Grip Frame for Low-Emission Glass Handling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses for moving plate-like products are inadequate for handling low-emission glass panes and cannot adjust to varying heights, requiring manual intervention and posing safety hazards, with fixed feet and grip frames that are not versatile enough to navigate obstacles or handle inclined frames.
Innovation Solution
A motorized, carriage-mounted structure with a rotatable grip frame featuring vertical bars in a comb-like arrangement and adjustable supporting brackets, allowing for vertical translation and adaptation to different heights, enabling safe and automated handling of low-emission glass panes and packs on inclined frames.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single flat frame with horizontal reinforcement bars is used for gripping and transporting individual or packed plate-like products, then the structure provides sufficient strength and stability, but it cannot transport low-emission glass panes that require gripping by the untreated surface and depositing by resting on the same surface
Solution Approach 1:
The single flat frame with horizontal bars is segmented into multiple vertical bars arranged in a comb-like configuration. This segmentation removes the horizontal reinforcement bars that interfere with low-emission glass handling while maintaining structural integrity through the vertical bar arrangement. The suckers are distributed along these vertical bars, enabling surface gripping without obstruction.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame structure transitions from a two-dimensional flat plane with horizontal bars to a three-dimensional comb-like arrangement of vertical bars. This dimensional change allows the grip frame to pass through the structure forming the resting surface, enabling low-emission glass panes to be gripped by one surface and deposited by the same surface without obstruction.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the feet for transporting packs are fixed to the frame, then the structure is simpler and more stable, but it is not possible to adjust the gripping height from the ground to accommodate inclined frames or A-frames with lower edges at different heights
Solution Approach 1:
The fixed feet are replaced with movable supporting brackets that can perform vertical translational motion along the vertical bars. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the brackets to reach different heights, accommodating inclined frames and A-frames with varying lower edge positions, while the overall frame structure remains relatively simple.
3Extent of automation
If manual intervention is used to load packs on the frame, then the apparatus is simpler and cheaper, but it poses constant safety hazards due to the dimensions and weight of the packs and constitutes a cost in terms of labor
Solution Approach 1:
The grip frame with vertical bars and movable supporting brackets is designed to perform multiple functions: it can grip individual plates using suckers, transport packed plates using the brackets, and adapt to different heights and frame configurations. This multi-functionality enables full automation of loading and unloading operations without requiring separate specialized mechanisms for each task.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3a
Figure 4
AI summary
An apparatus (10) for moving individual or packed plate-like products, particularly but not exclusively for storage systems with perpendicular translational motion. It is constituted by a carriage-mounted and motorized structure (11), which can perform a translational motion on rails (12), the carriage-mounted structure (11) being adapted to move, with the help of vertical translational means (13), a supporting beam (14) which is substantially perpendicular to the direction of translational motion of the carriage-mounted structure (11), the supporting beam (14) supporting, so that it is coupled rotatably about an axis which is parallel to the direction of extension of the beam (14), a grip frame (15), which is constituted by a series of vertical bars (16, 16a, 16b, 16c) arranged in a comb-like arrangement, each vertical bar being provided with a plurality of suckers (17) for gripping plate-like products and being provided in a lower region with supporting brackets (18) for a pack of plate-like products, means for lifting and lowering with respect to the corresponding vertical bar (16) being associated with the brackets (18), the supporting brackets (18) being directed so as to operate on the opposite side of the suckers (17) with respect to the corresponding vertical bar (16).