What Is a Pneumatic Gripper?

Pneumatic fingers, also known as pneumatic grippers or pneumatic grippers, are actuators that use compressed air as power to grip or grasp workpieces. Originally originated in Japan and later widely used by domestic automation companies. According to the style, it can be divided into Y-clamp fingers and flat-clamp fingers. The cylinder bores are divided into 16mm, 20mm, 25mm, 32mm, and 40MM. Its main function is to replace human grasping work, which can effectively improve production efficiency and work safety. SMC pneumatic finger series is one of the most commonly used pneumatic gripper devices in the industrial field.

Pneumatic fingers, also known as pneumatic grippers or pneumatic grippers, are actuators that use compressed air as power to grip or grasp workpieces. Originally originated in Japan and later widely used by domestic automation companies. According to the style, it can be divided into Y-clamp fingers and flat-clamp fingers. The cylinder bores are divided into 16mm, 20mm, 25mm, 32mm, and 40MM. Its main role is to replace human grasping work, which can effectively improve production efficiency and work safety. SMC pneumatic finger series is one of the most commonly used pneumatic gripper devices in the industrial field ^[1]

Cylinder inner diameter	16 or 20
Piping size	M5
Flat jaw spacing W	Full open: 22 ~ 26mm, Full close: 14 ~ 16mm
Flat jaw spacing N type	Fully open: 15.2 ~ 17.2mm, Fully closed: 7 ~ 7.7mm
Inward clamping force-HPS series	16: 40N 20: 65.5N
Outward clamping force-HPS series	16: 30N 20: 42N
Use fluid	Compressed air
Mode of action	Double action
Operating pressure range	Y-type gripper: 1.0 ~ 6.1kgf / cm & sup2; Flat-type gripper: 1.0 ~ 7kgf / cm & sup2;
Oiling	No need to oil / a little

As shown in figure holding

F: Holding power (N)

: Coefficient of friction between gripper and work part

M: working weight (kg)

g: Gravitational acceleration (9.8m / S & sup2;)

mg: weight of working part (N)

2X & micro; F> mg ^[2]

Pneumatic finger, also known as finger cylinder, is a professional fixture in the pneumatic industry, which can be divided into four categories according to its functional characteristics.

1. Parallel gripper

The fingers of the parallel gripper are actuated by two pistons. Each piston is connected to a pneumatic finger by a roller and a double crank to form a special drive unit. In this way, pneumatic fingers always move axially and concentrically, and each finger cannot be moved independently. If the finger moves in the opposite direction, the previously compressed piston is in the exhaust state, and the other piston is in the compressed state.

The parallel clamping jaw is driven by a single piston, the shaft drives the crank, and each of the two jaws has a corresponding crank groove. In order to reduce frictional resistance, the claw piece and the body are connected with a steel ball slide rail structure.

Second, swing jaw (Y-shaped jaw)

The piston rod of the swing jaw has a ring groove. Because the trunnion of the finger is connected to the ring groove, the fingers can move at the same time and be automatically centered to ensure that the grasping torque is always constant.

Third, rotating clamp

The action of the rotating jaw works according to the meshing principle of the rack. The piston is fixed to a shaft that can move up and down. There are three ring grooves at the end of the shaft, these grooves mesh with two driving wheels. Therefore, the pneumatic fingers can be moved simultaneously and automatically centered, and the rack and pinion principle ensures that the gripping force is always constant.

Four or three point gripper

The piston of the three-point clamping jaw has an annular groove, and each crank is connected with a pneumatic finger. The piston movement can drive three crank movements, so it can control three fingers to open and close at the same time.