scope:

The content of this guideline has been adapted to the specific requirements of the automotive industry. The designs differ from the very similar DIN ISO 11901 standard in three major characteristics:

In VDI 3003, all piston rods are flattened.

In addition, the piston rods for cylinders with a nominal force of 5 kN and more are provided with a thread (d₇ in Table 1).

The design of the valve opening has been standardised as far as the thread sizes are concerned.

The guideline has been extended by numerous examples of use that document the proper installation of gas springs in a variety of large stamping dies.

In addition to the gas springs represented here, gas springs with "increased forces and low construction height", gas springs provided with attenuation in the forward or backward motion, or "controllable" gas springs are available.

The use of gas springs is based on technical specifications that were compiled by the German automotive industry, among others, which, for instance, define the minimum service life (minimum number of strokes to be reached) in dependence on the stroke length, the interchangeability, and the delivered state of these springs.