A manufacturer needed a hook-mounted manipulator capable of safely lifting various ring sizes and installing them onto a shaft within a barrel fixture. Their primary concerns were operator safety, ease of use, and preventing accidental part drops during the handling process.
GCI engineered and built a custom gripper system equipped with vacuum cups mounted on six adjustable arms. Each arm could move in or out, allowing the vacuum cup pattern to be quickly reconfigured to grip different ring diameters without changing tooling.
For enhanced safety, the vacuum cups were divided into two separate pneumatic circuits—half on one and half on the other—so that if one circuit was compromised, the other would still securely hold the part. In addition, one-way valves were built into the system to hold the vacuum for at least 15 minutes in the event of an air supply loss, giving operators time to safely set the part down.
To further protect against accidents, visual indicators were integrated to confirm a positive grip, and the control system used our standard safety redundancy: one button to grip the part and a two-button release sequence to prevent accidental release during handling.
Project Details
Maximum Capacity:
75 LBSProduct Handling:
Product Components
