Palletising and depalletising are the most common tasks in the area of in-house logistics. In the production, commissioning and distribution departments, and many other places, cardboard boxes, crates, containers and other packing materials have to be taken into stock, dispatched, stored or emptied, which means that they have to be handled, either manually or partly or fully auto-matically. The reasons for the many different handling methods are manifold, but one of the arguments against automation, apart from the fact that it is "too expensive", is that the grippers of robots and other handling systems are not flexible. This is now a thing of the past, since the new large-area vacuum grippers of the series "Palletizer SPZ-/S/M" from the vacuum specialist J. Schmalz GmbH in D-72293 Glatten, set new, higher standards with respect to application flexibility and thus universal use for goods of all types.

Based on only a few standard components and modules, the Palletizer is available in the two versions SPZ-S und SPZ-M, which differ only in that the version SPZ-M has an auxiliary mechanical gripper. The Palletizer is available in standard version, delivered ready for installation, for all standard pallet sizes and also in special versions for customer-specific pallets or load carriers. The Palletizers can lift either complete layers or individual items, regardless of how the items are arranged in the layer and of their sizes. However, all items are should have approximately the same height, but this problem can be overcome by equipping the Palletizer with the optional suction surfaces made of hard-wearing an flexible special foam or with individual suction pads, which can be arranged in any desired configuration.
 

The rapid deactivation of unused vacuum cells by means of special valves provides the necessary energy efficiency. The large-area vacuum gripper systems Palletizer SPZ-S/M weigh, at the most, 250 kg and can also lift a maximum load of 250 kg. The energy consumption for the vacuum supply depends on the size and the application, and lies between 4 und 15 kW. The Palletizers have the degree of protection IP 65 and are suitable for use in all areas, including deep-freeze warehouses (down to -30° Celsius). They can be mounted on portal or industrial robots and are controlled with I/O signals via a field-bus node. The integrated vacuum-monitoring function ensures safe operation and the fast reaction times during gripping and active blow-off of the loads permit very short cycle times. The Palletizers can handle goods of all types or complete pallet layers, and also the sheets of cardboard placed between the layers to stabilise the stacks. The customer has to make only one investment and can then palletise and depalletise to his heart's content.