Force calculation of a pneumatic cylinder
One of the most common request is to know the force of a Pneumatic cylinder because this is really important on the choice of it.
We will explain you into this section the formula to get this information. Moreover, you could do it automatically with our
To get the cylinder theoretical force (not friction included) the piston effective area has to be multiplied by the working pressure.
Considering this, it’s necessary to know the two different piston sizes, one is the thrust force and the other one is the traction force. Anyway, first of all, it’s necessary to know the following variables:
D= Cylinder diameter [mm2]
d= Shaft diameter [mm2]
P= Working pressure [bar]
The area calculation are these ones:
- Effective area of the piston in thrust situation (mm2), it will be the full advanced area (D)
- Effective area of the piston in traction situation (mm2), it will be a minor area because the shaft takes space.
Once we know the area detail, we already could calculate the thrust and traction force. Taking as a reference the variable P= Working pressure (bar), which is calculated in Newton.
In order to get your calculation automatically please click here:
However, it’s a Newton result, if you need to know in Kg, take as a reference:
1 Newton = 0,102 Kg
10 Newtons = 1,0197 Kg
the result has to be divided by 10 to get the result in Kg.
Finally, if we want the real force we must keep in mind the friction in this way we need a last calculation. Between pressures of 4 to 8 bar the friction forces are a 5% to 10% of the calculated force. For this reason, a 10% has to be reduced from the result.
Case study:
Taking a 100 diameter cylinder with a shaft of diameter 20 and working at 6 bar, the formula will be:
Reminder, In order to get your calculation automatically please click here:
