I need tips to separate flat glass sheets totally clean. 1

[JFSC]

Our team have developed a robotic cell for handling glass sheets for loading a cutting line. The glass sheets are located into a rack and the rack is placed in a indexer table. Each rack contains about 250 to 350 glass sheets. We are using a vacuum gripper. Each sheet has a kind of a powder that make ease to pick up one single sheet with no great problem to separate it from the next glass sheet.

The problem is in loading a painting line for wind shields.

They make a rack putting a expanded poliestiren separator bettwen every 100 glass sheet group, usally a rack contains 4 groups.The biggest sheets have 90 cm high and 175 cm large, the thicknnes is about 2.3 mm. And the sheets are totally clean and dry.

Using the know-how from cutting line is not working. When the robot try to pick up a single sheet the next one is "pasted" and separete just for gravity. The speed of procees increase and also the problems of scrapings.

I need to improve the separation process. Any idea???

Regards.

 

[BillPSU]

You are experiencing the affect of wringing which occurs on many flat surfaces which are "clean and dry". What happens is the sufaces come together and press out the air between the surfaces causing the air pressure to limit seperation there is also another affect of weak bonding between the molecules in close contact.

The solution is to seperate the two surfaces by some means. In the glass cutting line there was a powder on the glass keeping the surfaces seperated.

If the powder is unacceptable than you will have to try attaching the suction cups and slding and/or twisting the glass off the top of the pile. This sliding and twisting is how gage blocks are taken apart when they are wrung together. You could also try blowing compressed air into the gap. This type of ejection is used in the investment casting process when the wax pattern is released from a mold.

Good Luck