I’m using two cylinders to power a claw. Their extension closes the claw, and at the moment, the opening force is supplied by rubber bands. I was wondering if it could be more efficient to have the opening force provided by a regulated line to the claw, which would enable me to regulate down both the closing line and the opening line to a lower force.
I guess my question is this: would it be more efficient to have a regulated single acting cylinder which is powered on the clamping stroke and banded for the opening stroke, or have a regulated double acting cylinder which would use less air on the clamping stroke (would not have to work against the rubber band).
Follow-up: do you think that the increase of responsiveness provided by a powered opening action is worth it?
Instead, a single acting cylinder has to work against the internal spring, so there is no real difference there.
If the internal spring is sufficient to open the air cylinder fast enough, then you don’t really need the power to opening so much. Additionally, you could avoid the need for air on the return of the double acting cylinder, by using it as if it were a single acting cylinder. Just open the exhaust port for the direction you want it to be unpowered, and plug the solenoid valve port.
With two air tanks, about 80-100 actuations of an air cylinder is pretty typical (realizing it takes two actuations to cycle a double-acting air cylinder). If you have a regulator in your system, and you can turn down the operating pressure but still get the air cylinders to actuate with the force you need, you might get a few extra cycles. If you have only one air tank, of course, cut the number in half.
@Ironstangs_901J just an FYI people on this forum (and many other engineering forums) HATE when someone calls cylinders pistons. to put it simply, the piston is the part that actually moves in the cylinder, not the whole system.
when you are referring to pneumatics, call the part below a single acting (or double acting) cylinder.
