Pneumatic fittings are required in any kind of pressurised gas system to link together sections of tubing, pipe or hose. They typically have tighter seals and are subject to lower pressure than hydraulic fittings, and are frequently found in pneumatic instrumentation and logic control systems, as well as moving parts such as cylinders.

Although fittings may represent the minutiae of the overall pneumatic system design, they are perhaps the most important of all the elements. Pneumatic fittings, together with their pipes, hoses and tubes, connect all the other major components together, and can therefore have a major influence on the efficiency, safety and energy consumption of the entire system.

Pneumatics are used in many of today’s industrial and automation environments, and there is an increasingly wide range of options from which to choose your components. Knowing how to choose pneumatic fittings is therefore all about suiting the materials to the job and its environment. In order to break down this process, you first need to identify:

• the specific environment in which your equipment will be working

• the required air pressure or PSI specification of your equipment

• any approvals that may be needed for the equipment and its components

• the material(s) from which your fittings should be made

• the type and size of tubing you will require

• the type and size of thread your fittings will need