Pneumatic Piston Control Modelling and Optimization

Abstract

Piston control can be used for position, speed, acceleration, and force control. The main difference between pneumatic, and hydraulic cylinders is that the hydraulic control uses fluid instead of gas, and fluids are practically incompressible. Therefore, hydraulic cylinders can be more accurately controlled for position and speed. Pneumatic cylinders are showing greater dependence on external loads. Pneumatic systems in the contrary are simpler as construction, cheaper than hydraulic ones, and more wide-spread in laboratories and shops, but usually they are used for end-to end motions without exact position control. This paper introduces a pneumatic piston control that decreases the drawbacks of the position control of pneumatic cylinders, making it allow for simple application.