US 11,970,353 B2
Gripper assembly, apparatus for recovering a layout from a sheet material and method for separating a layout from waste of a sheet material
Paul Hornick, Vufflens-le-Château (CH); Yannick Roulin, Cossonay-Ville (CH); and Roberto Valterio, Ollon (CH)
Assigned to BOBST MEX SA, Mex (CH)
Appl. No. 17/593,290
Filed by BOBST MEX SA, Mex (CH)
PCT Filed Mar. 17, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/025134
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 15, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/187452, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 24, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 19020133 (EP), filed on Mar. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0194730 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
Int. Cl. B65H 29/38 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01); B25J 15/06 (2006.01); B65H 29/24 (2006.01)
CPC B65H 29/38 (2013.01) [B25J 9/0093 (2013.01); B25J 15/0625 (2013.01); B65H 29/242 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gripper assembly for recovering a layout from a sheet material, the gripper assembly comprising:
a flat conveyor unit for providing the sheet material, wherein the conveyor unit is equipped with a vacuum system for holding the sheet material on the conveyor unit with a first vacuum force; and
a vacuum gripper being adapted for interacting with sheet material provided by the conveyor unit, the vacuum gripper comprising a gripper body with a flat surface through which an array of air flow openings is arranged, each air flow opening being adapted to seize at least a portion of the sheet material by applying a second vacuum force thereto,
wherein, among the array of air flow openings, air flow openings associated with one or more blanks of the layout are selectively open, and air flow openings associated with waste of the sheet material are selectively closed,
the first vacuum force applied to the one or more blanks by the vacuum system is smaller than the second vacuum force applied to the one or more blanks by the vacuum gripper simultaneously with the first vacuum force,
the array of air flow openings is arranged on a gripping side of the gripper body, wherein the gripping side is equipped with a mask, which selectively covers air flow openings being associated with waste and selectively does not interfere with the air flow openings associated with the one or more blanks of the layout, and
the gripping side of the vacuum gripper is magnetic, and wherein a magnetic cover is attached to the gripping side of the vacuum gripper.