Indeed, poorly sizing a cylinder can have dire consequences, warns Clayton W. Fryer, product sales champion at IMI Norgren Inc. (Littleton, CO). An undersized cylinder will be unable to move the load fast enough. An oversized cylinder will increase the initial cost of the machine, as well as its operating costs. "Oversizing a cylinder by only one bore size could increase the cost of compressed air by 58 percent and not improve the performance of the cylinder," says Fryer.
The force produced by a cylinder is a function of its bore size and air pressure. So, to calculate bore size, engineers must first determine the size of the load and how much air pressure is available.