The Schmalz floating suction cup SBS with thin geometry, launched in June this year, is only 2 mm high and incorporates both the vacuum gripper and vacuum-generator. Low-contact gripping, enabled by the configuration, makes them ideal for use with sensitive workpieces like thin copper foils and substrates. The low minimal height allows for effective handling of very low-profile products like printed circuit boards, drilled PCBs, and wafers, for example, as well as loading and unloading transport cassettes and separating thin, porous workpieces reliably.
Their small size and gentle handling of workpieces with slightly structured surfaces makes them suitable for use in most automation processes that have limited accessibility. The suction cup “floats” on an air cushion with its flat geometry exerting high holding forces. As small as it is, the unit’s integrated vacuum generation is still based on the Bernoulli principle.
Clean vacuum lines guaranteed
“Absolutely no air is drawn through workpieces, and the fact that compressed air is used to operate the component means that no dirt can be sucked in, ensuring a clean vacuum-line,” explains Wade Profitt, Pneumatic Product Manager, Tectra Automation. Wade says that some additional benefits are that no ejector is required and that the cups can be used on robots of any brand. “They are high-performance suction cups that are ideal for use in most confined automation processes,” he says.
Available from Tectra Automation, exclusive supplier of Schmalz products in sub-Saharan Africa, the floating suction cup SBS with thin geometry has already received positive feedback from both the semi-conductor and electronics markets.
The suction cup “floats” on an air cushion with its flat geometry exerting high holding forces.
