Types of festo cylinders, service life of festo cylinders, how to select festo cylinders

Cylinders are elements that use compressed air to move, which is why they are also called compressed air cylinders. Cylinders are a particularly cost-effective solution for many areas of application, even in extremely harsh environmental conditions, and are very easy to commission. Speeds between 10 mm/s and 3 m/s are achievable. Cylinders are strong and flexible due to the compressibility of air, which also makes them resistant to high external forces.





Cylinder application
Cylinders have many applications in automation technology/factory automation. Typical areas of application for pneumatic drives are clamping, lifting, countersinking, pushing, pulling, feeding, turning, gripping, clamping and holding, joining, stopping, punching, embossing and many other applications.






The festo cylinder range includes piston rod and rodless cylinders (linear drives), swivel cylinders, multi-position cylinders, multi-position cylinders and blocking cylinders, as well as clamping cylinders, cylinders with linear guides as well as bellows and diaphragm cylinders. In addition, we offer many standard cylinders with standardized dimensions and mounting interfaces. Cylinders that meet a specific standard have the same dimensions. There are standards for piston rod cylinders of circular construction (ISO 6432), compact construction (ISO 21287) as well as profile and tie-rod cylinders (ISO 15552).












Types of festo cylinders





Piston rod cylinder
Festo piston rod cylinders are pneumatic drives for linear movements. The energy applied to the piston is transferred through the piston rod to the part to be moved. Piston rod cylinders are available in round cylinders, profile cylinders, compact cylinders, short stroke cylinders, flat cylinders, miniature cylinders, cartridge cylinders or stainless steel cylinders.






Rodless cylinder
As the name suggests, a rodless cylinder is a cylinder without a piston rod. But even without a piston rod, they can perform linear motion, which is why they are also called linear drives. Rodless cylinders are mainly used in applications with long strokes, such as as basic drives for multi-axis gantry or for feed tasks.






Swing cylinder
Pivot cylinders from Festo enable rotational movements with swivel angles of up to 270°. Vane and rack-and-pinion oscillating cylinders typically achieve the highest precision while offering outstanding performance and great versatility. Therefore, our pneumatic drives are widely used in factory automation in various industries.






Powerful cylinders, powerful cylinders and multi-position cylinders
The double force cylinder is two identical profile cylinders connected in series to double the thrust in both directions of movement. The Power Cylinder is a cylinder design characterized by compact cylinders connected in series. Multi-position cylinders are available in two versions: a version with two independent cylinders and a version with two to five cylinders connected in series.






Guide rod cylinder
Festo guide cylinders – drives with guide rods and linear guides – are pneumatic drives and are one of the “workhorses” of industrial automation. They are used in a wide range of applications, such as lifting, pressing down, pulling, pushing, clamping, stopping, holding, cutting, separating, etc. Both types of guided cylinders combine the advantages of linear and guided movements and stand out for their extremely high stability.






Blocking cylinders and conveyor separators
With its conveyor separators, Festo provides gripping technology solutions worldwide. Conveyor separators simplify the conveying process of workpieces and are used whenever a continuous flow of workpieces must be separated and individually transferred to downstream equipment. Blocking cylinders are cylinders used to block movements in the workpiece pallet of a machine or transport system, optionally with or without buffering. The blocking cylinder with cushioning function can stop loads of up to approx. 800 kg on the transport system.






clamping cylinder
Clamping cylinders hold or clamp workpieces directly with pneumatic clamping elements or through motion devices. When the clamping element is not in operation, it is rotated out of the working area. Thanks to the kinematics, the clamping cylinder can achieve very high holding forces with low energy input.






Diaphragm cylinder and air bag cylinder
Balloon and diaphragm cylinders are unique in the pneumatic field with their special characteristics