Innovative magnetic gripper for high holding force and flexibility

Suc­tion­ing and trans­port­ing fer­ro­mag­net­ic work­pieces with uneven sur­faces shows vac­u­um units on col­lab­o­ra­tive robots their lim­i­ta­tions. In cas­es like these, mag­net­ic grip­pers play to their strengths and pro­vide a secure grip on the mate­r­i­al in numer­ous indus­tries. The new MHM-X7400A series from automa­tion spe­cial­ist SMC now offers users a pow­er­ful and at the same time ener­gy-sav­ing solu­tion espe­cial­ly for cobots, which achieves a hold­ing force of up to 200 N and is ready for imme­di­ate use thanks to plug & play.

Whether in the gen­er­al automa­tion and man­u­fac­tur­ing indus­try, the food and pack­ag­ing sec­tor, or med­ical tech­nol­o­gy: many man­u­fac­tur­ing indus­tries use col­lab­o­ra­tive robots that have to pick up fer­ro­mag­net­ic work­pieces with per­fo­rat­ed or uneven sur­faces using mag­net­ic grip­pers. For even safer pick & place appli­ca­tions, the sup­pli­er of pneu­mat­ic and elec­tric automa­tion tech­nol­o­gy has now expand­ed its mag­net­ic grip­per port­fo­lio with a new series specif­i­cal­ly for Cobot series. Among oth­ers, the plug-&-play sys­tem is avail­able for the TM series from OMRON CORPORATION and TECHMAN ROBOT Inc. (com­pat­i­ble with TM5, TM12, TM14): The mag­net­ic grip­per MHM X7400A-TM achieves a high­er hold­ing force of up to 200 N (Ø 25, tool thick­ness 6 mm) com­pared to many com­pa­ra­ble prod­ucts and is suit­able for use in appli­ca­tions where vac­u­um suc­tion units can­not be used.

Precise performance where other solutions give up

The new series is the ide­al choice pre­cise­ly when oth­er solu­tions do not offer opti­mum per­for­mance: Vac­u­um cups, for exam­ple, can­not suc­tion porous or sim­ply uneven work­pieces. SMC’s MHM-X7400A mag­net­ic grip­per, on the oth­er hand, can pick up work­pieces with dif­fer­ent geome­tries — and ensures reli­able hold­ing of sheet met­al, met­al plates or oth­er mate­ri­als with fer­ro­mag­net­ic prop­er­ties. Thanks to mag­net­ic force, pro­tec­tion against falling is ensured even when the com­pressed air or pow­er sup­ply is inter­rupt­ed, and ener­gy-sav­ing oper­a­tion is made pos­si­ble. The hold­ing force can be con­tin­u­ous­ly adjust­ed by chang­ing the dis­tance between the mag­net and the work­piece via the adjust­ment screw. This avoids, for exam­ple, dam­age to work­pieces due to exces­sive hold­ing force or unin­ten­tion­al pick­up of mul­ti­ple parts. 
Effi­cient oper­a­tion in robot­ic environments

Avail­able with a diam­e­ter of 25 mm, the size of the MHM-X7400A series is par­tic­u­lar­ly space-sav­ing and scores with its low weight. The mag­net­ic grip­pers are thus pre­des­tined for use in appli­ca­tion envi­ron­ments with restrict­ed space con­di­tions, such as robot arms, and increase pro­duc­tiv­i­ty through the pos­si­bil­i­ty of faster move­ments, among oth­er things. The sim­ple and rapid con­nec­tion of com­pressed air line and elec­tri­cal wiring via plug & play also reduces instal­la­tion time (M8 or M12 plug-in con­nec­tion). Cer­ti­fied for var­i­ous uni­ver­sal robots, the mag­net­ic grip­pers of the MHM-X7400A series have also been devel­oped for use with the TM5, TM12 and TM14 cobot mod­els from OMRON CORPORATION and TECHMAN ROBOT Inc. (MHM-X7400A-TM) and also allow sev­er­al mag­net­ic grip­pers to be arranged in par­al­lel as required, for exam­ple for trans­port­ing parts with a large sur­face area. More hold­ing force and flex­i­bil­i­ty for many industries

In addi­tion, the options for mount­ing also make SMC’s mag­net­ic grip­per a flex­i­ble part­ner for pick & place appli­ca­tions: Tapped holes on the cylin­der head and side allow it to be mount­ed axi­al­ly or lat­er­al­ly — mount­ing options via ball head mounts are also avail­able as a spe­cial solu­tion. Axi­al instal­la­tion is also pos­si­ble cen­tered by means of an adapter. The mag­net­ic field-resis­tant elec­tron­ic sig­nal trans­mit­ters can be mount­ed from two sides at the same time. A flu­o­ro­car­bon rub­ber damp­ing ring on the cylin­der head, which can be replaced with­out tools, also ensures gen­tle con­tact with the work­piece sur­face and pre­vents direct metal­lic contact.