Derived from Greek word “pneuma” which means wind or breath, pneumatic can be described as the study of engineering and science investigating movement and control of mechanical systems operating with pressurized air.

Pneumatics dates back to 2500 years ago when air bellows were used. Although pressurized air is one of the most important energy types that humankind discovered at early ages and began to use, it was not used in power applications in a systematic way until the mid 19th century. Hand tools, locomotives and similar power systems pioneered the development and rapid spread of pneumatics .

Pneumatic applications are widely used in control systems in todays industry. From construction machinery to robotic systems, factory production lines to works that manpower is not enough, it is used in almost all manufacturing, assembly and operation lines.

Why Pneumatics?
Demand for pneumatic systems has gone up as they have advantages over electrical and hydraulic systems. Basic energy generation and transmission is accomplished by air in pneumatics. Air is a resource that can be easily found everywhere, easy to transfer and store when pressurized. It is also not sensitive to changes in heat. Thus, it is easy to use these systems in high temperatures. Use of the air as a power source is safe. There are no such risks as flare, explosion or combustion . Another safety element in pneumatic systems is that system automatically stops in the case of overload. Operation continues when overload is eliminated. Environmental awareness in industrial plants is improving day by day. Pneumatic must be considered as a clean power source as it does not waste and cause environmental pollution even in cases of leakage.

Disadvantages of Pneumatics
As air is a highly compressible fluid, it does not perform as high as hydraulic system to generate power. For the same reason, positioning accuracy is reduced and it becomes difficult to get a constant and uniform speed. Air from the compressor must be cleaned, dried to dehumidify and filtered before using. This means more energy consumption and increase in costs. Pneumatic systems are quite noisy if not used with appropriate equipment.

Pneumatic systems are commonly used in every industry:

• Mechatronics Systems
• Automation systems and electronic industry
• Robot Technology  
• and forming operations such as rolling, bending and drawing are some of these industries.

As HKTM A.Ş., we can offer project, sales and after-sales technical support in all areas that pneumatics is used with our experience in iron-steel industry and sample projects in robotic automation.