International Journal of Engineering Technology and Construction, 2025, 6(1); doi: 10.38007/IJETC.2025.060108.
Bin Zhou, Tiesheng Liu, Zongwang Cai, Shufeng Zhang
Jingwei Systemtechnik Ltd., Ningbo City, China
To address the challenges of material fragility, complex shapes, and poor adaptability of traditional rigid clamping jaws and suction methods in automated handling of flexible materials, this study designed and optimised a new tail-end clamping jaw based on a variable-stiffness flexible parallel mechanism. A stiffness projection model was established for the rotating-side-chain flexible parallel mechanism, with fatigue life, parallel gripping performance, and modality characteristics evaluated through finite element analysis. A single-objective optimisation function incorporating compound weighting factors was formulated, followed by prototype fabrication and experimental validation of its grasping capability and stiffness adjustment. This research effectively resolves adaptability issues in flexible material transfer, providing a robust technical solution to enhance automation in the textile and medical industries. Research in the future will integrate machine vision and adaptive control algorithms to extend applications in complex operational scenarios.
Flexible Material Transfer, Variable-stiffness Flexible Clamping Jaws, Parallel Mechanism, Stiffness Control
Bin Zhou, Tiesheng Liu, Zongwang Cai, Shufeng Zhang. Clamping Jaw Structure for Automated Flexible Material Transfer Device Design and Optimisation Method. International Journal of Engineering Technology and Construction (2025), Vol. 6, Issue 1: 80-86. https://doi.org/10.38007/IJETC.2025.060108.
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