Abstract
A zoned vacuum gripping tool comprising one mounting flange, two bellows cups, one ejector, one isolation valve, two zone branches, two pressure sensors and one vent valve. When the bellows cups reach the workpiece, the bellows cups are evacuated by the ejector. After the workpiece has reached the set-down position, the vacuum circuit is vented by the vent valve. The arrangement is a proposed configuration composed from a typed library of mechanism blocks derived from published patents; it has not been constructed.
1. Purpose and arrangement
[0001]This disclosure describes a zoned vacuum gripping tool: two bellows cups carried on a mounting flange, fed by an ejector. It is arranged for handling workpieces that do not cover the whole gripping face, cutting part of the circuit while the rest holds vacuum, verifying that the workpiece is held before the arm moves, controlling the moment of release and taking up height differences at the face. One concrete embodiment is described; every connection is stated with the medium it carries, and the operating sequence is given as conditions on named operations.
2. Components, construction and connections
[0002]One mounting flange. The mounting flange carries the whole assembly and presents the bolt pattern that meets the robot.
[0003]Two bellows cups. Each bellows cup is folded so that it shortens under vacuum and takes up a height difference between the face and the workpiece. The count of two follows from the arrangement: one gripping element per zone branch. Each bellows cup has three folds.
[0004]One ejector. The ejector draws the circuit down by passing compressed air through a nozzle; it has no moving part at the tool and consumes air for as long as it runs. The ejector has one stage.
[0005]One isolation valve. The isolation valve sits in the line it controls; closing it cuts that line without disturbing the rest of the circuit. Isolation is common.
[0006]Two zone branches. Each zone branch carries the vacuum of one zone of the face and no other. The count of two follows from the arrangement: one branch per zone. The distribution is divided into two zones, each fed by its own branch.
[0007]Two pressure sensors. Each pressure sensor taps the line it is placed in and reports the vacuum level in that line. The count of two follows from the arrangement: one sensor per zone branch. The pressure is measured at each zone.
[0008]One vent valve. The vent valve opens the circuit it is connected to towards atmosphere, which ends the grip. The circuit is vented after set-down.
[0009]The bellows cups are carried on the tool side of the mounting flange.
[0010]The ejector is fixed to the tool side of the mounting flange.
[0011]The isolation valve is placed in the line from the ejector, so that closing the valve cuts the whole circuit from the supply.
[0012]The two zone branches are taken from a branch junction on the isolation valve outlet, so that each branch carries the vacuum of its own zone only.
[0013]Each bellows cup is connected to its own zone line, one bellows cup per zone, and is evacuated through that line.
[0014]One pressure sensor is tapped into each zone line, so that each of the two sensors reads its own zone and no other.
[0015]The vent valve is connected to the circuit at the line downstream of the isolation valve and opens that circuit to atmosphere when it is actuated.
[0016]The robot side of the mounting flange is bolted to the robot flange.
[0017]The ejector is fed from the compressed air supply of the cell.
[0018]The isolation valve and the vent valve are switched by the cell controller; the pressure sensors reports to the cell controller.
3. Operating sequence and conditions
[0019]
- When the bellows cups reach the workpiece, the bellows cups are evacuated by the ejector.
[0020]
- When the vacuum level exceeds the gripping threshold, a secure grip is signalled by the pressure sensor of each zone in use.
[0021]
- The workpiece may not be lifted unless the pressure sensor of each zone in use signals a secure grip.
[0022]
- After the vacuum level has exceeded the gripping threshold, the isolation valve is closed by the cell controller.
[0023]
- While the isolation valve is in the closed state, the vacuum downstream of the valve is maintained by the sealed gripping face.
[0024]
- After the workpiece has reached the set-down position, the vacuum circuit is vented by the vent valve.
[0025]
- The workpiece is held until the vent valve has opened the circuit.
[0026]The cell controller reads the pressure sensor (each zone line) and commands the isolation valve, the vent valve; no sensor drives an actuator directly.
4. Parameters and operating assumptions
[0027]Parameter values of this embodiment: folds of the bellows cups: three (sets the travel taken up between the face and the workpiece, and the lateral stiffness of the cup under load); material of the bellows cups: plastic (sets the friction at the lip and the resistance of the folds to fatigue); stages of the ejector: one (sets the flow drawn at low vacuum and the compressed air consumed while a sealed face is held); control of the isolation valve: common (sets which part of the circuit the valve cuts: one branch line on its own or the whole circuit); material of the isolation valve: steel; material of the zone branches: plastic; zones of the zone branches: two (sets how much of the face can be treated separately); placement of the pressure sensors: at each zone (sets where in the circuit the reading is taken and what it describes); timing of the vent valve: after set-down (sets whether the workpiece is released before or after it is supported by the set-down surface).
[0028]A zone is in use when the workpiece covers it. Which zones are in use is decided by the controller from the workpiece programme; this arrangement fixes where each zone is measured, not how the programme is written.
[0029]Vacuum levels are stated as gauge pressure below atmosphere. A stronger vacuum is a larger pressure difference below atmosphere, and the vacuum level 'exceeds the gripping threshold' when that difference is at least the threshold difference.
5. Provenance and status
[0030]This document is an original combination composed from a typed library of mechanism blocks. Each block was derived from a published patent and carries typed connection points, the parameters its source states, and its own construction and operating description. The combination described here is proposed and has not been constructed. The published documents behind the blocks used in this arrangement are EP-4489564-B1, US-10163334-B1, US-10549431-B2, US-11427405-B1, WO-2008134339-A4, WO-2026020244-A1; their text is not reproduced, and the description above is generated from the structure of the combination.
6. Correction notice
[0031]This publication supersedes OT-2026-000004059, whose text described this arrangement with defects recorded in the quality register at https://opentechnical.org/qa/. The earlier publication is unchanged and remains public.