Title: Measurement of suction cups release time for press line

Authors: Xiaowan Zheng; Bicheng Guo; Boyang Zhang; Siyuan Fang; Bernard Sia; Lianxiang Yang

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University, 115 Library Drive, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA; College of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, No. 5 Dongfeng Rd., Zhengzhou, Henan 450002, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University, 115 Library Drive, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA ' National Center for Physical Acoustics, University of Mississippi, 145 Hill Drive, University, MS, 38677, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University, 115 Library Drive, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA ' US Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center, 6501 E 11 Mile Rd., Warren, Michigan 48397, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University, 115 Library Drive, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA

Abstract: Suction cups are widely used in press lines to handle and transfer sheet metal. The release time, which directly affects production efficiency and safety, refers to the dropping off period in which the product completely separates from the suction cups. As of now, no release time data is currently available for use in evaluating press line. To provide such data, an experimental setup has been developed. The setup includes vacuum and non-vacuum system designed to simulate the release process of the press line and an electronic triggering system calculating the release time based on controlling the load. The four most commonly used suction cups, namely the large (110 mm diameter) double and single layer suction cups and small (60 mm diameter) double and single layer suction cups, were tested using the setup. The results show that the measurement system is practical and will provide important information for press line optimisation.

Keywords: suction cup; release time; press line; sheet metal gripping; sheet metal transferring; electronic measurement system.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2023.131298

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2023 Vol.37 No.2, pp.97 - 114

Received: 15 Sep 2021
Accepted: 12 Apr 2022
Published online: 06 Jun 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article