Occurrence conditions of stick-slip motion in pneumatic cylinders driven by meter-out

Pneumatic cylinders may not achieve steady motion in applications where low velocities are required because of the stick-slip effect. However, an effective means to assess the possibility of stick-slip occurrence in pneumatic cylinders has not been reported. Despite friction force is an important parameter on stick-slip motion, there are only few studies on friction force at low velocities and actual comparisons of experimental and simulation results of stick-slip motion are difficult to find. In this paper, stick-slip motion in pneumatic cylinders is studied. Friction force is measured and stick-slip motion is simulated. The occurrence conditions of stick-slip are studied analytically using non-dimensional parameters. The influence of each variable on the occurrence of stick-slip motion is clarified.