Gripping Device for Contact Element Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated assembly and insertion methods for contact elements into contact carriers face challenges with dense arrangements, where grippers often displace or deform wires, making it difficult to insert multiple contact elements from a line into contact chambers without alignment issues or collision with the contact carrier.
Innovation Solution
A gripping device with a movable robotic arm, featuring a front and rear gripper with adjustable vertical sections, ensures wire tension relief and maintains contact element alignment, allowing for precise insertion and final assembly without collision with the contact carrier.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a gripper grips the contact element directly for insertion into a contact chamber, then the contact element can be inserted, but surrounding wires or contact elements are touched and displaced or deformed
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping device is divided into two separate grippers: a front gripper that holds the contact element and a rear gripper that holds the wire. This segmentation allows independent control of contact element positioning and wire tension relief, preventing wire displacement while enabling successful insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The rear gripper acts as an intermediary that grips the wire to relieve tension and prevent twisting, while the front gripper handles the contact element. This intermediary action on the wire ensures proper alignment is maintained during the insertion process.
2Productivity
If multiple contact elements connected to wires of a line are inserted together, then insertion efficiency improves, but the contact elements cannot be individually gripped and alignment is lost
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the gripping function into front and rear grippers, each contact element-wire assembly can be independently controlled. The front gripper secures the contact element while the rear gripper manages the wire, allowing multiple assemblies to be held in aligned positions simultaneously for batch insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The front and rear grippers preliminarily position and secure the contact elements and wires in the correct alignment before insertion begins. This preliminary alignment ensures that when multiple contact elements are inserted together, they maintain proper orientation and spacing.
3Manufacturing precision
If the gripper pushes contact elements into final assembly position, then contact is made with mating contact elements, but the gripper collides with the contact carrier
Solution Approach 1:
The pushing function is separated from the front gripper and assigned to the rear gripper. The rear gripper, positioned behind the contact carrier, can push the contact elements through the carrier without the gripper body colliding with the carrier structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The rear gripper approaches the contact elements from a different spatial dimension (from behind the carrier rather than from the front), allowing it to push the contact elements into the carrier without colliding with the carrier's front structure.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a gripping device mounted on a movable robotic arm for automatically mounting and plugging at least a first contact element (11) connected to a first wire (12) and a second contact element connected to a second wire into adjacent contact chambers through in each case one mounting opening of a contact carrier (30). On the gripping device there are a first gripper (1) at the front as seen in the insertion direction (S) and a second, rear gripper (2) offset therefrom, which each have a gripper section for gripping the wires, wherein the rear gripper (2) has at least one gripper section which is vertically movable relative to the front gripper (1) or is offset therefrom in the vertical direction.