Pneumatic and hydraulic grippers are amongst the preferred gripper varieties (together with servo-electric). In case you’re questioning whether or not pneumatic or hydraulic grippers are prone to be one of the best match in your software, this text is for you as we evaluate and distinction the design, efficiency and usefulness of hydraulic and pneumatic grippers.
Spoiler: As showdowns go, this one is straightforward to name. We’ll quickly uncover that for collaborative robotic functions, there isn’t any severe competitors between the 2: pneumatic grippers are the perfect selection in your cobot-powered functions.
Let’s discover out why…
What’s a hydraulic gripper?
Hydraulic grippers are heavy-duty grippers that apply the kind of forces required to deal with heavy (normally >50kg, 110.23 lb) objects.
How does a hydraulic gripper work?
Hydraulic grippers use pressurized fluids to maneuver a piston. When the piston strikes, it transfers this drive to the claw, opening and shutting it.
What’s a pneumatic gripper? How does a pneumatic gripper work?
Pneumatic grippers use stress from a compressed air provide system to provide the ability required to maneuver an inside piston, thereby opening and shutting the pneumatic gripper fingers (or ‘jaws’). Pneumatic gripper mechanisms comprise no motors or gears, which makes it straightforward to translate the ability of a piston/cylinder system right into a gripping drive.
Because the majority of producing services have already got entry to compressed air, deploying pneumatic grippers is straightforward and cost-effective. One of many essential advantages of pneumatic grippers is that they supply a excessive quantity of gripping drive in a small, mild and low-cost package deal. For manufacturing services the place house is at a premium, pneumatic grippers are a cost-effective and ergonomic selection. They’re additionally fairly straightforward to take care of –upon getting your pneumatic gripper working, it will probably present hundreds of thousands of cycles with out requiring upkeep.
What’s the distinction between pneumatic and hydraulic grippers?
One of many main explanation why hydraulic grippers are hardly ever, if ever, utilized in collaborative automation is as a result of the standard payloads do not match. For causes of security, ease of deployment, value, mobility and footprint, cobots are designed for lower-than-hydraulic payloads of as much as round 16kg (35.3 lbs). Subsequently, for nearly each conceivable cobot-powered software, utilizing a hydraulic gripper could be costly overkill.
If it’s essential to elevate weights of 500kg (1102.31lb), for instance, a normal industrial robotic with a hydraulic gripper and fencing may be the only option. However for Common Robots prospects, pneumatics provide completely satisfactory vitality density for functions equivalent to meeting, materials dealing with and machine tending.
Moreover, since hydraulic grippers comprise pistons and oiled components, they’re much higher-maintenance than their servo-electric and pneumatic counterparts. Hydraulic gripper upkeep can be complicated and might require expert technicians to take care of the oil, pump and reservoir. This highlights one other essential motive why pneumatic grippers are usually most well-liked over hydraulic grippers for collaborative functions: cobots are designed for simple operation by non-expert end-users, so including a posh hydraulic gripping system to a cobot will undermine the general system’s ease of use.
Since they depend on air somewhat than fluids, pneumatic robotic grippers could be deployed in clear room environments. By comparability, hydraulic robotic grippers are too messy –particularly after they fail and leak hydraulic fluid into your work cell.
Moreover, when it comes to value, hydraulic grippers are far more costly than their pneumatic counterparts. If you’re drawn to cobots partially due to their low value in comparison with conventional automation, then it does not make plenty of sense to deploy a hydraulic gripper that might simply value greater than the cobot itself.
Lastly, if accuracy is essential to your collaborative software, then needless to say pneumatic gripping programs present higher accuracy than their hydraulic counterparts. Your gripper’s URCap software program and simple integration with Common Robots cobot vary ensures a relentless move of information that can be utilized to tweak your functions and processes, cut back downtime and enhance productiveness.
URCaps are particular software program applications designed to make sure clean programming and management of UR licensed end-effectors and elements. UR+ is a world ecosystem of elements, software program, and software kits which were validated and licensed to be mechanically, electrically and digitally suitable with cobots from Common Robots. UR+ hosts a wide array of pneumatic grippers from you to select from.
Pneumatic grippers simply win this robotic gripper showdown, however they’ve their very own limitations. For instance, as a result of they depend on pressurized air move, drive management shouldn’t be as exact as that offered by electrical grippers. Offering a fragile grip may also be a problem for pneumatic programs because it’s arduous to manage the gripper at very low pressures. If an exterior air provide is required, this may add further value to your deployment. And whereas pneumatic grippers are appropriate for a lot of clear room functions, in the event that they fail, they’ll contaminate the air contained in the work cell. For these causes, some producers want to make use of electrical grippers for his or her materials dealing with wants.
UR+ is a one-stop-shop for pneumatic robotic grippers
Let’s check out a few of pneumatic robotic gripper choices out there by means of UR+
The GRIPKIT-P Series from Weiss Robotics is a pneumatic gripper and dealing with system for Common Robots. The GRIPKIT-P system comprises every part finish customers have to arrange materials dealing with, meeting and machine tending duties inside minutes. In case you want excessive dynamics and gripping drive with compact dimensions, GRIPKIT-P pneumatic grippers (in parallel or centric design) are preferrred.
