Modeling of vacuum grippers for the design of energy efficient vacuum-based handling processes
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Modeling of vacuum grippers for the design of energy efficient vacuum‑based handling processes Felix Gabriel1 · Markus Fahning1 · Julia Meiners1 · Franz Dietrich2 · Klaus Dröder1 Received: 26 May 2020 / Accepted: 8 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Vacuum-based handling is widely used in industrial production systems, particularly for hand-ling of sheet metal parts. The process design for such handling tasks is mostly based on approximate calculations and best-practice experience. Due to the lack of detailed knowledge about the parameters that significantly influence the seal and force transmission behavior of vacuum grippers, these uncertainties are encountered by oversizing the gripping system by a defined safety margin. A model-based approach offers the potential to overcome this limitation and to dimension the gripping system based on a more exact prediction of the expected maximum loads and the resulting gripper deformation. In this work, we introduce an experiment-based modeling method that considers the dynamic deformation behavior of vacuum grippers in interaction with the specific gripper-object combination. In addition, we demonstrate that for these specific gripper-object combinations the gripper deformation is reversible up to a certain limit. This motivates to deliberately allow for a gripper deformation within this stability range. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the proposed modeling method and give an outlook on how this method can be implemented for robot trajectory optimization and, based on that, enable an increase of the energy efficiency of vacuum-based handling of up to 85%. Keywords Vacuum-based handling · Energy efficiency · Prediction model
1 Introduction Automated handling of parts, which adds up to about 50 % of all robot-guided processes in production environments [1] and usually even exceeds the time used for actual machining [2], is often realized by means of vacuum-based handling techniques [3], in particular in the automotive field and for packaging tasks [2, 4]. For industrial high-volu-me handling applications, vacuum is typically generated pneumatically through ejectors, due to their fast and wear-free operation and the direct integrability into gripper systems. Hence, ejector-based hand-ling processes are in focus of this work. With regard to typical efficiency ratios of air compression and pneumatic vacuum generation, a maximum of 2% of * Felix Gabriel f.gabriel@tu‑braunschweig.de 1
Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Brunswick, Germany
Chair for Assembly Technology and Factory Management, Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2
the initially invested electrical energy is eventually usable for the vacuum-based handling process (Fig. 1, top). In air compression, less than 10 % of the inserted energy can be used for vacuum generation [5], as the vast energy share is transformed to thermal energy by heat dissipation, which is re
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