Abstract
A high level of cost-intensive manual tasks in the manufacturing process of composite parts impedes a further propagation of those innovative structures in important German industrial branches like the automotive sector or aviation. Especially the handling of semi-finished goods in several key process-chains could not be automated efficiently so far due to a great variety of materials and part contours as well as difficult handling properties of the limp, textile parts. Hence within the presented work a highly-flexible gripper system based on low-vacuum-suction is introduced, which is the result of a methodical investigation in the ideal gripping principle. Special actuators and an intelligent control strategy are combined into a selective gripping technology, which allows an automatic adaption of the pressure based holding force to different contours and materials, by closing certain apertures of a perforated plate. The experimental validation of a realized robotic end-effector shows that the challenging requirements of modern composite production could be fulfilled as the structural integrity of the technical textiles is preserved during the handling processes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 301-306 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Production Engineering |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Assembly
- Composite
- Gripper
- Handling
- Limp material