A new Aerodynamic traction principle for handling products on an Air Cushion.

Guillaume J. Laurent (1) , Anne Delettre (1) , Nadine Le Fort-Piat (1)

1 FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174)

This paper introduces a new aerodynamic traction principle for handling delicate and clean products, such as silicon wafers, glass sheets or flat foodstuff. The product is carried on a thin air cushion and transported along the system by induced air flows. This induced air flow is the indirect effect of strong vertical air-jets that pull the surrounding fluid. The paper provides a qualitative explanation of the operating principles and a description of the experimental device. Very first experimental results with active control are presented. The maximum velocity and acceleration that can be obtained for the considered device geometry meet the requirements for industrial applications.

Mots clés: distributed manipulation; Contactless manipulation; distributed manipulation.

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Guillaume J. Laurent, Anne Delettre, Nadine Le Fort-Piat. A new Aerodynamic traction principle for handling products on an Air Cushion.. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2011, 27 (2), pp.379-384. ⟨10.1109/TRO.2011.21092011⟩. ⟨hal-00601935⟩