Pneumatic Drives

This book is a comprehensive work on all aspects of pneumatic drives. It bridges the gap between classical descriptions of pneumatic systems in terms of their steady-state behaviour and the wish of design engineers to test their design before setting up the actual hardware. The book covers the whole range of today’s technology for pneumatic drives.

Starting with a wide selection of linear actuators – among them standard and rodless cylinders, bellows and diaphragm cylinders –, semi-rotatory drives and air motors are described in detail. Standard directional control valves, analogue valves as well as pressure control valves are covered, including their design, application and modelling. Several control schemes and the necessary converters like solenoids or piezoelectric actuators are presented.

In addition to drives for factory automation and automotive applications the technology for the process industry like positioners or spring-and-diaphragm actuators is described.
The wish to analyse the design beforehand requires a mathematical description for computer simulation. Therefore, the book presents the basic laws of nature as well as the design and the modes of operation of pneumatic components to derive the modelling equations. It further covers several control strategies like binary mode cylinder drives or position controlled drives and computer aided analysis of complex systems.

The book is a unique resource and valuable reference for both, scientists and graduate students as well as professional engineers who need to design and control pneumatic drives.