Electroadhesive Gripper With Flexible Contact for Uneven Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electroadhesive gripper apparatuses have limited range and penetration, making it difficult to reliably grip and retain objects with uneven surfaces, and are unsuitable for picking up specific objects or separating objects in a collection, especially non-conductive or irregularly shaped items.
Innovation Solution
A gripper apparatus with a malleable electroadhesion section that protrudes over a receiving surface, allowing adaptation to object contours, combined with additional gripper principles like suction or magnetic forces, enabling secure retention and precise positioning of objects, even with uneven surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the spacing between the electrode and the object surface is reduced to increase electroadhesion force, then the retention force is improved, but the device cannot handle objects with uneven surfaces or require direct contact
Solution Approach 1:
The electroadhesion section is designed as a flexible, malleable component that can deform and adapt to the surface contours of objects with uneven topography. This flexibility allows the electrode to maintain close spacing with the object surface while accommodating variations in shape, thereby ensuring reliable electroadhesion force without requiring rigid direct contact
Solution Approach 2:
The electroadhesion section is made dynamically adaptable through its malleable structure, allowing it to change shape and conform to different object surfaces. This dynamic adaptation enables the system to maintain effective electroadhesion across varying surface geometries, solving the contradiction between needing close spacing for force and accommodating uneven surfaces
2Adaptability or versatility
If the electroadhesion section is made malleable to adapt to object contours, then the handling of uneven surfaces is improved, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The electroadhesion section utilizes a flexible membrane or thin film structure that inherently provides the necessary malleability without requiring complex mechanical components. This simple yet effective design allows the section to conform to object surfaces while maintaining a relatively straightforward overall device structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical adaptation mechanisms with an electrically actuated flexible electroadhesion section. The malleability is achieved through the inherent properties of the flexible material and electrical actuation rather than through complex mechanical linkages or moving parts, thereby reducing overall device complexity
3Adaptability or versatility
If the electroadhesion section protrudes over the receiving surface to increase penetration, then the picking of individual objects is improved, but the free space for additional gripper principles is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The electroadhesion section extends in the vertical dimension (protruding from the receiving surface) to achieve the necessary penetration depth for selecting individual objects from a collection. This vertical extension allows the system to access and grip objects at different heights while maintaining the horizontal receiving surface area available for other gripper principles and object placement
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable and targeted gripping and retention of objects with uneven surfaces, increased force application, and efficient power usage, allowing for precise placement in environments where other retention methods fail, such as vacuum environments.
Implementation Method 1
a static electric potential in particular is applied to at least one electrode of an electroadhesive gripper apparatus. As a result, a static electric field, in particular, is generated. If the electrodes of an electroadhesive gripper apparatus are positioned in the proximity of the surface of an object that is to be gripped, an electroadhesive force can be exerted by the gripper apparatus on the object to be gripped via the electric field
Implementation Method 2
The electroadhesion section is malleable, such that its shape can be adapted to the object that is to be gripped, or to its surface contour, when placed thereon
Data Source
AI summary
A gripper apparatus includes a receiving surface which faces an object for gripping purposes, and includes at least one electroadhesion section, which has at least one electrode, for exerting an electroadhesion force on the object. In order to reliably grip and hold an object, provision is made for the electroadhesion section for bearing against the object to be gripped to project beyond the receiving surface in the direction of the object which is to be gripped in such a way that a space which adjoins the receiving surface and the electroadhesion section is formed, and that the electroadhesion section is designed such that it can be deformed in such a way that it can be matched to the shape of the object which is to be gripped when it bears against said object.