Air motors (or pneumatic motors) have been used in the manufacturing, industrial, and tooling industries for hundreds of years, of course evolving as the industries have changed. Nowadays, air motors can be sorted into three kinds: piston, rotary vane, and turbine. Here’s a breakdown of each type and how they work:
1. Piston motors utilize series of pistons that force feed compacted air down into a chamber, which is held open by a spring. When this air gets pushed deeper and deeper into the chamber, the spring is forced to bend. Once it has moved through the entire length of the chamber, the spring resets, and voila—rotary mechanical energy is created. These motors tend to move slower than the other two kinds, but they’re highly reliable, and are frequently found in hydraulic systems.
2. Vane motors are powered by a group of vanes that force chambers to expand open as they spin. As compacted air is pushed up against these moving vanes, it forces the motor to spin, which in turn creates the rotary energy. These motors can work quickly depending on what size they are, however they are known for working faster than piston motors. Vane motors are typically seen in natural gas engines, as the natural gas (as opposed to regular compressed air) is what applies the pressure against the vanes to make them move.
3. Turbine motors are small yet mighty, powered by air extension and velocity to create rotary energy (very similar to a turbine engine, which is where wind-generated energy comes from). These motors can be found in a lot of hand-held tools; even though they are small, they can spin at speeds up to 180,000 rpm and don’t add almost any extra weight to the tool.
what’s the benefit of using air motors?
There are a couple scenarios where air motors are preferable over electric motors.
For one, air motors don’t emit extra heat, which means they can work at a wide range of speeds without overheating. Air motors are much cheaper to replace than electric motors, and electric motors will overheat, resulting in a high-cost repair.
This also makes them safe to use in volatile settings. Since they don’t overheat, they won’t throw off any excess sparks that could possibly ignite any explosive vapors or particles.
Air motors are reversible. You might be thinking, but so are electric motors! You’re not wrong, but electric motors generate high levels of extra heat when reversed, and reversal will put unnecessary strain/shock on the equipment it’s running. Since air is compressible, it prevents all that extra strain and prevents any possibility of shock ruining equipment or disrupting load. So if air is suddenly reversed in an application, the air motor will simply reverse itself back.
Air motors are also compact when need be. Their tendency to be light weight also contributes to their lack of emitted heat, therefore making them even safer in explosive conditions.
James Engineering Air Motors
Here at James Engineering, we manufacture and sell a variety of air motors to fit needs of all different sizes and requirements. We offer both disposable and repairable motors at competitive prices that can be used in machining centers, robots, cobots, custom machinery, automation, and more.
Our air motors are precision machined at 1.75” diameter mounting surfaces, making them ideal for applications that rely on precise location and repeatability.
If you’d like to learn more about our air motors, please check out our air motors page; there you will find the specifications of each kind we offer.
If you are interested in purchasing one of our air motors, please reach out to Sales@James-Engineering.com, and we’ll work together to send you the perfect air motor for your operation.