| A three degree of freedom pneumatic gantry robot was designed, constructed and tested in order to demonstrate the potential of pneumatic systems as applied to edge finishing operations such as grinding, polishing, and deburring. For evaluation purposes, the gantry robot was used to grind the edges of steel blanks to mimic a finishing operation found in a typical automotive forming application. The objective was to automate the grinding process in order to test the capabilities of the robot in a realistic industrial application.; The workspace as dictated by the geometry of the steel blank, together with the applied force as required by the grinding process, were used to specify the mechanical design. Appropriate pneumatic valves and actuators were selected after a review of alternate pneumatic circuit designs. The specification of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) together with supporting pressure transducers, proximity switches, and linear potentiometers completed the design. A Personal Computer (PC) based data acquisition system was commissioned to enable evaluation of the performance of the robot.; Laboratory based experiments were conducted on straight, inclined and curved edge geometries. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
