Advantages of pneumatics

Simplicity of Design And Control

o Machines are easily designed using standard cylinders & other components.
Control is as easy as it is simple ON - OFF type control.

Reliability

o Pneumatic systems tend to have long operating lives and require very little
maintenance.
o Because gas is compressible, the equipment is less likely to be damaged by shock.
The gas in pneumatics absorbs excessive force, whereas the fluid of hydraulics
directly transfers force.

Storage

o Compressed Gas can be stored, allowing the use of machines when electrical
power is lost.

Safety

o Very low chance of fire (compared to hydraulic oil).

o Machines can be designed to be overload safe.

5. Clean

Since working fluid is purified air, there is no messy waste produce at the end of the day. A little
leak will not make the surrounding shady. Also, since ir is used no risk of toxic hazards t o
machines or humans. Industries like pharmaceutical, food..etc tend prefer pneumatics for their
cleanness.

6. Easily transported

Air is easily obtainable from atmosphere and can be used with little purification. Air can be
pumped to long distances in pipelines, so can control pneumatic equipments for long distances.
This makes central controlling possible. These also requires no return line, so easy to manage
and cost effective.

7. Light in weight

Air is very light compared with other fluids, which are very heavy. They don't need high power
to transfer.
8.Cost Effective

This is a very economical controlling mechanism. The Pneumatics require low maintenance cost,
since wear of equipments are very less. These operates at low pressure , so equipments can be
produced for low cost using cheap materials. In contrast hydraulic controlling systems require
high pressure, so need tough materials, which comes in high prices.

9 high speed working medium

Compressed air controllers are able to achieve high work speeds, the flow rate may go up to 20
m/s, while hydraulics is restricted around 5m/s.

10. safe operation in overloads

The shock absorbent properties of air make overloading safe. Under excessive forces air can
compress easily avoiding damage to equipments.

11 Variable pressure

Pneumatic systems can work in various pressures, this also alow the speed control.

12. Pneumatic and hydraulic controls are extensively used in production plants for natural gas. Safety is
the reason.
However in earlier times (my only experience) they were subject to zero-point drift.