How do you calculate air flow requirements for a cylinder given bore, stroke, and cycle frequency?

How do you calculate air flow requirements for a cylinder given bore, stroke, and cycle frequency?

• A. Pressure × area
• B. Volume per minute = area × stroke × cycles per hour
• C. Push force divided by pressure
• D. Displacement per stroke equals area times stroke; multiply by cycles per minute to get volume per minute

Answer: (D)

Air flow is the volumetric amount of air moved per unit time, so the key is how much air is pushed in one stroke and how often that stroke occurs. The air moved in a single stroke equals the cylinder’s cross-sectional area times the stroke length (area comes from the bore). Once you have that displacement per stroke, multiply by how many cycles occur each minute to get the volume moved per minute, i.e., the volumetric flow rate. So you compute displacement per stroke as area × stroke, then multiply by cycles per minute to obtain volume per minute. That matches the idea that air flow is volume moved per unit time. The other options don’t represent volume flow: pressure × area gives force, push force divided by pressure gives area, and using cycles per hour would require a unit conversion to get per minute.

Air flow is the volumetric amount of air moved per unit time, so the key is how much air is pushed in one stroke and how often that stroke occurs. The air moved in a single stroke equals the cylinder’s cross-sectional area times the stroke length (area comes from the bore). Once you have that displacement per stroke, multiply by how many cycles occur each minute to get the volume moved per minute, i.e., the volumetric flow rate. So you compute displacement per stroke as area × stroke, then multiply by cycles per minute to obtain volume per minute. That matches the idea that air flow is volume moved per unit time. The other options don’t represent volume flow: pressure × area gives force, push force divided by pressure gives area, and using cycles per hour would require a unit conversion to get per minute.