Abstract
A foam-pad vacuum gripping tool comprising one tool-change interface, six foam pads, one ejector, one isolation valve, one manifold, one pressure sensor, one contact detector and one vent valve. When the foam pads reach the workpiece, the foam pads are evacuated by the ejector. Before the workpiece reaches the set-down position, the vacuum circuit is vented by the vent valve while the workpiece is above the receiving surface. 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 foam-pad vacuum gripping tool: six foam pads carried on a tool-change interface, fed by an ejector. It is arranged for cutting part of the circuit while the rest holds vacuum, verifying that the workpiece is held before the arm moves, starting the cycle at the moment of contact, controlling the moment of release, holding a workpiece that a rigid lip cannot seal against 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]Six foam pads. Each foam pad presents a compliant face to the workpiece; the holding force is spread over the contact area rather than concentrated at a lip. The count of six follows from the arrangement: one gripping element per manifold outlet. The pad is of closed cell foam.
[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]One manifold. The manifold receives the vacuum at one inlet and distributes it to its outlets. The manifold has six outlets.
[0007]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.
[0008]One contact detector. The contact detector reports the moment a workpiece is present at the gripping face; its sensing technology is not fixed by this arrangement. The contact detector is mounted on the gripping face.
[0009]One vent valve. The vent valve opens the circuit it is connected to towards atmosphere, which ends the grip. The circuit is vented before set-down.
[0010]The foam pads are carried on the tool side of the tool-change interface.
[0011]The manifold is fixed to the tool side of the tool-change interface.
[0012]The ejector is fixed to the tool side of the tool-change interface.
[0013]The isolation valve is placed in the line from the ejector, so that closing the valve cuts the whole circuit from the supply.
[0014]The manifold inlet is connected to the isolation valve outlet, which supplies every outlet of the manifold.
[0015]Each manifold outlet feeds one foam pad by its own vacuum line, so that the six outlets feed six foam pads.
[0016]The pressure sensor is tapped into the line between the ejector and the distribution and reads the pressure of the whole circuit.
[0017]The contact detector is mounted on the gripping face and reports the moment a workpiece is present against the gripping face.
[0018]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.
[0019]The robot side of the tool-change interface is bolted to the robot flange.
[0020]The ejector is fed from the compressed air supply of the cell.
[0021]The locking piston of the tool-change interface is fed from the compressed air supply of the cell.
[0022]The isolation valve, the vent valve and the lock of the tool-change interface are switched by the cell controller; the pressure sensor and the contact detector report to the cell controller.
3. Operating sequence and conditions
[0023]
- After the contact detector has detected the workpiece, the vacuum supply is actuated by the cell controller.
[0024]
- When the foam pads reach the workpiece, the foam pads are evacuated by the ejector.
[0025]
- When the vacuum level exceeds the gripping threshold, a secure grip is signalled by the pressure sensor.
[0026]
- The workpiece may not be lifted unless the pressure sensor signals a secure grip.
[0027]
- After the vacuum level has exceeded the gripping threshold, the isolation valve is closed by the cell controller.
[0028]
- While the isolation valve is in the closed state, the vacuum downstream of the valve is maintained by the sealed gripping face.
[0029]
- Before the workpiece reaches the set-down position, the vacuum circuit is vented by the vent valve while the workpiece is above the receiving surface.
[0030]
- The workpiece is held until the vent valve has opened the circuit.
[0031]The cell controller reads the pressure sensor (the common supply line) and the contact detector (on the gripping face) and commands the isolation valve, the tool-change interface, the vent valve; no sensor drives an actuator directly.
4. Parameters and operating assumptions
[0032]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); material of the foam pads: sponge (sets the compliance of the sealing face); porosity of the foam pads: closed cell (sets whether air passes through the pad body or only through openings cut through it); 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; outlets of the manifold: six (sets how many lines can be fed from one inlet); placement of the pressure sensor: in the supply line (sets where in the circuit the reading is taken and what it describes); placement of the contact detector: on the gripping face (sets where the presence of the workpiece is detected); timing of the vent valve: before set-down (sets whether the workpiece is released before or after it is supported by the set-down surface).
[0033]The workpiece is released while it is still above the receiving surface and falls the remaining distance onto it. This sequence is for a workpiece and a receiving surface that tolerate that drop, for example a part released into a container or onto a conveyor; the drop height is set by the application and is not fixed here.
[0034]The closed-cell foam does not pass air through its body; the face is evacuated through openings cut through the pad into the distribution chamber, and the foam around each opening forms the seal against the workpiece.
[0035]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.
[0036]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
[0037]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-4385681-B1, US-10163334-B1, US-11427405-B1, US-11858125-B2, US-2022339798-A1, US-8006968-B2, WO-2008134339-A4; their text is not reproduced, and the description above is generated from the structure of the combination.