Bellows grippers for fragile electronic and light assembly applications

Festo’s DHEB series of bellows grippers expand in diameter when actuated by an integral pneumatically driven piston to securely grip the interior surface of a work piece in electronic and light assembly applications.

DHEB grippers are single-acting devices, which simplifies control. When the air supply port is pressurized, an internal piston draws a wedge up or down within a rubber bellow, causing it to deform outwards to meet and conform to the interior contour of the work piece. This bellows action provides a secure but gentle air-tight grip, which is maintained until the air supply port is exhausted, whereupon the force of the bellows returning to its original shape pushes the piston back into its initial position.

There are two versions of the DHEB gripper, offering a choice of bellows activation directions to suit different handling machine actions: One uses an upward piston stroke to deform and expand the bellows; the other uses a downward stroke.

For maximum applications flexibility, the compressed air supply for the gripper can either be applied via a side port on the body of the gripper or via a connector at the top of the unit. Alternatively, a variant of the side port version provides a straight-through path from the top connector to a port on the underside of the piston. This can be used for a wide variety of purposes. Air can be injected to cool or clean the work piece, air or vacuum can be employed to check the work piece for leaks, or fluid can be introduced for disinfection or filling purposes. Any of these actions can be performed during work piece transportation, which helps users maximize throughput by overlapping or combining several process stages.

Festo

www.festo.us 

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