This unit allows highly dynamic and smooth pick & place operations in confined spaces of the complex assembly plants, assembling electronics, medical, and consumer goods with rotating angles of 90° or 180.

08-04-2015 - SCHUNK, the competence leader for clamping technology and gripping systems has added the pneumatic rotary lift unit DRL 20 to its program for modular high-performance assembly, and offers now a particularly compact unit. This unit allows highly dynamic and smooth pick & place operations in confined spaces of the complex assembly plants, assembling electronics, medical, and consumer goods with rotating angles of 90° or 180. Its minimum pivoting radius amounts to 42 mm, measured from the center to the mounting surface.

Since the unit is directly located between the pick & place position, space-saving handling solutions can be implemented: such as between rotary indexing tables and conveyor belts. Since the units are positively driven behind the movement of the vertical cylinder and the rotary drive by a cam roller, both can be switched sooner, and compared with conventional rotary lift units, the cycle time is considerably shortened. At minimum loading and a rotation angle of 180°, 75 cycles per minute can be achieved.

Integrated swiveling movement

The DRL 20 offers significant benefits, if parts have to be reoriented by 90° or 180: While linear pick & place units require the integration, control and maintenance of an additional rotary module, this swiveling movement is automatically done by the DRL 20. For control purposes, the same program as for the pneumatic Pick & Place units PPU-P from SCHUNK can be used. Both high-performance series ideally complement each other. In order to additionally increase the plants productivity and process reliability, the effector of the DRL 20 can be directly stopped over the individual target position, and will go into standby position, until the feeding or the deposit unit is ready. At an operating pressure of 5 bar the rotary lift unit achieves a torque of 2.26 Nm, and a lifting force of 245 N. The vertical stoke amounts 33 mm. In order to compensate tolerances and plant-related deviations of the pick & place positions, the swiveling angle can be varied by +/- 2°, and the vertical stroke up to 10 mm per side. As a part of the worlds largest system program for modular high-performance assembly from SCHUNK, the DRL 20 can be easily, quickly, and flexibly combined with many gripping, rotary, and linear modules to a complete functional unit, or assembly group. If more clearance is available, the larger DRK 25 unit, which achieves higher torques can also be used.