Cylinders are the most widely used pneumatic components in pneumatic systems. It is of great significance to study the energy distribution and energy loss of energy consumption in the process of pneumatic systems. This paper establishes an analytical model of cylinder operation process. By introducing the concept of effective energy and air power and applying MATLAB/Simulink software simulation, The energy distribution and energy loss of the cylinder are calculated separately, and the main factors affecting the energy loss of the cylinder are analyzed. Finally, the experimental results are compared with the simulation results, and the theoretical model of energy distribution and energy loss of the cylinder presented in this paper is verified, it is of great significance to study the energy saving of cylinder.