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Modern trends in pneumatics and hydraulics - October 2012 - Southern African Regional PROFIBUS Assoc. (SARPA) - Technews Publishing - SA I

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Analytical
Instrumentation

Modern trends in pneumatics and

hydraulics

Batch Manufacturing

Se arch...

October 2012, P neuma ti cs & Hy dra ul i cs

Control Systems Design

Andre w Ashton, contributing e ditor, SA Instrum e ntation and

C ontrol

Data Acquisition &

Telemetry

There is a common perception that not much is new

in the world of pneumatics and hydraulics, but scrape
the surface and a different picture emerges.

Electrical Power &

Protection
Enclosures, Cabling &
Connectors

Dying technologies

Environmental Control &

Monitoring

Talk to most system integrators and control system engineers and they will authoritatively pronounce
that pneumatic controls and devices belong in the ark. Their fellow mechanical and electrical
engineers will explain that hydraulic actuators and motors are being superseded by their electrical
counterparts.

Fieldbus & Industrial

Networking
Flow Measurement &
Control
Industrial Computer
Hardware
IS & Ex
IT in Manufacturing
Level Measurement &
Control
Maintenance, Test &
Measurement, Calibration
Mass Measurement
Motion Control & Drives

But the statistics tell another story. Rob C arter, an analyst at IMS Research, blogged that the
companys latest studies show that the market for pneumatic actuators grew 8,2% from 2010 to
20111 . Healthy growth trends have also recently been published by the UKs BFPA, which noted that
16 countries reported double digit growth in hydraulic equipment sales from 2010 to 2011 and 20
countries reported positive growth in pneumatic equipment sales over the same period2 . And in an
August 2012 analyst briefing Frost & Sullivan predicted a compound annual growth rate (C AGR) of
5,6% through 2018 in the European Pneumatic Equipment Market3 .

ABB launches RVG200

Touchscreen paperless
data recorder puts the
process at your fingertips

Drivers of change
It would be oversimplifying the situation to write that the causative factors driving change in these
industries could be reduced to regulatory and green initiatives. Many of the discontinuities are highly
interrelated and it is not easy to distinguish cause from effect. For instance, the development and
adoption of new manufacturing methods like 3D-printing (aka additive layer manufacturing) for
making both prototypes and production run components are driven in part by a desire to reduce
machining and wastage both of which are closely aligned to green motives. The creation of
innovative materials like graphene is in part driven by the desire to make components smaller and
lighter goals that are intimately tied to energy efficiencies in both manufacturing and operational
costs.

more multimedia >>

Fundamental drivers of change (causes) include:

* Safety, standards and compliance.
* Manufacturing efficiency.
* Operational efficiency.

News
Operator Interfaces
PLCs, DCSs, & Controllers

Safety, standards and compliance

The last decade and the start of this decade have seen the introduction of a plethora of safety
standards and regulations with which manufacturers and end users of pneumatic and hydraulic
equipment are mandated to comply. Principal among those affecting users of these systems have
been:

Pneumatics & Hydraulics

* The EU Machinery Directive 4.

Pressure Measurement &

Control

* ISO 10218 parts 1 and 2:2011 Robots and robotic devices Safety requirements for industrial
robots5.

SAIMC

* ISO 23125:2010 Machine tools Safety Turning machines Ibid.

* ISO 13849 part 1:2006 Safety of machinery Safety-related parts of control systems Ibid.

Sensors & Transducers

Software - SCADA/MES
Switches & Relays
System Integration
Temperature
Measurement
Training & Education
Valves, Actuators & Pump
Control

* ISO 16156:2004 Machine-tools safety Safety requirements for the design and construction of
work holding chucks Ibid.
* ISO 13851:2002 Safety of machinery Two-hand control devices Functional aspects and design
principles Ibid.
* IEC/EN 61511 Functional safety Safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector6.
* IEC/EN 62061 Safety of machinery: Functional safety of electrical, electronic and programmable
electronic control systems Ibid.
* IEC/EN 61508 Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related
systems Ibid.
Manufacturing efficiency
To remain competitive in a global village experiencing a Great Recession successful manufacturers
have explored and adopted technologies with which to combat rapidly escalating input costs. Energy
costs, rising raw material costs and labour costs have all been targeted. At the same time
manufacturers have been forced to respond to regulatory and social pressures to reduce emissions.
Operational efficiency
Similar demands have been faced by operators (end users) who have also needed to reduce
operational input costs and total cost of ownership (TC O). This has resulted in a need for equipment
with longer operating lives, lower consumption of lubricants and fluids and requiring less
maintenance.
Consequences
The consequences (effects) of responding to these drivers of change include:
* Component integration.
* Simpler system integration.
* Miniaturisation.
* New manufacturing methods.

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Modern trends in pneumatics and hydraulics - October 2012 - Southern African Regional PROFIBUS Assoc. (SARPA) - Technews Publishing - SA I
* Innovative raw materials.
Component integration
Manufacturers in the fluid power arena have been making equipment smarter by integrating more
components into functional units. In some cases this has been by incorporating more of the same
technology and in some cases it has been achieved by creating hybrid devices combining pneumatic
(or hydraulic) components with electronic components. According to C arter1 , one of the reasons that
have prevented a decline in the use of pneumatic equipment is the integration of electronics with air
power.
C omponent integration can provide benefits such as cost savings and add intelligence to offer local
loop control autonomy, self-diagnostics and ease of integration into digital control systems.
An example of same technology integration can be found in Parkers integrated economy circuit for
hydraulic circuits. Where previously such an energy recovery circuit was accomplished through
external valves it is now achieved inside the standard valve housing.
Programmable position controllers which integrate electronics with pneumatics or hydraulics are
examples of hybridised component integration. The Insight Air C ylinder from Motion
C ontrols LLC is an excellent example of this, com
prising a fully programmable pneumatic
cylinder with integral keypad and QVLA LED light based position/volume sensing.
System integration
System integrators and machine builders can have their choice of almost any RS-232, RS-485 or
Ethernet interface and protocol to interface their fluid control components to digital control systems
for basic process control and for safety circuits.
For example Festos MPA-L valve terminal (Figure 1) can be equipped with network interfaces to most
common industrial and Ethernet protocols via Festos C PX distributed I/O family. Even single
hydraulic servo valves like Moogs D670 series are available equipped with C ANopen, Profibus or
EtherC AT interfaces.
Miniaturisation
There is a prevailing trend towards miniaturisation. Smaller is better since
smaller is lighter and generally costs less in terms of input costs (raw
materials, handling, labour, conversion energy...), but the degree of feasible
miniaturisation varies from application to application. For motive applications
using fluid power there is some limit to how far manufacturers can progress
along the miniaturisation route before cooling and flow rate issues come into
play. In other applications like liquid and gas sampling, nanotechnology
systems are being implemented that fall within the nanometre range that is
one billionth of a metre.

Figure 1. Festo MPA -L

valve manif old can
connect to industrial
control networks.

For off-highway vehicles the greatest motivator for miniaturisation has been
the phased introduction of emission regulations by the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) aimed at dramatically reducing emissions of carbon and oxides of nitrogen.
In 2014 Tier 4 Final will be introduced mandating near zero emissions levels. A similar initiative in the
EU comes into effect in 2015. A direct consequence of these regulations is the need to improve fuel
efficiency, and that has driven hydraulic reservoir sizes and circuit capacities down to reduce vehicle
size and weight. Manufacturers have responded with more component integration, smaller devices
capable of handling higher flow rates and increased system pressure.
A good example is Sauer-Danfosss recently launched PVG 100 High-Flow valve option (Figure 2)
which offers a 30% increase in flow capacity in a claimed 'smallest on the market' package.
At the microscopic level 'lab-on-a-chip' sampling systems, microfluidics and the building of new materials through molecular
manipulation are all distant cousins of the industrial pneumatic and
hydraulic systems with which readers are familiar.
New manufacturing methods
This is probably one of the most exciting changes that is starting to
impact the fluid power industry. 3D-printing is already being used in a
limited way in the production of components for this industry. 3DFigure 2. Sauer-Danf oss PVG 100
printing involves the use of a carefully directed laser beam on a
High-Flow valve of f ers improved
powdered raw material which is either plastic based or metal based.
f low rates in a compact package.
As the laser strikes the powder it melts and then solidifies. Multiple
passes of the laser solidifies one layer on top of the previous hence the name additive layer
manufacturing (ALM) or additive manufacturing.
ALM vastly reduces the amount of raw material and subsequent machining required for a part. EADS,
the parent company of Airbus, uses ALM for manufacturing certain titanium brackets and claims that
it is able to produce parts that use 25% less raw material, use 25% less energy to produce and that
are 50% lighter than their machined equivalents7 .
Additive manufacturing allows the manufacture of finished parts with complex internal voids, so
manufacturing something like a hydraulic control block is childs play for ALM. Often no additional
surface finishing stages are required and there are no restrictions to the number or internal voids or
their shapes. This means that instead of traditional hydraulic pathways that are machined from a
solid block of material and that are full of energy sucking right angle bends, hydraulic systems can
be manufactured with smoothly radiused internal bends.
In a case study 8 by leading British additive manufacturer 3D RTP a twin-clutch gear change hydraulic
actuator was redesigned to reduce mass and improve flow paths. The study showed that weight
savings of over 30% were achievable with flow rate improvements of between 1,5 and 2,5 times.
Festo has made significant investment in ALM production capacity and has successfully used this
technology to manufacture the FinGrippers (Figure 3) used in its Bionic Handling Assistant achieving
an 80% weight saving over conventional metal grippers.
A further significant benefit of ALM is that because components
are printed one at a time, with the laser being driven from the
equivalent of a C AD file, it is no more expensive to make each
new part unique, for instance by embedding a serial number or
an end-users name. This has led to some commentators
describing ALM as opening the way to 'mass customisation'.
Innovative raw materials
In response to green initiatives like energy conservation, the
Figure 3. Festo FinGrippers are
need to reduce harmful effluents, safety legislation, longevity
manuf actured using an additive
requirements, new manufacturing methods and the opportunities
manuf acturing process.
opened up through rapid developments in materials science
many new materials are being used in manufacturing and several harmful materials are being
phased out.
Manufacturers of hydraulic cylinders have been looking at alternatives to hard chroming of piston
rods and piston ends. Parker has been comparing PTFE coatings, ceramic coatings and coatings of
various nitrides in conjunction with new matching seal compounds. It has concluded that there is no
ideal mix of surface treatment, seal material and hydraulic fluid and that material selection
is application dependent.
Manufacturers of hydraulic fluids have introduced zinc-free products in response to concerns about
toxicity. Recently Shell announced the introduction of its Tellus S3 M zinc-free hydraulic fluid.
Graphene-based materials, with their high strength and electrical conductivity have been reported to
hold great promise for actuators working like human muscles and activated by the application of
voltage, heat or light9 .
New nano materials have been developed for pneumatic and hydraulic oil filtration. Donaldsons
Ultra-Web filters for example are made of electro-spun fibres 0,2 to 0,3 microns in diameter and are
capable of capturing particles down to as small as 0,3 to 1 micron1 0 .
Conclusion

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The winds of change are surely creating exciting opportunities for growth and a sustainable future for

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Modern trends in pneumatics and hydraulics - October 2012 - Southern African Regional PROFIBUS Assoc. (SARPA) - Technews Publishing - SA I
The winds of change are surely creating exciting opportunities for growth and a sustainable future for
pneumatic and hydraulic equipment and systems and all those who work with these.
References
1. IMS Research: Is Energy Efficiency Hurting the Pneumatics Market? Not a problem . . . Yet!
http://tinyurl.com/c558mmf
2. BFPA: BFPA Statistics Newsletter June 2012; http://tinyurl.com/c3vy2lj
3. Frost & Sullivan: On-Demand Analyst Briefing: European Pneumatic Equipment Market What lies
ahead? http://tinyurl.com/8v4ovda
4. European C ommission: Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC ; http://tinyurl.com/9ltjd8m
5. ISO: International Organization for Standardization; http://www.iso.org
6. IEC : International Electrotechnical C ommission; http://www.iec.ch/
7. EADS: 2010 Annual Report; http://tinyurl.com/8udxayr
8. 3D RTP: 3D RTP; http://tinyurl.com/8clxfhg
9. The C enter for Nanoscale Science and Technology: The application of graphene based materials
for actuators; http://tinyurl.com/8m4tnr8
10. Donaldson Filtration Solutions: Ultra-Web Filter Media. What is Ultra-Web?
http://tinyurl.com/8tyxsz5

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