Gripping Device for Textile Materials

Abstract

Gripping and manipulating non-rigid and porous objects is an important challenge for manufacturing. Now there are many problems in handling textile materials from a stack or oriented in space. Therefore, the paper presents the design of an improved Bernoulli gripping device with an anti-vibration insert. The inventive gripper structure allows gripping and manipulating textile materials and partially eliminates the shortcomings present in the classic design of the gripper. A technique for theoretical modeling of a gripping device for textile materials has been developed. This made it possible to determine the rational parameters of the gripping device in terms of maximum attraction. Experimental study of power characteristics of gripping device for textile materials has been carried out. The choice of the thickness of the anti-vibration insert made by the 3D printing method is justified. The advantages of the design include enabling gripping of textile materials of manipulation at different position, orientation and from a longer distance. Influence of supply pressure on the beginning of object vibration is analyzed. Parameters of anti-vibration insert are defined for the operation of gripper without object vibration. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —This paper was motivated by the problem of gripping and holding textile materials during manufacturing. There are many approaches to gripping a piece of textile material that have high energy consumption or can damage it. This paper proposes the design of the gripper that uses compressed air to lift the textile material at different orientations. Using the proposed theoretical model, one can calculate the lifting force of the gripper at different porosity of the material. Knowing the mass of the material, one can determine which parameters to choose for the gripper based on experimental results. Positive results are highlighted in the capture of porous objects without the loss of force at different orientations. Negative aspects are shown in the formation of vibration of the material when reaching a certain pressure level in the gripper. Future research plans to improve the design of the gripper by modeling the gripper using the finite element method and proposing effective methods of manipulating textile materials.