Energy saving measures on pneumatic drive systems

Abstract

In this article two different energy saving measures are presented. The possible savings potential and the effort of realizing these methods are described. Using these measures it was shown, that up to 55 % energy saving could be achieved for a single drive. The paper presents the thermodynamic principles that are needed to determine the energy consumption of pneumatic drives, which consist of the compressed air and the exergy analysis calculations. Further on, the influence of the design parameters on the energy consumption has been studied. Possible savings solutions have been arranged and brought together to provide and exemplary overview. In this case two savings methods were realized on a single cylinder drive of a pneumatic handling system. These selected energy saving solutions aim at the optimization of the design parameters of pneumatic cylinder drives and on the use of exhaust air recovery circuits. The use of these saving measures is first tested via simulation and then implemented on an example cylinder drive. For each saving measure the influence on the energy consumption and on the motion profile of the drive is investigated in detail. Focus was especially directed to the question, whether the original motion profile of the example drive remained the same after applying the saving measures.