Cylinders

In this category you will find cylinder objects with different characteristics.

Cylinders acting with spring

This is a single-action cylinder acting with spring.

So if the operand has the status '1' for the movement of the cylinder in one direction, the piston rod will be moved in this direction. If the operand has the status '0', the piston rod moves back.

The spring therefore always acts in the direction of movement where no operand is specified.

The specification of operands for both movement directions makes no sense for this type of cylinder.

In the following illustration, the operand for moving the cylinder to the maximum was specified. The operand has the status '1' when the push-button is pressed.

This means that the cylinder moves back if the push-button is not pressed.

Cylinders without clamping unit

This type of cylinder supports the specification of operands at both directions of motion. The force of the cylinder in the respective direction of motion is present as long as the operand has the status '1'.

If, for example, such a cylinder moves a load upwards during the movement to maximum and the operand for the movement to maximum changes to status '0', then the load pushes the piston rod downwards again.

You can see this below:

Cylinders with clamping unit

This type of cylinder supports the specification of operands at both directions of motion. If none of the operands has the status '1', the cylinder remains in its current position. The force of the clamping unit corresponds to the maximum force of the cylinder.

If, for example, such a cylinder moves a load upwards during the movement to maximum and the operand for the movement to maximum changes to status '0', tthen the cylinder retains its position. Only when the load becomes too large, will it push the piston rod down again.

You can see this below:

Changing the type of the cylinder

The cylinder types available within the category "Cylinders" all originate from the same cylinder object. These are only preset according to their type. The cylinder type can always be changed. To do this, change the property "Type of the cylinder" in the property section "Cylinder movement settings".

Attaching objects to the piston rod of a cylinder

Objects can be attached to the piston rod of a cylinder. Often an unbreakable solid joint is used.

The following video shows how a container is firmly connected to the piston rod of a cylinder.

Dynamic cylinder body

In the standard setting, the cylinder body is static, i.e. it cannot be moved. However, you can change this. If, for example, you want to attach a cylinder to the piston rod of a different cylinder, you can adjust the "Physical type of the object" property in the "Cylinder body physics settings" property section accordingly.

The following video shows an example in which an additional cylinder is firmly attached to the piston rod of a cylinder. An unbreakable joint is used for this.

Special cylinders or linear movements

The cylinders in the cylinder section were created with the help of the joint element "Prismatic joint". If you cannot find a suitable object for your application in the cylinder section, you can assemble a cylinder-like object using the "Prismatic joint".

This joint element is described in more detail below together with the other joint elements.

Appearance of cylinders in draw-mode

As of version 1.5.2 of PLC-Lab, the position of the piston rod at maximum is also displayed for a cylinder object in draw-mode.

This makes it easier to place the cylinder correctly.

The vertical line at the end position is also a measure of the thickness of the piston rod.