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Design and tests of a non-contact Bernoulli gripper for rough-surfaced and fragile objects gripping

Dong Liu (School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China)
Minghao Wang (School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China)
Naiyu Fang (School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China)
Ming Cong (School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China)
Yu Du (Dalian Dahuazhongtian Technology Co. Ltd, Dalian, China)

Assembly Automation

ISSN: 0144-5154

Article publication date: 29 June 2020

Issue publication date: 15 September 2020

367

Abstract

Purpose

Varied shapes and sizes of different products with irregular rough surface and fragile properties give a challenge to traditional contact gripping. Single Bernoulli grippers are not suited to handle fragile objects as the impact of center negative pressure force could result in large deformation and stress which damage the materials, and they are also have some limitations for gripping objects with different large and small shapes. Thus, this paper aims to design a non-contact gripper for soft, rough-surfaced and fragile objects gripping with multi Bernoulli heads, which have optimal structures and parameters.

Design/methodology/approach

The compressed air is ejected into four Bernoulli heads through radial and long flow channels, then passes through four strip-shaped narrow gaps after fully developing in the annular cavity to provide negative pressure. Based on the mathematic model and the computational model, the key structural parameters affecting the gripping performance are selected, and parameters optimization of the gripper is performed by computational fluid dynamics simulation analysis and performance evaluation. The orthogonal method is used and L16 orthogonal array is selected for experimental design and optimization. The characteristics of the designed gripper are tested from the aspects of pressure distribution and lifting force.

Findings

From the applications in gripping different objects, the designed non-contact gripper can grip varied shapes and sizes of soft, rough-surfaced, fragile and sliced objects with little effect of torque.

Originality/value

In this paper, a non-contact gripper is designed for handling soft, rough-surfaced and fragile objects based on the Bernoulli principle. A systematic approach, which consists of modeling, simulation, optimization and measurement is provided for the non-contact gripper design and tests.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61873045), and in part by Dalian Sci & Tech Innovation Foundation Program (2019J12GX043).

Citation

Liu, D., Wang, M., Fang, N., Cong, M. and Du, Y. (2020), "Design and tests of a non-contact Bernoulli gripper for rough-surfaced and fragile objects gripping", Assembly Automation, Vol. 40 No. 5, pp. 735-743. https://doi.org/10.1108/AA-10-2019-0171

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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