume to 9,680 cm 3 while the gas is heated to

93.3 °C. What is the final pressure in the cylinder?

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Solution:

P1V1T2 [(70  10 5 )  (1.01  10 5 )](12 ,900 )(93 .3  273 )

P2  
V2T1 (9680 )(37 .8  273 )

= 111.5 105 Pa (abs)

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