Pneumatics by the Numbers: Cylinder Forces, Air Consumption, Valve Flow, Demand Profiles, Compressor & Receiver Sizing, Pressure Drop, Condensate and the Cost of Compressed Air

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Bring six gauge readings in bar, kPa and psi onto one scale, add the atmosphere to get absolute pressure, calculate the compression ratio and turn a charged tank into litres of free air.
• Calculate extend and retract forces for a fictional list of cylinder bores, solve the force formula for the minimum bore that pushes a load with margin, and pick the smallest listed bore with MINIFS.
• Turn bores, strokes and cycle rates of five fictional machines into litres of free air per cycle and per minute, add up the line with SUMPRODUCT and express the demand in m³/min for the compressor.
• Turn a target piston speed into the flow the valve must pass, pick the smallest valve from a fictional range that covers it with margin, and work out cycle times – and the speed a faster cycle would need.
• Build the plant's air demand from a consumer list: cubic metres per shift, the average flow over each shift, the peak with a given diversity factor and the design flow with a given leakage allowance.
• Add a margin to the design flow, choose the smallest model from a fictional compressor range, calculate how much of the time it runs loaded, and size the receiver for a given pressure band.
• Add fittings as equivalent length, read a fictional pressure-drop table to pick the smallest pipe that stays within the allowed drop, check the drop in that pipe and estimate how many litres of condensate the plant makes per day.
• Compare fictional compressor data sheets by specific power, price a year of compressed air including unloaded running and a lower pressure setpoint, break the cost down to every machine and every 1,000 cartons, and chart it.