The design enhancement of a pneumatic cylinder for valve actuators by integrating the “Design-by-Formulas” and “Design-by-Analysis” approaches with multiple integrative advanced simulations

The authors would like to make a meaningful contribution to product development strategies by introducing an original holistic design methodology for pressurecontaining equipment. A case study is presented, focusing on the design enhancement of a pneumatic cylinder for valve actuators. The purpose of the discussed methodology is supplying designers with a full picture of the product, usually not directly available, thanks to the extensive use of advanced Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to increase confidence in the safety and reliability of the design at the virtual prototype stage while providing useful insights that can be used during product life in occasions such as root cause analyses. The new design approach is applied to the cylinder by analyzing it in special conditions like during a pressure burst test using an FEA. A comparison with the experimental results confirms that the proposed methodology can potentially contribute to introducing renewed, safe, reliable, and lighter components, reducing the cost and time of development.