Design and application of a flexible fabric transfer manipulator

ABSTRACT

The pick-up and transfer of easily deformable multi-layer fabrics is a challenge in the automation process of the textile industry. A transfer manipulator using interfacial adhesion forces has potential applications in the pick-up and transfer of fabrics. However, rapid adhesion and detachment cannot be achieved because of the small variability of adhesion and detachment forces between the fabric and the adhering material, which results in difficulty of picking and placing of fabric. To address this problem, in this study, an innovative pressure and strip manipulator structure is designed, utilizing the fabric gesture presented during the fabric peeling process to adjust the peel angle, and thereafter affect the adhesion force. The factors affecting the adhesion force, such as peeling speed, duration, and preload are analyzed, and a control method to regulate the adhesion force by peeling speed and the gap between the adhesion element and positioning block is proposed. Based on the interface adhesion force, the transfer manipulator can realize low-cost, high-stability, and high-efficiency fabric picking, which has good prospects for application in fabric production.

KEYWORDS:

• Pick-up manipulator
• fabric transfer
• adhesion and detachment control
• peel-off angle

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00218464.2023.2280007

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Technology for High-end Equipment, Tsinghua University, a key project of Open Fund (SKLTKF22A02). The Natural Science Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20230591)