Posted to News on 7th Dec 2020, 08:58
Three new pneumatic-electric hybrid grippers announced
Zimmer Group has added three new pneumatic-electric gripper sizes to its range
Zimmer’s current parallel series grippers (GPP5000IL), and concentric series grippers (GPD5000IL), have been available to date with three different sizes, (5006IL, 5008IL and 5010IL) with a maximum stroke per gripper jaw of six, eight or ten millimetres respectively. The company has now further enhanced its range with an additional three new sizes, 5013IL, 5016IL and 5025IL, which cover a maximum stroke per jaw of thirteen, sixteen and fifteen millimetres.
The pneumatic-electric GPP/GPD5000IL hybrid grippers use an integrated pneumatic valve which is controlled via an IO-Link. As there is no longer a fixed hose connection between the valve and piston that needs to be filled or emptied for each cycle, the grippers have a short reaction time and are said to be faster than other pneumatic gripper types. A sensor integrated within the gripper determines the position of the gripper jaws to a tolerance of +/-0.05 millimetres.
As a result, process monitoring is possible and workpieces can be identified based on their diameter. In this way, different diameters are assigned to different workpiece or part numbers, which are then relayed to the control system via IO-Link, allowing a total of 32 workpiece data records to be programmed into the GPP/GPD5000IL grippers. An unlimited number of recipes can also be stored in the PLC, of course, which can be continuously called up as required by the gripper.
Zimmer states that the Hybrid Gripper Series offers a number of economic benefits to the user, including the fact that thanks to their connection concept, they only need one air hose and one connection cable, with no additional valve terminal. Further, the integrated valve and control system is said to make them energy efficient, and additional cost savings come from predictive maintenance as a result of high levels of efficiency and production availability.
Integrating this range of grippers is simple, only a pneumatic hose and the IO-Link cable need to be connected. Using an IO-Link interface, the unit communicates with the IO-Link master of the superordinate bus node or the PLC. The grippers are universally applicable, protected against corrosion and offer high gripping forces at large gripper finger lengths. Even in the standard version, they feature IP64 protection, allowing the grippers to be used under challenging ambient conditions.
Hard-coated guides with a low friction coefficient, extreme hardness and excellent emergency running properties ensure that the grippers can handle a claimed 30 million cycles without maintenance whilst enduring adverse working conditions.
