A Study of the Pneumatic Counterweight of Machine Tools Conventional and Active Pressure Control Method

Abstract

The pneumatic counterweight method is a suitable counterweight method used for machine tool owing to its high speed and force capacity, combined with low price and clean operation. However, the preset pressure cannot be hold at higher traveling rate if the conventional pneumatic counterweight is applied. In this study, rather than using the conventional pressure compensation method, the active pressure control method was designed as an alternative to the pneumatic counterweight driven by a linear motor. The fuzzy sliding mode controller was designed and implemented for regulating the pressure using the servo valve. The experimental results demonstrate that the variation of the pressure in the pneumatic cylinder can be hold within the range ±15 kPa by using active pressure control method.

Investigation on backflow phenomenon in the aerostatic journal bearing

“…This leads to a great reduction of the friction force. This frictionless cylinder is often applied in a force balance system [34][35][36] shown in Figure 1, by employing the control chamber pressure p c to act as a counterweight to the load gravity Mg, described by equation (1). The acceleration term may be neglected when the load is moving at constant speed or is stationary.…”