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

International audienceThis 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

A new contactless conveyor system for handling clean and delicate products using induced air flows.

International audienceIn this paper, a new contactless conveyor system based on an original aerodynamic traction principle is described and experimented. This device is able to convey without any contact flat objects like silicon wafer, glass sheets or foodstufff thanks to an air cushion and induced air flows. A model of the system is established and the identification of the parameters is carried out. A closed-loop control is proposed for one dimension position control and position tracking. The PID-controller gives good performances for different reference signals. Its robustness to object change and perturbation rejection are also tested

Robust control of a planar manipulator for flexible and contactless handling

International audienceMany industries require non-contact and flexible manipulation systems, such as magnetic or pneumatic devices. In this paper, we describe a one-degree-of-freedom position control of an induced-air-flow surface. This device allows to convey objects on an air cushion using an original aerodynamic traction principle. A model of the system is established and the parameters are identified experimentally. A H1 robust controller is designed and implemented on the device in order to control the object position. Experiments with objects of various dimensions and materials are conducted and showed the robustness capabilities of the controller

A survey of non-prehensible pneumatic manipulation surfaces : principles, models and control.

International audienceMany manipulation systems using air flow have been proposed for object handling in a non-prehensile way and without solid-to-solid contact. Potential applications include high-speed transport of fragile and clean products and high-resolution positioning of thin delicate objects. This paper discusses a comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art pneumatic manipulation from the macro scale to the micro scale. The working principles and actuation methods of previously developed air-bearing surfaces, ultra-sonic bearing surfaces, air-flow manipulators, air-film manipulators, and tilted air-jet manipulators are reviewed with a particular emphasis on the modeling and the control issues. The performance of the previously developed devices are compared quantitatively and open problems in pneumatic manipulation are discussed

3-DOF potential air flow manipulation by inverse modeling control.

International audiencePotential air flows can be used to perform nonprehensile contactless manipulations of objects gliding on airhockey table. In this paper, we introduce a general method able to perform 3-DOF position control of an object with potential air flow manipulators. This approach is based on an inverse modeling control scheme to perform closed-loop position servoing. We propose to use a linear programming algorithm to determine which sinks have to be activated in order to produce the suitable potential air flow to obtain the desired object motion. This approach is then validated on an experimental manipulator

Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 48

This special bibliography lists 291 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in August 1974

Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 55

This bibliography lists 260 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1975

A cumulative index to Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography, January 1975

A cumulative index to the abstracts contained in NASA SP-7307 (41) through NASA SP-7037 (52) is presented. Subject, personal author, corporate source, contract, and report number indexes are included

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 529 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in May 1980