Design and Analysis of Pneumatic Clamp for Turn Mill Application

Abstract

The system which works using compressed air as working fluid is the pneumatic brake system. Pneumatic clamps are used in air actuated mechanisms to operate the clamping action. Pneumatic clamps are the ideal one in quick operation and economical to use in short run jobs. The pneumatic clamp structure should be designed to resist vibration under various performance conditions. The purpose of this work is design and analysis of pneumatic clamp to support milling operation on turn spindle. The 3-Dimensional Modelling of pneumatic clamp is done using Solid works 2016 software and Finite Element Analysis is performed using ANSYS workbench 15.0.7 software. Boundary conditions are applied as the base fixed and moment at the end of the shaft which is clamped to the spindle of lathe. Expected deflection of pneumatic clamps shaft is 20µ, however the deflection from the numerical solution is 15.85µ. Pneumatic clamp working frequency is 0.5 Hz and from the modal analysis, it is found that no frequency is falling near to the working frequency. Therefore, resonance does not occur for these conditions. Analysis results of deflection are compared with theoretical results. It is found that percentage error are in the permissible limits to validate the model.