SOUND ABSORBER FOR VACUUM GRIPPERS

Abstract

The invention relates to a sound absorber comprising a housing with an inlet for connection with the exhaust gas line of a suction gripper, the housing comprising at least one elastic segment comprising at least one though hole, and also to a process of sound absorption for a suction gripper. The application of pressurized exhaust gas to the elastic segment leads to its expansion and to enlargement of the opening of the through hole. The expansion and/or the elasticity of the elastic segment in which the through hole is arranged, and the passing of the exhaust gas through the opened through hole in the elastic segment reduce the sound emitted along with the exhaust gas.

Claims

1. A sound absorber comprising a housing comprising an inlet, which is connectable with an exhaust gas line of a suction gripper, and comprising at least one outlet being open to the environment, which is formed by at least one through hole of at least one elastic segment of the housing, characterized in that the elastic segment is tubular, its terminal openings are covered by the housing and at least one of its ends is mounted shiftably at the housing.

2. The sound absorber according to claim 2, characterized in that the tubular elastic segment is mounted shiftably at both of its ends at the housing.

3. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic segment has an elasticity which upon application of pressurized exhaust gas allows a deformation of the through hole to a larger opening, in which the opposing edges of the through hole are more distant from each other by at least 0.01 mm, as compared to without application of pressurized exhaust gas.

4. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the through hole is a slit, the edges of which without the application of pressurized exhaust gas lie against one another.

5. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the through hole is a recess, the edges of which without the application of pressurized exhaust gas encompass an opening.

6. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that a draining conduct is connected to the through hole.

7. The sound absorber according claim 1, characterized in that the elastic segment is in contact with a frame encompassing its terminal circumferential edges, which frame is arranged at the housing.

8. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic segment is circularly closed and one of its terminal circumferential edges is attached to the housing.

9. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic segment is multilayered.

10. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing is connected to the exhaust gas line of a suction gripper, which exhaust gas line is connected to a compressed air opening for compressed gas and a suction intake for sucking in ambient air.

11. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized by at least one delimiter being an elastic delimiter or a rigid delimiter, which is arranged opposite the surface of the elastic element and inhibits the deformation of the elastic segment at least in the state of application of pressurized exhaust gas.

12. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing comprises a clamping recess and/or an external section for a clamping arrangement at a carrier of the suction gripper, at a supply line of the suction gripper for compressed air and/or at a center tube of the suction gripper.

13. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the through hole is slit-shaped and extends at an angle of up to 45, preferably up to 10, relative to the longitudinal axis of the tube.

14. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the through hole is slit-shaped and extends over a length corresponding to 0.5 times to 2 times the outer diameter of the elastic segment.

15. The sound absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that the tubular elastic segment has an elasticity allowing a deformation of the outer diameter of the tubular elastic segment by the pressurized exhaust gas to at least 101%, preferably up to at least 102% of the outer diameter, as compared to the state when exhaust gas is not applied.

16. A process of sound absorption, characterized by application of pressurized exhaust gas to a housing, the sound absorber in its housing comprising at least one elastic segment comprising at least one through hole forming the outlet of the housing and the at least one through hole upon application of pressurized exhaust gas forming a substantially larger opening, as compared to without application of pressurized exhaust gas, characterized in that the elastic segment is tubular, its terminal openings are covered by the housing and at least one of its ends is shiftably mounted at the housing and upon application of exhaust gas shifts with respect to the housing.

17. The process according to claim 16, characterized in that the pressurized exhaust gas has a maximum temperature of 70 C.

18. The process according to claim 16, characterized in that the elastic segment is encompassed shiftably by the housing at both of its ends.

19. The process according to claim 16, characterized in that the tubular elastic segment is removed from the housing sections encompassing its ends by moving, is cleaned and is arranged with its ends in said housing sections encompassing the same.

Description

[0025] The invention will now be described in more detail by the example with reference to the figures, which schematically show in

[0026] FIG. 1 a sectional view of an embodiment of the sound absorber without loading by pressurized exhaust gas,

[0027] FIG. 2 a sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with loading by pressurized exhaust gas,

[0028] FIG. 3 a top view of FIG. 2 rotated through 90 with loading by pressurized exhaust gas,

[0029] FIG. 4 a preferred embodiment of the sound absorber in sectional view without loading by pressurized exhaust gas, and

[0030] FIG. 5 the sound absorber of FIG. 4 with two alternative delimiters.

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a housing 1 of a device, which as a whole can be spherical or angular and comprises an inlet 2 for connection with an exhaust gas line. The outlet of the housing is formed by the at least one through hole 3, which is formed in the elastic segment 4. The elastic segment 4 is mounted by means of a frame 5, which is formed in one piece with the housing 1. For a shiftable mounting, the elastic segment 4 can have, for example, an elongated hole, through which a fastening element connected with the housing 1 or its frame 5 is guided. Therein, FIG. 1 shows the state in which no pressurized exhaust gas is applied to the housing, so that the elastic segment 4 exists in a relaxed state and the through hole 3 forms a smaller opening, as compared to the state when pressurized exhaust gas is applied to the elastic segment 4. According to a preferred embodiment, the at least one through hole 3 in the elastic segment 4 is formed as a continuous cut, so that in this state the edges of the through hole 3 lie against one another.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows the sound absorber of FIG. 1 in the state in which pressurized exhaust gas, which is introduced into the housing through inlet 2, is applied to the elastic segment 4. The elastic segment 4 is expanded by the pressure of the exhaust gas and the through hole 3 forms an opening greater than in the state without application of the pressurized exhaust gas.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows a top view of the housing 1 and the elastic segment 4, conveying that the through holes 3a, 3b form an opening even if they are slit-shaped and their edges lie against one another without application of exhaust gas, for example, if the through holes 3a, 3b are formed by an incision going through the thickness of the elastic segment 4.

[0034] A through hole 3a is formed by a simple incision and through hole 3b by a cross-shaped incision, the edges of which lie against one another in the state without application of pressurized exhaust gas.

[0035] FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of a sound absorber according to the invention comprising a suction gripper, of which a suction intake 10 is shown, to which a center tube 11 is attached, the vaulted inner surface 12 of which is blown with compressed air through an opening for compressed air 13. The pressurized exhaust gas from the compressed air and air sucked in through the suction intake 10 exits from the outlet 14 connected with an exhaust gas line 15. The inlet 2 of the housing conducts the pressurized exhaust gas into a terminal opening of one of two elastic sections 4, each being formed tubularly. The elastic segments 4 are shiftably mounted in housing 1 by their ends being encompassed by a housing 1, so that these ends are shiftable and mounted in the housing 1, when the elastic segment shortens along its longitudinal axis. The shortening of the elastic segment 4 along its longitudinal axis results from the application of pressurized exhaust gas, because then the elastic section 4 expands radially and the through holes 3 form larger openings, as compared to the state when pressurized exhaust gas is not applied. The through holes 3 here are shown as incisions along the longitudinal axis of the tubular elastic segment 4, the edges of which lie against one another without application of pressurized gas. The through holes 3a in the elastic segment 4 are shown dashed in the state in which this is loaded by pressurized exhaust gas.

[0036] The suction gripper connected with the sound absorber can be, for example, one that is described in EP 2415696 B 1.

[0037] The streaming of the pressurized exhaust gas, which is, for example, composed of compressed air pressed into the center tube and the ambient air streaming in through the suction intake, is signified by the block arrows.

[0038] FIG. 5 shows the embodiment of FIG. 4 in which an optional delimiter 16, 17 is additionally shown for the left tubular elastic segment 4 in the state when no pressurized exhaust gas is applied. The rigid delimiter 16 is fixed at least one-sidedly to the housing 1 and is arranged in this state at a distance from the elastic segment 4, so that the elastic segment 4 can deform coming up to the rigid delimiter 16 when pressurized exhaust gas is applied and subsequently the deformation of the elastic segment 4 is inhibited by the rigid delimiter.

[0039] An elastic delimiter 17 having the form of an elastic O-ring resting in every state on the elastic segment 4 crosses the through holes 3 approximately perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the tubular elastic segment 4. Upon application of pressurized exhaust gas, the elastic delimiter 17 expands along with the convex deformation of the tubular elastic segment 4 and, in doing so, inhibits the opening of the through holes. It turned out that a delimiter, which is a rigid delimiter 16, preferably an elastic delimiter 17, leads to an increased absorption of the sound emitted along with the exhaust gas, in particular when the elastic segment 4 is subjected to a higher load exerted by pressurized exhaust gas.

[0040] The housing 1 is connected to a clamping recess 18, which in sections circumferentially receives the center tube 11, so that the sound absorber is connected to the suction gripper by means of this recess 18.

Example: Process of Sound Absorption

[0041] A sound absorber according to FIG. 4 comprising the suction gripper also shown there, at the suction intake 10 of which a suction cup was attached, had tubular elastic segments 4 of a tube of polyethylene having a wall thickness of 1.5 to 4 mm, in which incisions of a length equal to the outer diameter of the tube form through holes 3 along the longitudinal axis. When supplying approximately 110 l/min of compressed air, an exhaust stream of about 450 to 500 l/min air resulted, which was composed of sucked in air and compressed air. The sound was measured at a distance of about 1 m using a sound pressure measuring device. Without the sound absorber, a sound of about 875 dBA was measured, while employing the sound absorber, a sound of about 722 dBA was measured, corresponding to a reduction of sound by a factor of about 32.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0042] 1 housing 12 vaulted inner surface [0043] 2 inlet 13 opening for compressed air [0044] 3 through hole 14 outlet [0045] 4 elastic segment 15 exhaust gas line [0046] 5 frame 16 rigid delimiter [0047] 10 suction intake 17 elastic delimiter [0048] 11 center tube 18 clamping recess