Gripper, a conveying installation and a method for the operation of such a conveying installation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9376259-B2
Application number	US-201314416101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2013
Priority date	Jul 23, 2012
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

A gripper for gripping and held conveying of objects as well as a corresponding conveying installation. The gripper has a first gripper jaw and a second gripper jaw. The gripper jaws can assume an open and a closed condition relative to one another, can exert a clamping force onto the object to be gripped, and a restoring force in the direction of the closed condition acts upon the gripper jaws. Moreover, at least one control element is present, which is capable of interacting with a switch. The control element is designed as a cam guide and has a functional contour with at least one arcuate contour segment. The conveying installation with opening locations that include a switch of a first and second type and control elements that either interact with the switch of the first type or the switch of the second type.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gripper for the gripping and held conveying of objects, with a first gripper jaw and with a second gripper jaw, which can assume an open and a closed condition relative to one another and onto which a restoring force in the direction of the closed condition acts and which can exert a clamping force onto the object to be gripped, and with at least one control element that acts upon the first gripper jaw and/or the second gripper jaw, wherein the control element is designed as a cam guide that comprises a functional contour with at least one arcuate contour segment and that is capable of interacting with a switch;
wherein the functional contour of the control element comprises a first contour segment whose functional contour effects a release of a clamping force of at least one gripper jaw at a first speed, and a second contour segment whose functional contour effects an opening of the at least one gripper jaw at a second speed, wherein the opening of the at least one gripper jaw is temporally successive to the release of the clamping force of the at least one gripper jaw and wherein in particular the second speed is greater or lower than the first speed.

2. The gripper according to claim 1 , wherein the functional contour of the control element comprises at least the first and second contour segments whose functional contour in the region at the beginning and/or a region at the end of a force action upon the control element effects a continuous increase or a continuous reduction of the speed of the deflection of at least one gripper jaw.

3. The gripper according to claim 1 , wherein the functional contour of at least one of said first and second contour segment takes into account physical changes of the control element in its shaping given a force action upon the control element, and in particular with regard to its shaping takes into account a bending of the control element given a force action upon the control element.

4. The gripper according to claim 1 , wherein the control element is made of a wire-like or tubular material.

5. The gripper according to claim 1 , wherein the control element is designed in a single-part manner with the associated first or second gripper jaw.

6. The gripper according to claim 1 , wherein the functional contour of the control element lies essentially in one plane.

7. A device comprising a gripper according to claim 1 , and the switch, wherein the switch comprises a wheel, which interacts with the functional contour of the control element.

8. The device according to claim 7 , wherein the switch is designed as a wheel with a groove on a peripheral side thereof.

9. A gripper for the gripping and held conveying of objects, with a first gripper jaw and with a second gripper jaw, which can assume an open and a closed condition relative to one another and onto which a restoring force in the direction of the closed condition acts and which can exert a clamping force onto the object to be gripped, and with at least one control element that acts upon the first gripper jaw and/or the second gripper jaw, wherein the control element is designed as a cam guide that comprises a functional contour with at least one arcuate contour segment and that is capable of interacting with a switch; and
wherein the functional contour of the control element comprises a first contour segment, whose functional contour effects a closure of at least one gripper jaw at a first speed, and a second contour segment whose functional contour effects an application of a clamping force of the at least one gripper jaw at a second speed, wherein the application of the clamping force of the at least one gripper jaw is temporally successive to the closure of the clamping force of the at least one gripper jaw and wherein in particular the second speed is smaller or larger than the first speed.

10. A conveying installation with a plurality of grippers that are movable along a circulating path, wherein each gripper comprises at least one first gripper jaw, at least one second gripper jaw and at least one control element, and the at least one control element interacts with a switch for targeted opening of the first and/or second gripper jaw, wherein the conveying installation along the circulating path comprises at least one first opening location with a first type switch and a second opening location with a second type switch, and wherein each gripper of the conveying installation comprises at least one control element that is configured in a manner such that it either interacts with the first type switch or the second type switch;
wherein each of the plurality of grippers comprise an individually controllable first gripper jaw and an essentially constructionally identically designed second gripper jaw and first and/or second control elements that are assigned to these, and with first and second type switches that interact with the first and second control elements, respectively, for targeted opening of the first and/or second gripper jaw.

11. The conveying installation according to claim 10 , wherein the conveying installation along the circulating path comprises at least one detection apparatus, which is designed in order to provide the conveying installation with information on the grippers and the gripped objects.

12. The conveying installation according to claim 10 , wherein the conveying installation along the circulating path comprises a further opening location with the first and second type switch.

13. The conveying installation according to claim 10 , wherein at least one of the switches can be activated and deactivated by a control device, in order to selectively interact with control elements of grippers that are conveyed past.

14. The conveying installation according to claim 10 , wherein the circulating path comprises at least one spiral-running treatment section.

Assignees

• Ferag Ag

Inventors

• MäDER CARL CONRAD

Classifications

• B65G17/326 Primary

  Clamps, constituted by articulated chain links · CPC title

• B65G47/905

  Control arrangements · CPC title

• B65G17/323 Primary

  Grippers, e.g. suction or magnetic · CPC title

• B65G47/842

  the article-engaging elements being grippers · CPC title

• B65G47/90

  Devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials · CPC title