Development of Air Pressure Measurement System of Suction Cups in a Vacuum Gripper

Abstract

AbstractA vacuum gripper is typically used in various industrial fields for tasks such as clamping and lifting. This type of gripper works with suction cups, which are connected through a vacuum line to pick up a target part. During the operation, vacuum grippers sometimes fail to pick up a part properly because of defective surface conditions or unoptimized control variables for different products. However, it is not easy to know whether the current operation will be correctly performed via a traditional gripper. Therefore, we aim to identify relevant parameters for the real-time condition of a vacuum gripper system to detect the corresponding operation status. An air pressure measurement is developed to monitor the degree of change in air pressure in order to determine whether a target product can be held by a vacuum gripper. A robotic arm with one suction cup is utilized, and an analog air pressure sensor is installed for real-time condition monitoring of the gripper operation in a vacuum line. Using this measurement system, we can conduct an experiment to discover effects of control parameters to pick-up operation of a vacuum gripper, whether a gripper succeeds or fails in holding a part.KeywordsAir pressure measurementCondition monitoringSuction cupVacuum gripper