Pneumatics
Force — Rodless (Band/Cable) Cylinder
Calculate the effective force and speed of a rodless pneumatic cylinder. Rodless cylinders use a sliding carriage instead of a piston rod, allowing unlimited stroke without rod buckling.
Units:
Rodless cylinders are ideal for long strokes (up to 10+ metres) where a conventional rod would buckle. Magnetic or mechanical coupling types are available. Friction factor is typically higher (8–15%) than rod cylinders due to the band or cable seal. Maximum speed: typically 3 m/s.
F_eff [N] = A × P_eff × (1 − friction/100) − F_band_tension
Input
Cylinder bore iInternal bore diameter of the rodless cylinder. Standard: 16, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, 80 mm.
mm
Working pressure iAvailable supply pressure in bar.
bar
Friction factor iFriction as a percentage of theoretical force. Rodless cylinders typically 8–15% due to band/cable seal friction. Higher than rod cylinders.
%
Band/cable pre-tension iPre-tension force of the sealing band or cable in Newton. From manufacturer datasheet. Typically 10–30 N depending on bore size.
N
Valve flow iValve nominal flow in nl/min at 6 bar for speed calculation.
nl/min
Stroke length iTotal usable stroke of the rodless cylinder in mm. Can be up to 10,000+ mm.
mm
Result
Piston area [cm²]
—
Effective thrust force [N]
—
Effective thrust force [kg]
—
Carriage speed [m/s]
—
One-way cycle time [s]
—