The pneumatic versus electric debate

25 October, 2016

Both technologies are excellent at achieving a smaller carbon footprint, a factor which is at the forefront of many of today’s spending decisions. Energy consumption is kept to a minimum in slower moving pneumatic applications, whilst noise pollution can be minimised when switching to electric.

In applications where a load is lifted and a continuous movement is required then electric implementation is better suited, but if the load in addition to being moved needs to remain locked in a given position for any length of time, on balance the pneumatic actuation solution will work out cheaper.

 ‘Horses for courses’

Considerations and similar analysis must also be given to factors such as TCO (total cost of ownership), the motion profiles required, loads to be handled, health and safety regulations and industry sectors. When assessing pneumatic versus electric performance therefore, it is still very much ‘horses for courses’, and both systems have a variety of strengths and weaknesses that need careful consideration when electing for one system over the other.

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