Robotics & Automation worked example
Pneumatic Gripper Air Cost with gripper air use of 3 SCFM: a worked example
What does the result look like when gripper air use reaches 3 SCFM? The full calculation is worked below with real intermediate numbers. Use it when a pneumatic EOAT is a real chunk of the cell cost stack and you want to defend air spend or compare to an electric gripper.
The inputs for this scenario
- Gripper air use: 3 SCFM (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 1.2)
- Gripper runtime: 16 hr (unchanged)
- Plant cost of compressed air: 0.3 $ / 1000 SCF (unchanged)
Working through the calculation
- Applying the documented formula (Air consumed = gripper air use x gripper runtime x 60 (min/hr) / 1000) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
- At this operating point the engine returns 14.4 $ for gripper air cost, the number this scenario is built around.
- At this operating point the engine returns 48 units for air consumed.
- At this operating point the engine returns 16 hr for gripper runtime.
- At this operating point the engine returns 0.3 $ / unit for plant cost of compressed air.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where gripper air use sits at 1.2 SCFM and the headline result is 5.76 $, this scenario comes in 150% above the baseline at 14.4 $.
- A figure at this level is achievable when gripper air use is genuinely sustained, not just peaked for a shift. The result is only as good as your plant cost of compressed air, which varies widely by compressor efficiency, pressure, and duty cycle; a plant-specific SCF cost from an energy audit beats a rule-of-thumb figure.
Results at a glance
- Gripper air cost: 14.4 $ (headline result)
- Air consumed: 48 units
- Gripper runtime: 16 hr
- Plant cost of compressed air: 0.3 $ / unit
Run it with your numbers
- Every input above is editable in the live Pneumatic Gripper Air Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.