Airpel-AB® Cylinder
A unique new air cylinder featuring Force Without Friction® air bearing technology.
There is an air cylinder with precisely the features the air cylinder industry has been missing—the Airpel-AB—a pneumatic driver that takes air-powered motion to an incredible level of smoothness, cleanliness, and unsurpassed longevity. This new Airpel® Series’ specially shaped stainless steel piston, precisely fitted to the Airpel’s renowned borosilicate glass cylinder, creates a true air bearing airflow effect around the piston. As little as 5 psi applied to the cylinder produces a stiff cushion of air that supports the piston circumferentially, preventing its contactwith the cylinder wall. The result of this new design? A virtually unlimited piston cycle life with super-clean operation, no lubrication, and an output force reduced only infinitesimally by movement of the ultra-low friction ball joints used to connect the rod.
Engineers familiar with our original Airpel line have marveled at its low-friction characteristics
and know it was created to fill a niche in the air cylinder industry where the friction, contamination, wear, and extreme temperature vulnerability of typical air cylinders could not be tolerated. Now our new Airpel-AB Series has taken the Airpel’s already unparalleled low friction and reduced it by a factor of 1000 to meet even more demanding needs of the highest tech equipment.
Using our new ForceWithout Friction technology offers a nearly unbelievable level of smooth motion and longevity in a pneumatic driving device for applications such as
■ precise tensioning of ultra-fine wire, filaments, or fiber
■ positioning mechanisms supporting delicate materials, optics, or liquids
■ Super-sensitive force control for holding or clamping fragile materials, wafer dicing, or polishing
■ counterbalancing and safety support for vertically positioned linear motor driven masses such as CMM measurement probes
■ precise laboratory test equipment for weighing, measuring, tensile strength, deformation, and calibration
and know it was created to fill a niche in the air cylinder industry where the friction, contamination, wear, and extreme temperature vulnerability of typical air cylinders could not be tolerated. Now our new Airpel-AB Series has taken the Airpel’s already unparalleled low friction and reduced it by a factor of 1000 to meet even more demanding needs of the highest tech equipment.
Using our new ForceWithout Friction technology offers a nearly unbelievable level of smooth motion and longevity in a pneumatic driving device for applications such as
■ precise tensioning of ultra-fine wire, filaments, or fiber
■ positioning mechanisms supporting delicate materials, optics, or liquids
■ Super-sensitive force control for holding or clamping fragile materials, wafer dicing, or polishing
■ counterbalancing and safety support for vertically positioned linear motor driven masses such as CMM measurement probes
■ precise laboratory test equipment for weighing, measuring, tensile strength, deformation, and calibration
A variety of sizes to meet your needs.
The standard Airpel-AB line is offered in Metric models with four bore diameters and ten strokes to provide precisely repeatable driving or supporting forces from 2 grams to 58 kg at pressures starting as low as 5 psi. And all over a temperature range of -20ºC to +90ºC (depending on model). We are also glad to provide custom strokes and rod lengths for other performance and application requirements.
