---
publication_id: "OT-2026-000072376"
title: "Six bellows cup vacuum gripper, six outlet manifold, common isolation valve, plant vacuum fed, vented before set-down, on a tool changer"
published_at: "2026-09-17T08:53:37.365346Z"
canonical_url: "https://opentechnical.org/p/OT-2026-000072376"
categories:
  - "robotics-automation/end-effectors/vacuum-grippers"
  - "sensors-controls-machine-vision/position-and-presence-sensing"
  - "industrial-motion-power-transmission/fluid-power/valves-and-manifolds"
  - "robotics-automation/end-effectors/tool-changers"
keywords:
  - "bellows compliant vacuum tool"
  - "tool-change interface"
  - "bellows cup"
  - "plant vacuum connection"
  - "isolation valve"
  - "manifold"
  - "contact detector"
  - "vent valve"
  - "common isolation"
  - "contact sensing"
---

# Six bellows cup vacuum gripper, six outlet manifold, common isolation valve, plant vacuum fed, vented before set-down, on a tool changer

## Abstract

A bellows-cup vacuum gripping tool comprising one tool-change interface, six bellows cups, one plant vacuum connection, one isolation valve, one manifold, one contact detector and one vent valve. When the bellows cups reach the workpiece, the bellows cups 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 bellows-cup vacuum gripping tool: six bellows cups carried on a tool-change interface, fed by a plant vacuum connection. It is arranged for cutting part of the circuit while the rest holds vacuum, starting the cycle at the moment of contact, controlling the moment of 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 mechanical lock.

[0003] **Six 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 six follows from the arrangement: one gripping element per manifold outlet. Each bellows cup has two 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 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 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 frame.

[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 bellows cups are carried on the tool side of the tool-change interface.

[0010] The manifold is fixed to the tool side of the tool-change interface.

[0011] The isolation valve is placed in the line from the plant vacuum connection, so that closing the valve cuts the whole circuit from the supply.

[0012] The manifold inlet is connected to the isolation valve outlet, which supplies every outlet of the manifold.

[0013] Each manifold outlet feeds one bellows cup by its own vacuum line, so that the six outlets feed six bellows cups.

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

[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 tool-change interface is bolted to the robot flange.

[0017] The isolation valve and the vent valve are switched by the cell controller; the contact detector reports 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 bellows cups reach the workpiece, the bellows cups are evacuated by the plant vacuum connection.

- After the bellows cups have reached the workpiece, the isolation valve is closed by the cell controller.

- While the isolation valve is in the closed state, the vacuum downstream of the valve is maintained by the sealed gripping face.

- 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 contact detector (on the frame) and commands the isolation valve, the vent valve; no sensor drives an actuator directly.

## 4. Parameters and operating assumptions

[0025] Parameter values of this embodiment: locking of the tool-change interface: mechanical (sets what has to be present at the interface for the tool to stay attached); folds of the bellows cups: two (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); 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 contact detector: on the frame (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 lock is engaged by a manually operated lever on the interface; no supply crosses the interface for the lock, and tool exchange needs an operator at the tool.

## 5. Provenance and status

[0028] 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-10259123-B2, 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.