Vertical Suction Cup Gripper for Pipetting Wear Reduction

The patent replaces the mechanical clamping system with a pneumatic suction system. Instead of using mechanical fingers that apply lateral clamping forces, the invention uses suction cups connected through fluid channels to a vacuum source, creating negative pressure to hold laboratory items. This substitution eliminates the high mechanical contact forces that cause wear on handling arm mechanics while maintaining secure gripping.

The patent employs pneumatic principles by using fluid channels connected to a vacuum source to generate negative pressure. The suction cups utilize this negative pressure to adhere to the surfaces of laboratory items, providing a non-contact gripping method that avoids mechanical wear on the handling arm while ensuring reliable holding of various laboratory articles.

The patent creates a universal gripping solution where the suction-based gripper can hold various laboratory items (microplates, lids, test tubes) without requiring specific adaptations to each item. The suction cups can contact any smooth surface, eliminating the need for recesses or special features in the laboratory articles themselves, thus reducing overall system complexity while maintaining secure gripping.

Instead of adapting the gripper to access specific features on laboratory items (such as undersides or recesses), the patent inverts the approach by having the laboratory items passively present their surfaces to the suction cups. The suction cups can contact the outer surfaces of items without requiring the items to be modified, simplifying both the gripper design and the laboratory articles.