This paper is concerned with the development of a new proportional non-contacting pneumatic vacuum pad using CFD-technique. Nowadays, application of pneumatic vacuum pads may be found in many different real industries, especially in the field of automatic conveyer system, automatic assembly line, semiconductor industry as well as silicon wafer factory, etc. Traditional vacuum pads generally utilize nozzles to produce the effect of vacuum. To adjust the suction force output, it is required to change manually the opening area of the nozzle. In this paper, however, a brand new proportional non-contacting pneumatic vacuum pad is developed and constructed. There are two features concerning this new vacuum pad. The first one is the introduced proportional solenoid, which enables the continuously variable suction force output of the vacuum pad. The second one is the non-contacting design, which is more preferable in real industries because it can protect the surface of the work-piece from scratching or other damages. In this study, the commercial CFD-RC software is utilized to simulate the air flow field and to design the optimal geometry inside the vacuum pad. It is observed experimentally that the vacuum pressure output of the vacuum pad is nearly proportional to the input excitation current to the proportional solenoid.
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