Abstract
An end effector for porous-face vacuum end-of-arm tooling is described. The tool comprises a mounting flange (10), a foam pad (12), a plant vacuum connection (14), a zone branch (16), a pressure sensor (18). The arrangement addresses choosing where the vacuum comes from, where an ejector spends compressed air continuously while a pump adds mass at the tool and a plant line couples every tool on the site together. The description covers which source feeds the circuit, what it needs in turn, and what that choice fixes about the rest of the tool. Every connection is stated with the medium it carries, and the operating sequence is given as conditions on named operations.
1. Technical Field
[0001]This disclosure relates to porous-face vacuum end-of-arm tooling. It concerns the arrangement of a gripping interface, the supply that feeds it, the distribution and control between them, and the sequence in which those parts act on a workpiece. FIG. 1 shows the arrangement as a block diagram with the reference numerals used throughout this description.
2. Technical Context
[0002]The arrangement addresses choosing where the vacuum comes from. The difficulty is that an ejector spends compressed air continuously while a pump adds mass at the tool and a plant line couples every tool on the site together. A tool that does not address it is still usable on a narrow range of workpieces, and the cost appears as cycle time, dropped parts or air consumption rather than as an outright failure. What follows covers which source feeds the circuit, what it needs in turn, and what that choice fixes about the rest of the tool.
3. System Overview
[0003]The tool comprises the mounting flange (10), the foam pad (12), the plant vacuum connection (14), the zone branch (16), the pressure sensor (18). FIG. 1 shows how these blocks are connected and which medium each connection carries. The blocks are not interchangeable by name: a connection is made only where one block offers a medium that another needs, and each connection below is stated together with the medium it carries.
[0004]FIG. 2 shows elevation of the gripping face on its mounting.
[0005]
- The mounting flange is bolted to the robot flange (10).
[0006]
- The foam pad is connected to the vacuum supply of the cell by a vacuum line that opens into the distribution chamber behind the porous face (12).
[0007]
- The foam pad is mounted on the mounting flange (12).
[0008]
- Each zone branch is taken from the vacuum supply of the cell, so that the branch carries the vacuum of its own zone only (16).
[0009]
- The pressure sensor is tapped into the line at the vacuum supply of the cell and reads the pressure in that line (18).
4. Components
[0010]Mounting Flange (10). The mounting flange (10) is provided once in this arrangement. The flange carries the whole assembly and presents the bolt pattern that meets the robot.
[0011]Foam Pad (12). The foam pad (12) is provided once in this arrangement. The pad presents a porous face, so the holding force is spread over the contact area rather than concentrated at a lip. The pad is made of sponge. The pad is of closed cell foam.
[0012]Plant Vacuum Connection (14). The plant vacuum connection (14) is provided once in this arrangement. The connection takes vacuum from the plant line, so the tool carries no generator of its own.
[0013]Zone Branch (16). The tool carries 1 zone branches. Each branch feeds one zone of the face, so the zones can be treated separately. The zone branch (16) is configured with material plastic. The face is divided into 4 zones.
[0014]Pressure Sensor (18). The pressure sensor (18) is provided once in this arrangement. The sensor taps the line and reports the level it reads, which is what makes the state of the grip observable. The pressure is measured at the manifold.
5. Operation
[0015]The operating sequence is given as conditions on named operations. Each condition names the event it depends on and the operation it governs, so the order of events is explicit rather than implied by the order of the sentences. FIG. 2 shows the gripping face referred to in these steps. The tool is presented to the workpiece square to the face, and the numbered operations below are what the arrangement does from that point.
[0016]
- When the foam pad seals the workpiece, the foam pad is evacuated by the vacuum supply of the cell.
[0017]
- When the vacuum level exceeds the gripping threshold, a secure grip is signalled by the pressure sensor.
[0018]
- The workpiece may not be lifted unless the pressure sensor signals a secure grip.
[0019]An operation whose condition is not met does not run. A condition that is stated with UNLESS holds except while its event is true, and one stated with UNTIL ends the operation at the moment its event becomes true. With the workpiece released, the tool returns to the pick position and the cycle repeats.
6. Example Embodiments
[0020]In one embodiment the gripping face carries 1 foam pads on a common mounting, fed as shown in FIG. 1, and the tool is presented to the workpiece square to the face. In a second embodiment the same face is arranged in two rows so that a long workpiece is supported at both ends, with the connections of FIG. 1 unchanged. In a third embodiment the face is built at half the pitch and the number of foam pads is doubled for the same envelope, which suits a workpiece that is lighter but less rigid.
7. Alternative Configurations
[0021]The gripping face may instead use a folded bellows cup, which takes up height differences at the cost of lateral stiffness. The gripping face may instead use a flat cup, which is stiffer laterally but needs the face and the workpiece to meet squarely. A gripping face of this kind may also be replaced by fingers closing on the workpiece, which removes the air circuit entirely and requires access to two opposed surfaces of the workpiece. The plant connection may be replaced by an ejector or a pump carried on the tool, which decouples the tool from the site supply at the cost of mass or of continuous air consumption. An isolation valve may be added in the line to each zone, which allows one part of the face to be cut from the circuit while the rest holds its vacuum.
8. Parameter Variations
[0022]Each parameter below is stated with what it changes in the arrangement. The porosity of the foam pad is closed cell in the arrangement described; varying it changes the flow drawn through the face and the vacuum level that can be held behind it. The zones of the zone branch is 4 in the arrangement described; varying it changes how much of the face can be isolated at once and how small a workpiece the tool can still hold. The placement of the pressure sensor is at the manifold in the arrangement described; varying it changes whether the reading describes the whole circuit or one zone of it.
9. Additional Implementations
[0023]A contact detector may be placed at the face so that evacuation starts only once the workpiece is present, which keeps the circuit closed during the approach. The whole assembly may be carried on a tool-change interface so that it can be exchanged between jobs without dismantling the tool. A separating element may be added so that a workpiece which follows the face upwards after release is pushed off positively. The arrangement may be duplicated on one mounting so that two workpieces are handled in one cycle, with the distribution fed from a common inlet and each face controlled on its own.
10. Provenance and method
[0024]This document is an original combination composed from a typed library of mechanism blocks. Each block was derived from the published patent literature and carries typed connection points, the parameters its source states, and its own construction and operating description. The combination described here is proposed rather than taken from any one source, and it is not asserted to have been constructed. The published documents behind the blocks used in this arrangement are EP-4385681-B1, US-10259123-B2, US-10549431-B2, US-11427405-B1, WO-2026020244-A1. Their text is not reproduced here; the description above is generated from the structure of the combination.
11. Figures
