Pneumatic Control Valve

A Pneumatic actuator mainly consists of a piston or a diaphragm which develops the motive power. It keeps the air in the upper portion of the cylinder, allowing air pressure to force the diaphragm or piston to move the valve stem or rotate the valve control element.
Valves require little pressure to operate and usually double or triple the input force. The larger the size of the piston, the larger the output pressure can be. Having a larger piston can also be good if air supply is low, allowing the same forces with less input. These pressures are large enough to crush objects in the pipe. On 100 kPa input, you could lift a small car (upwards of 1,000 lbs) easily, and this is only a basic, small pneumatic valve. However, the resulting forces required of the stem would be too great and cause the valve stem to fail.