Abstract
A bellows-cup vacuum gripping tool comprising one tool-change interface, one bellows cup, one plant vacuum connection, one pressure sensor and one blow-off valve. When the bellows cup reaches the workpiece, the bellows cup is evacuated by the plant vacuum connection. After the workpiece has reached the set-down position, the workpiece is blown off by the blow-off 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 bellows-cup vacuum gripping tool: one bellows cup carried on a tool-change interface, fed by a plant vacuum connection. It is arranged for verifying that the workpiece is held before the arm moves, clearing the face at release, taking up height differences at the face and exchanging the tool without rewiring the cell. 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 tool-change interface. The tool-change interface splits the tool into a robot side and a tool side, so the tool can be exchanged without dismantling it. The tool-change interface has a pneumatic lock.
[0003]One bellows cup. Each bellows cup is folded so that it shortens under vacuum and takes up a height difference between the face and the workpiece. Each bellows cup has three folds.
[0004]One plant vacuum connection. The plant vacuum connection takes vacuum from the plant line, so the tool carries no generator of its own.
[0005]One pressure sensor. The pressure sensor taps the line it is placed in and reports the vacuum level in that line. The pressure is measured in the supply line.
[0006]One blow-off valve. The blow-off valve drives compressed air back through the circuit to the face, which clears the face instead of waiting for the circuit to refill. The blow-off is a short pulse. The blow-off pulse is given after set-down.
[0007]The bellows cup is carried on the tool side of the tool-change interface.
[0008]The bellows cup is connected to the plant vacuum connection by a single vacuum line, so that the face is evacuated through that line.
[0009]The pressure sensor is tapped into the line between the plant vacuum connection and the bellows cup and reads the pressure of the whole circuit.
[0010]The blow-off valve is connected to the circuit at the plant vacuum connection, so that compressed air can be driven back through the circuit to the face.
[0011]The robot side of the tool-change interface is bolted to the robot flange.
[0012]The blow-off valve is fed from the compressed air supply of the cell.
[0013]The locking piston of the tool-change interface is fed from the compressed air supply of the cell.
[0014]The blow-off valve and the lock of the tool-change interface are switched by the cell controller; the pressure sensor reports to the cell controller.
3. Operating sequence and conditions
[0015]
- When the bellows cup reaches the workpiece, the bellows cup is evacuated by the plant vacuum connection.
[0016]
- When the vacuum level exceeds the gripping threshold, a secure grip is signalled by the pressure sensor.
[0017]
- The workpiece may not be lifted unless the pressure sensor signals a secure grip.
[0018]
- After the workpiece has reached the set-down position, the workpiece is blown off by the blow-off valve.
[0019]
- The workpiece is held until the blow-off valve has opened the circuit.
[0020]The cell controller reads the pressure sensor (the common supply line) and commands the blow-off valve, the tool-change interface; no sensor drives an actuator directly.
4. Parameters and operating assumptions
[0021]Parameter values of this embodiment: locking of the tool-change interface: pneumatic (sets what has to be present at the interface for the tool to stay attached); folds of the bellows cup: 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 cup: plastic (sets the friction at the lip and the resistance of the folds to fatigue); placement of the pressure sensor: in the supply line (sets where in the circuit the reading is taken and what it describes); duration of the blow-off valve: a short pulse (sets how quickly the face clears and how much air each release costs); timing of the blow-off valve: after set-down (sets whether the pulse assists a drop release or clears the face after set-down).
[0022]The blow-off is a short pulse: the valve opens for a fraction of a second, long enough to break the seal and clear the face, and closes again.
[0023]The tool carries no valve between the plant line and the face, so the plant vacuum is applied to the face whenever the plant line is live; release relies on the release element alone.
[0024]The lock is engaged by compressed air acting on the locking piston and is held only while that air pressure is applied; what the lock does on loss of air pressure is not fixed by this arrangement.
[0025]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
[0026]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-10259123-B2, US-11427405-B1, US-11858125-B2, US-8132312-B2; their text is not reproduced, and the description above is generated from the structure of the combination.