Characteristics of Pneumatic Non-Contact Holder With Two Swirling Flows

When products requiring careful handling such as semiconductor wafers and food (hereinafter called “workpieces”) are transported in manufacturing processes, problems can occur due to malfunctions that degrade sanitary conditions during the transport of workpieces through contact. An excellent device for transporting workpieces is a pneumatic non-contact holder (hereinafter called “cup”). This device holds a workpiece without contact by using pneumatic pressure, and so a workpiece doesn’t suffer damage or contamination. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for overcoming the weaknesses in vortex-type non-contact holders, which is a cup that can hold a workpiece by using the negative pressure generated by the centrifugal force of a swirling flow, and propose a shape of cup which will generates a larger holding force from the point of view of energy saving. Specifically, we changed the shape of the chamfer in the swirling chamber exits and the number of the nozzles, and measured the holding force characteristics and the pressure distribution of the cup, thereby examining the performance of the cups. The experimental results indicate that the holding force is strongly related to both the shape of the chamfer in the swirling chamber exits and the number of the nozzles.