Pneumatic Actuation

Using compressed air to push a cylinder or soft chamber and produce motion.

Pneumatic actuation uses compressed air from an air compressor, controlled by solenoid valves, to fill and empty a pneumatic cylinder, an air motor, or a soft inflatable chamber, converting air pressure into linear or rotary motion. Its advantages are a simple, cheap structure and a high power-to-weight ratio; because air is compressible, it's naturally compliant, giving a gentle impact when it contacts a person or object, and it's safer than an electric motor in flammable or explosive environments. Its disadvantages stem from that same compressibility: precise position and force control are difficult, response is delayed, and it also needs a compressor, tubing, and valve manifolds, making it noisy, inefficient, and awkward to fit inside a mobile robot. So in factories it's mainly used for simple open/close actions, such as pneumatic grippers, vacuum cups, and positioning cylinders; in research, it's the primary power source behind soft robots and pneumatic artificial muscles.

ExampleA pneumatic two-finger gripper on a production line only has two states, open and closed, switching its air path through a solenoid valve to complete a grasp in tens of milliseconds.

Also called

Pneumatic Drive

Related

Pneumatic Gripper · Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (McKibben Muscle) · Soft Robot · Hydraulic Actuation · Vacuum Suction Cup · Compliance

Sources

Pneumatic actuator - Wikipedia