A Novel Pneumatic Non-Contact Suction Pad With Embedded Air Bearings

In this paper, a novel suction pad based on CFD simulation and vortex levitation principle is proposed. To assure the absolute non-contact between the suction pad and the work-piece, four symmetrical air bearings are introduced and integrated into the design of the suction pad. In addition, the closed-loop gap control is applied to the operation of the suction pad, which avoids successfully the possible initial impact and maintains the desired gap between the suction pad and the work-piece. The vortex inside the suction pad serves to levitate the work-piece and the air bearings, on the contrary, try to push the work-piece away if the work-piece comes too close to the suction pad. Therefore, a proper function switching between the vortex and the air bearings is necessary. In this paper, a 5/3 pneumatic proportional directional control valve is utilized to switch these functions mentioned above. In the future, such a suction pad may find some potential application fields, like the pick-up and transportation devices for TFT-LCD, solar energy panels, etc.Copyright © 2010 by ASME