Many industrial and manufacturing operations run on compressed air. After all, it’s cost-effective, clean, and readily available. But what happens when you need a high-pressure hydraulic brake to perform just one or a few tasks within your operation? An air over oil intensifier can provide a simple, effective, efficient solution.
The Versatile Alternative
An air over oil intensifier converts your existing air supply into hydraulic pressure. That means you can easily incorporate hydraulic or spring-applied hydraulic braking into your applications without having to install an entire hydraulic system. You can use intensifiers for:
- Emergency stopping
- Tensioning
- Stop-and-hold
Putting Intensifiers to Use in the Real World
Because air over oil intensifiers convert air into hydraulic pressure to control a particular device, they can be an ideal option almost anywhere you have a small hydraulic device that doesn’t require large-volume fluid displacement.
This clever product can be used with all types of brakes, both standard and spring-applied. That makes intensifiers a valuable solution in many traditional industrial and manufacturing settings. But they are also suitable for a surprising range of less obvious braking applications. Here are 10 real-world examples:
- Web, wire, or coil winding machines
- Wind turbines
- Agricultural equipment
- Robotics
- Mining
- Amusement park rides
- Grippers
- Indexing tables
- Welding positioning equipment
- Railroad cars
Here’s how intensifiers work:
The ratio associated with each intensifier model notes the amount of multiplied hydraulic pressure the unit is capable of producing. For example, with 100 psi of pneumatic pressure, the 36:1 Air/Oil Intensifier produces 3600 psi of hydraulic pressure.
Let’s say you have a mining or oil drilling operation. Your application requires a hydraulic brake to provide sufficient braking torque, but air is your only available power source. No problem—an 18:1 (our largest volume displacement) air over oil intensifier allows you to accomplish your goal expediently.
Where CNC machines are used, grippers on trunnion tables hold an object still while the tools perform their job. It takes high, steady pressure to eliminate risk of movement during this process. An air over oil intensifier fills the bill.
Railroad locomotives and cars use brakes for holding as well as slowing and stopping. For holding, it’s more efficient to use existing spring-applied hydraulic brakes in conjunction with an intensifier and the vehicle’s existing pneumatics.
Following the railcar example, you could use an intensifier to tap into the pneumatics of any brake to create a hydraulic e-brake.
Intensifiers Sized to Fit Your Needs
Originally, our Branham team designed air over oil intensifiers for use with our own line of brakes, so although we offer a range of air-to-oil pressure ratios, all of the fluid displacement options are relatively small. That said, our OVLBOOST option allows more flexibility in applications that require higher volume on the hydraulic side by lengthening the device to accommodate greater displacement on that side. This can benefit those who require higher fluid displacement.
All You Need is Access to Air
Air over oil intensifiers can expand your equipment and facility design options and help streamline your operations. Those are real-world benefits. If you have questions about these products or how to incorporate them in your systems, our team is always happy to help.
