Enhancing recycling efficiency: A rapid glass bottle sorting gripper

Abstract

This paper introduces a high-speed gripper designed to enhance the efficiency of recycling, specifically for sorting reusable glass bottles. Traditional sorting methods often suffer from slow gripper operation, leading to limited throughput. To address this issue, a passive gripper mechanism is presented that minimizes operation time, thereby significantly improving sorting rates. The presented gripper utilizes a spring-based system, leveraging its energy storage capabilities. The force exerted by the gripper on glass bottles increases proportionally with their diameter, demonstrating force amplification through the spring mechanism via static analysis. Experimental validation across diverse glass bottles confirms to the gripper's effectiveness. Comparative studies with two commercially available grippers validate our design's high-speed. The result show a substantial increase in sorting time, suggesting its potential to revolutionize glass recycling. Furthermore, our proposed gripper exhibits minimized operational time as the manipulator's speed increases. By introducing mechanism, high-speed gripper, this work not only accelerates glass bottle sorting but also contributes to sustainable waste management. The synergy between innovative design and practical efficiency holds promise for advancing recycling technology. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.