Subject: Production Engineering and Robotics

Difficulty: Medium

Marks: 4 Marks

Vacuum actuated grippers

Vacuum gripper also called vacuum cups or suction cups which uses vacuum as gripping force. The lifting and holding is done by cups or vacuum surface driven by vacuum system.1. Usually the cups are available in round or oval shape. The common diameter size of cups is in between 30 mm to 200 mm.

The selection of cup and number of cups required depends on :

a. Weight of the part

b. Part size and shape.

c. Nature and type of part etc.Some time to increase the contact area, multiple cups are used vacuum cups are used to lift flat as well as curved surfaces.

Examples: Vacuum cup or suction cup, some vacuum grippers use a closed cell foam rubber layer for gripping application.