Rotational Vacuum Cups?

[subterrain]

Hey there!

I need to design a mechanism that picks up a plastic spherical body and then rotates it over a desired angle.
I'm thinking of a pneumatic system with a vacuum cup on the end of it to pick the body up and an electric motor to make the rotation. But the problem is that the angle of rotation may be more than 360 degrees, even infinitive. So, the question is that is there any way to make the rotation and keep pneumatic hoses irrotational(fixed, not moving) in order to prevent crashed in the system?

 

[jraef]

How much vacuum are you talking about? Can you use a micro vacuum pump near the end effector and power it electrically via a wiper system the same way you would power the rotator?


"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." -- Abraham Lincoln
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[tygerdawg]

Perhaps what you are looking for is a "rotary union" or "rotating union".

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[subterrain]

Thanks very much for the answers.

I don't think it'll need large amonut of vacuum since the plastic body will be around 1 pound. I found out that those can pick a body up to 7 lbs. So that may be the solution.

I also checked out rotary unions which is exactly what I was thinking

In this case, I think I need to go a little further to see which one would be more proper/feasible to use.

Please let me know if you have any other idea to share. Thanks a lot for replies.

 

[tygerdawg]

If you choose to use a motor to turn it, you may look into these cute little steppers at

http://www.imshome.com/

with direct drive, geared, or timing belt connection to rotary axis. I recently used some and was very impressed at cost & ease of integration. Nice little package.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[FACS]

We manufacture vacuum rotary equipment. They are used extensively on packaging machines to load cartons and cases. They continuously rotate 360 degrees, pick up and drop off as required.

We make our own vacuum cam valves. I could probably send you some pictures so you get the idea. The valves have vacuum passages milled out to pick up and drop off parts without having to turn valves on and off.

Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[subterrain]

Dear Charlie,

Thanks for the note. I'd more than appreciate it if you could send me some pictures. However, I need to say that I need a rotation more than 360 degrees. The vacuum cups in the end of the system should be rotating even infinite.

Btw, can you send pictures through eng-tips.com? If not, how would you be sending them?

Thanks!

 

[FACS]

Subterrain,
Send me an EMail, and I can send pictures.

If I knew more about what you were doing, I could help find a solution; there are many things you can do.

Charlie

http://www.facsco.com