Chris Patient explains how pneumatic technology is adapting to the concept of digitalisation.

Reliable flow control equipment plays an essential part in the control of many manufacturing and industrial processes. Control Engineering Europe takes a closer look.

As Industry 4.0 starts to change the manufacturing and process industries, many have questioned whether pneumatics has a future. Control Engineering Europe asked some pneumatics providers what they think.

Rotork has completed a contract to supply fully automated pneumatic control systems on high capacity biomass rail freight wagons supporting the decarbonisation project at Lynemouth Power Station in the UK.

At Hannover Messe, Suzanne Gill spoke to Marcio Lopes da Silva, product manager at Festo, about the latest pneumatic developments from the company.

The Festo VTEM Motion Terminal heralds the beginning of a new era, catapulting pneumatics into the era of Industry 4.0 – with apps that can replace over 50 individual components. The latest developments in piezo technology and software have made this possible.

Festo has published Energy efficiency@Festo, a new guide which details a number of ways that plant managers can improve efficiency in their pneumatic production processes by up to 60%.  

Guernsey Water has made the decision to use a pneumatic automation solution for the control of a remote pumping station.  CE UK finds out more.

The AirLINE Quick valve island solution from Bürkert has helped to reduce installation costs, improve operating integrity and deliver ongoing economies in the control of up to 2000 pneumatic process components operating on a new dessert and yoghurt line installed by FrieslandCampina at a plant in Germany.

There is always potential for further efficiency gains through the optimised use of energy, especially in large production facilities, says Festo. Suzanne Gill reports from an Audi plant in Hungary.

Dr Ansgar Kriwet, a member of the Festo management board, region and sales Europe, has offered his vision of the future of global automation, and the role that Festo hopes to play.

In 2010, the global market for pneumatic valve blocks increased 18.4% to reach $861.5 million, which represented over 1 billion blocks. Almost half of these products included a facility to be networked. However, according to the latest market report from IMS Research, for every valve block networked with an Ethernet based protocol, nine were networked with a fieldbus.

A high-integrity pressure regulator, designed for use with pneumatic control systems used for valve actuation in the oil, gas and other processing industries, has been introduced by Midland-ACS.

Midland-ACS has introduced a high-integrity pressure regulator for use with pneumatic control systems used for valve actuation in the oil, gas and other processing industries.

A compact, integrated motion control subsystem for automation applications has been introduced by Festo, to offer machine builders a flexible way of providing programmable rotary and linear movement. Said to be suitable for parts handling and positioning applications, the EHMB module incorporates an interesting decoupled design which enables the rotary and lifting movements to be controlled completely independently, enabling fast and accurate positioning.

The introduction of IO Link interface technology to pneumatics will likely make commissioning and maintenance easier—and provide expanded diagnostic possibilities as well. To support this open communication standard, Rexroth has integrated the IO Link interface into its popular LS04 valve terminal system.

The most eye-catching display in the Festo stand at Hannover Fair were bionic ‘penguins’ swimming in a large tank and flying gracefully overhead. Taking their inspiration from nature, Festo’s engineers once again entertained the crowds with some serious motion control systems.