The Simulation Study of a New-Type Frictionless Pneumatic Cylinder

Abstract

A new-type frictionless pneumatic cylinder with an aerostatic bearing as its piston can decrease the friction significantly. The stability and the leakage of this cylinder mostly depend on the radial load carrying capacity(RLCC) and the air consuming of the bearing. In order to make a better use of this cylinder in pneumatic servo systems, a simulation study on the influence of the structural parameters and time-varying surrounding parameters to this cylinder was carried out on the basis of a numerical solution method based on finite element method(FEM) which was constructed to solve Reynolds equations in this paper. Simulation shows that introducing a recess chamber at the end of the orifice hole can increase the RLCC significantly and smooth the sharp distribution of the pressure around the orifices in the air film, which makes the bearing working more stable; the time-varying parameters have a combined effects on the performance characteristics of the bearing.