---
publication_id: "OT-2026-000057690"
title: "Six pad foam vacuum gripper, six outlet manifold, plant vacuum fed, manifold pressure sensor, vented before set-down"
published_at: "2026-09-17T08:42:33.513637Z"
canonical_url: "https://opentechnical.org/p/OT-2026-000057690"
categories:
  - "robotics-automation/end-effectors/vacuum-grippers"
  - "sensors-controls-machine-vision/position-and-presence-sensing"
  - "sensors-controls-machine-vision/force-and-pressure-sensing/vacuum-sensors"
  - "industrial-motion-power-transmission/fluid-power/valves-and-manifolds"
keywords:
  - "foam area gripping tool"
  - "mounting flange"
  - "foam pad"
  - "plant vacuum connection"
  - "manifold"
  - "pressure sensor"
  - "contact detector"
  - "vent valve"
  - "contact sensing"
  - "drop release"
---

# Six pad foam vacuum gripper, six outlet manifold, plant vacuum fed, manifold pressure sensor, vented before set-down

## Abstract

A foam-pad vacuum gripping tool comprising one mounting flange, six foam pads, one plant vacuum connection, 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 plant vacuum connection. 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 mounting flange, fed by a plant vacuum connection. It is arranged for verifying that the workpiece is held before the arm moves, starting the cycle at the moment of contact, controlling the moment of release and holding a workpiece that a rigid lip cannot seal against. 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] **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 plant vacuum connection.** The plant vacuum connection takes vacuum from the plant line, so the tool carries no generator of its own.

[0005] **One manifold.** The manifold receives the vacuum at one inlet and distributes it to its outlets. The manifold has six outlets.

[0006] **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 at the manifold.

[0007] **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.

[0008] **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.

[0009] The foam pads are carried on the tool side of the mounting flange.

[0010] The manifold is fixed to the tool side of the mounting flange.

[0011] The manifold inlet is connected to the plant vacuum connection, which supplies every outlet of the manifold.

[0012] Each manifold outlet feeds one foam pad by its own vacuum line, so that the six outlets feed six foam pads.

[0013] The pressure sensor is tapped into the manifold body and reads the pressure common to every outlet.

[0014] The contact detector is mounted on the gripping face and reports the moment a workpiece is present against the gripping face.

[0015] The vent valve is connected to the circuit at the plant vacuum connection 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 vent valve is switched by the cell controller; the pressure sensor and the contact detector report to the cell controller.

## 3. Operating sequence and conditions

- After the contact detector has detected the workpiece, the vacuum supply is actuated by the cell controller.

- When the foam pads reach the workpiece, the foam pads are evacuated by the plant vacuum connection.

- When the vacuum level exceeds the gripping threshold, a secure grip is signalled by the pressure sensor.

- The workpiece may not be lifted unless the pressure sensor signals a secure grip.

- 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 workpiece is held until the vent valve has opened the circuit.

[0024] The cell controller reads the pressure sensor (the manifold) and the contact detector (on the gripping face) and commands the vent valve; no sensor drives an actuator directly.

## 4. Parameters and operating assumptions

[0025] Parameter values of this embodiment: 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); outlets of the manifold: six (sets how many lines can be fed from one inlet); placement of the pressure sensor: at the manifold (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).

[0026] 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.

[0027] 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.

[0028] 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.

[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-4385681-B1, US-10259123-B2, US-10549431-B2, US-11427405-B1, 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.