If you’ve been involved with compressed air-driven machinery for any length of time, then you’ve surely heard about some engineers who’ve debated back and forth whether air lubricators are still as important as they used to be. Those who are in favor argue that lubrication helps to reduce friction between sliding surfaces as well as improve efficiency and the speed at which individual pneumatic components cycle.
A dramatic reduction in wear is also claimed to be a major benefit of using this kind of technology, which makes sense seeing as those who use traditional lubrication products on non-compressed air-powered devices often say the same. However, this is precisely why there are those who argue that this strategy is no longer needed.
Pneumatic cylinders are extremely durable. In fact, they’re often able to take a much greater deal of usage than comparable parts powered by other sources of energy. Nevertheless, we are SMC Pneumatics still recommends high-quality lubrication devices in order to keep this equipment running smoothly.
Protecting Your Investment With Pneumatic Cylinder Lubricators
A very slight amount of oil in a stream of compressed air works with the same kind of elastomeric seals your organization already uses in order to create a tighter seal than normal. This is due to the fact that there are actually some rough surfaces even in the most polished area.
Think about what an extremely polished surface would look like under a powerful microscope. Even a 20 µin finish would have at least some peaks and valleys when viewed under sufficient magnification. This provides an area for the oil to catch onto, which in turn gives you the ability to provide lubrication and prevent wear.
A piece that features a 20 µin. finish has an average of just around 20 µin. of space between each of these, so in turn, you’d have an area of oil that measures at 20 µin. coated around it. Since the lubricant oil is a fluid, it would naturally find a way into these small crannies.
Lubricators, however, have been seen as temperamental devices. Designers and operators have found that they often put much more oil out than this, which has a nasty habit of getting everywhere on such a fine finish. Designers have to specify exactly the correct kind of lubricator for the application as well as ensure that it dispenses exactly the right amount.
As a result, there have been plenty of individuals who’ve opined that these pieces are totally unnecessary due to the way that modern components are quite reliable. However, this is overlooking the fact that they can help to ensure that devices with long lifespans will have even longer ones when maintained and operated in a safe manner. Lubrication is also important to ensure that your system doesn’t operate at all out of spec.
Fortunately, engineers who are in favor of pneumatic cylinder lubrication have promoted the filter regulator lubricator or FRL, which combines three very important components together into one single module that you can attach to any appropriate compatible compressed air circuit.
How Filter Regulator Lubricators Work
As the name suggests, these units filter the air and regulate it much as dedicated standalone components would. That makes them particularly useful for areas where you need to remove particulate matter from the airflow before injecting lubricant oil into it.
Perhaps most importantly, these only inject the minimum amount of lubricant into a circuit in order to maintain worthwhile functionality. They don’t go overboard, which is important to prevent the kinds of problems inherent in the initial example. Installation isn’t difficult either, considering the fact that those from SMC Pneumatics are designed to be easily attached to existing equipment by ensuring a level of compatibility with the components that are already connected to them.
For instance, you can fit an AC series module with any of the following thread designs:
- Rc(PT)
- G(PF)
- NPT
That means you won’t have to dedicate much work if any at all to re-implementing your current install, so you’ll be able to protect your investment without sinking much more money into the project. AC series and other similar FRL modules are reasonably priced and capable of doing the job of more than one unit, so they can actually represent quite a savings over the long-term.
Perhaps this is exactly why most of today’s pneumatic systems are actually lubricated, unlike those of yesteryear. Nevertheless, some small pneumatic systems that don’t use dedicated cylinders still lack lubrication as do those that aren’t particularly complicated and only operate on a periodic basis. It might be interesting, as a thought experiment, to consider what it might be like to run a more advanced larger system without lubrication.
Non-lubricated Pneumatic Cylinders
If you wanted to construct a non-lubricated system, then you’d need to carefully select each individual component one at a time. You’d have to offer consistently dry air, which is a difficult chore if you’re dealing with any sort of humidity at all. More importantly, however, you’d have to provide an extremely fine filtration level to make sure that there weren’t any little particles from the exterior of your equipment getting into the gear.
Ironically, FRL modules would solve this problem to some degree, but they wouldn’t be something that someone who would want to design a system without lubrication would use. While you’d be saving the cost of the lubrication substrate itself, this usually doesn’t matter because whatever small amount it would cost to feed the lubricator would be greatly outweighed by the amount of money you’d save by not having to replace other pieces of equipment nearly as often.
In fact, some might say that air lubrication is more practical today than at any other time in history due to the proliferation of high-quality lubricator devices. If you want to take advantage of this situation, then our crews can help.
Find Pneumatic Cylinder Lubricator Modules for Your Business At SMC Pneumatics
Assuming you already have a system that’s built around standard-sized components, you’ll be free to find attachment modules from SMC Pneumatics that fit directly onto the equipment that you’re already using. Our experienced representatives will be able to help you find a piece of equipment that will serve as a practical lubricator for your firm’s specific use case.
Take a moment to visit our convenient online contact form and tell us more about your current situation. You’ll never have to worry about whether air lubrication is still practical since the equipment can often do much of the work by itself.