The new Kenos®KFG vacuum foam gripper offers many advantages in mass production of products with uneven, rough, structured or textured surfaces. These can range from construction materials to wood and cardboard as well as open jars to bottles and complex automotive parts. Its specially designed bag handling device also allows to handle pouches and liquid filled bags. Such products are difficult or even impossible to handle, particularly with mechanical grippers, which may damage them. The KFG is therefore an ideal solution to handle medium sized products softly but firmly as its foam sinks into or over the surface differences.
The KFG can be configured to match a seemingly endless range of products.
The three different technologies consist of either check valve, flow restriction reduction or a bag gripper unit.
The version containing flow restriction calibrated orifices can rotate up to 360° and can hence handle products upside down. It is thin and lightweight and enables high speed applications.
The gripper containing auto-regulated check valves offers varied coverage options from a single product not covering the full surface to complete product layers. This version offers low sensitivity to dust, does not require any filters – and hence – less parts that need replacement - and can rotate up to 80°. The particular combination of foam surface and check valves reduces the number of mispicks exceptionally, making the KFG a very reliable solution.
The bag gripper version can be configured with a normal frame for soft bags or an additional frame for liquid or loosely filled bags. These bags can be handled safely without causing perforation or leakage.
The KFG is available as round gripper with a diameter of 80mm and 100mm or as square gripper in sizes of 80mm and 120mm.
The Kenos® KFG can be powered by a decentralized integrated vacuum cartridge, or multiple grippers share a common vacuum source in a centralized system. Another option is remote external vacuum generation through a vacuum pump, which reduces the wear and tear of the robot arm and hence, increases its lifetime.
With this easily adaptable vacuum foam gripper, Piab further broadens its portfolio of gripping solutions perfectly configurable to a customer application – particularly for rough and structured materials.
Customer benefits
- Highly versatile gripper increasing efficiency by reducing mispicks
- Easily adaptable to customer applications, thanks to different technology options
- Less downtime due to easier foam replacement
Applications
- Packaging
- Automotive
- Construction
- Wood handling
- General industrie