科研之友
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摘要
In this study, we developed a new pneumatic sucker for handling workpieces with rough surfaces. We blow jet flow into a cylindrical cavity via tangential nozzles to form a rotating air flow that generates a cupped negative pressure distribution and creates suction force. Subsequently, air is exhausted through an annular gap passage at the bottom of the sucker. The cupped pressure distribution and exhausting air flow, which can inhibit the effect of air leakage caused by the rough surfaces of workpieces, are the key technical features that distinguish the new sucker from currently available pneumatic suckers. In this paper, we present the design and study the characteristics of the new sucker via experiments that measure the suction force and pressure distribution. The results reveal that the height of the annular gap passage is a key design parameter that affects the negative pressure and suction force and that an optimal value for the height exists. In addition, we investigate the influence of the roughness of the workpiece surface. The observed pressure distributions suggest that rough surfaces slow down the rotating air flow such that the suction force decreases as the roughness of the workpiece surface increases, which, however, only causes a small extent of decline in the suction force. Furthermore, we compare the new sucker with two existing suckers: a traditional rubber sucker and a Bernoulli sucker. The comparison reveals that the new sucker is superior in handling rough workpieces and saving energy. Finally, we use the new sucker to pick up several types of workpieces to confirm its applicability.
