Some considerations on the generalized conditions for high-speed driving of pneumatic cylinders

Recently, high-speed driving of pneumatic cylinders has become an important subject of research, because of the demand for driving automatic mechines at high-speeds. The authors have analyzed dynamic behavior of a pneumatic cylinder, and it is found that the velocity response of the piston driven at high-speed displays an oscillatory behavior especially in the meter-out circuit. From an application of this oscillatory behavior, a new method of driving a penumatic cylinder at a high-speed has been proposed. In this new driving method, the piston will be driven ideally, meaning that the response will be fast while the velocity at the end of the cylinder will be low, and an impact will be at acceptable level. In this paper, generalized conditions are derived for high-speed driving of the pneumatic cylinders with the proposed method, and it is possible to adjust the optimum valve opening areas for high-speed driving of pneumatic cylinders.