Vacuum grippers for automated applications

Coval offers vacuum grippers for automated applications, from gripping single parts to complete layers. The range equally suited to equipping either cobots or robots, offering a catalogue of modular, standard products, designed to meet the customers’ needs.

Coval, with its complete range of vacuum grippers, can be applied at various points along the whole production line, from the manipulation of individual objects to palletising a full layer of product at the end of the line. The range includes three complementary series, starting with the ultra-compact CVGC models, designed from carbon specifically for cobots. 

Further in the range is the CVGL series of compact and lightweight end effectors for robots. At the top end is the MVG modular series, which is fully configurable.

Carbon vacuum gripper for cobots

The CVGC carbon vacuum gripper is not just an adaptation of an existing product, but a plug and play product designed 100% for the various cobot models, The lightness of the CVGC due to its carbon material (the smallest model weighs less than 1 kg) facilitates the optimum use of collaborative robots and preserves their lifting capacity. The vacuum generator, control cartridge, vacuum switch, and silencer are grouped together in a compact function block. The CVGCs are versatile, with a foam grip interface suitable for many materials and available in three sizes: 150 x 150mm, 240 x 120mm and 320 x 160mm. In addition, Stéphane Garcia, Marketing and Communication Manager at Coval, points out: “The attachment interfaces and connectivity are adapted to the particular cobot model in each case, which means that the CVGC fits on all types of cobots. “

Lightweight vacuum gripper for robots

The dimensions and weight of the CVGL vacuum grippers make them one of the lightest and most compact ranges on the market. By reducing the weight and size of its vacuum grippers, COVAL enables integrators and manufacturers to integrate them into low-power robot manipulators. This translates into savings in terms of investment and operating costs.

To match the application requirements perfectly, the CVGL range of vacuum grippers is available in three standard lengths (424, 624, and 824mm) or a custom length, and a fixed width of 120mm, with three gripping interface technologies (foam, suction cups, or the gel-like COVAL-flex), three suction powers, and an integrated or remote generator. They offer a vacuum handling solution suited to parts of various sizes, weights, and materials.

Customisation as standard

The MVG modular vacuum gripper, which is mainly used for heavy payload robots and palletizers, offers the possibility of configuring a gripper that is perfectly adapted to each application, for loads of several hundred kg. To achieve this result, major developments have been carried out and patented.

The first choice the user has to make is the size, because MVGs are custom-made to the desired size from 150 x 150 to 1200 x 1000 mm. To ensure that the vacuum gripper is perfectly adapted to the specific requirements the user can also configure the vacuum generator and the gripping interfaces such as foams and suction cups. 

“The MVG grippers are equipped with gripping interfaces, either by means of suction cups, foam, or Coval-flex. These solutions ensure an optimal grip regardless of the size or material of the object to be gripped (cardboard, metal, plastic, glass, concrete/stone, composites, wood, etc),” explains Stéphane Garcia. “High performance, flexible and robust, the MVG grippers can be multi-zone, i.e. equipped with several independent gripping zones, which makes it possible to ensure staggered or multiple pick-up and drop-off, guaranteeing optimised vacuum management as well as a reduction in leaks and consumption,” he said.

Precise vacuum management with multizoning is particularly useful for staggered pick and place, managing different formats to be handled, or optimising palletising layers.