Six cup vacuum gripper, six outlet manifold, plant vacuum fed, vented after set-down

Abstract

A suction-cup vacuum gripping tool comprising one mounting flange, six suction cups, one plant vacuum connection, one manifold and one vent valve. When the suction cups reach the workpiece, the suction cups are evacuated by the plant vacuum connection. 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 suction-cup vacuum gripping tool: six suction cups carried on a mounting flange, fed by a plant vacuum connection. It is arranged for controlling the moment of release. 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 suction cups. Each suction cup presents a sealing lip to the workpiece and is evacuated through its own connection. The count of six follows from the arrangement: one gripping element per manifold outlet. The suction cups are of the oval form.

[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 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.

[0007]The suction cups are carried on the tool side of the mounting flange.

[0008]The manifold is fixed to the tool side of the mounting flange.

[0009]The manifold inlet is connected to the plant vacuum connection, which supplies every outlet of the manifold.

[0010]Each manifold outlet feeds one suction cup by its own vacuum line, so that the six outlets feed six suction cups.

[0011]The vent valve is connected to the circuit at the plant vacuum connection and opens that circuit to atmosphere when it is actuated.

[0012]The robot side of the mounting flange is bolted to the robot flange.

[0013]The vent valve is switched by the cell controller.

3. Operating sequence and conditions

[0017]The cell controller commands the vent valve; no sensor drives an actuator directly.

4. Parameters and operating assumptions

[0018]Parameter values of this embodiment: form of the suction cups: oval (sets the shape of the contact area and the behaviour of the lip on a curved workpiece); material of the suction cups: polyurethane (sets the friction at the lip and the tolerance of the lip to oil and heat); outlets of the manifold: six (sets how many lines can be fed from one inlet); 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).

[0019]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.

5. Provenance and status

[0020]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 US-10259123-B2, US-10549431-B2, US-2016214812-A1, US-8006968-B2, WO-2008134339-A4; their text is not reproduced, and the description above is generated from the structure of the combination.