GRABO quality engineering

GRABO is a reliable and rapidly developing brand!
Initially focused on amphibious vehicles for use in harsh environments, GRABO systems are flexible, reliable and always innovative. GRABO tools are carefully designed to simplify your lifting needs.

Vacuum Lifters: A Positive Force for Change!

GRABO’s trademark technology strives to make heavy lifting easier. GRABO’s state-of-the-art tools make lifting easy. We know this is a positive change, no matter where our customers are in the world.

GRABO tools are innovative and carefully developed and tested. We know what builders and installers are looking for in state-of-the-art technology. Making larger workplaces more comfortable and flexible is our constant goal.

We are proud to host research and development engineers worldwide. From Shenzhen to San Francisco, Israel and Hong Kong, we are very spread out. Our research and development experts live and fuel new tool innovations. We never stop looking for ways to make everyday processes a little easier!

Here are some of the innovations we’re known for:


We work with state-of-the-art technology. Our tools use sea level compaction and fabrication hardware. We also use electronic upgrades commonly found in drone manufacturing.
Our vacuum lifting technique is fully patented. We develop unique tools to effortlessly lift heavy material.
Our long arm extensions make lifting ergonomic.
We also develop intelligent tools. Our products come with digital sensors to advise on lifting capacity.
You can also manage multiple GRABOs remotely with remote plugins.
We also support high flow vacuum pumping – excellent support for dry materials and porous plates.
You can even control GRABO tech very quickly via the app and Bluetooth!
We never stop innovating. Our products are constantly evolving and working at the highest possible level. Quality end-user experiences are naturally what we strive for in everything we do.


Vacuuming porous materials.

Porous surfaces are among the most difficult to lift and move. This is because this type of surface or panel contains small holes or gaps that allow air to move. For example, you can expect a porous surface to be made of wood, concrete, or even ceramic. The fact is that many suction and lifting tools cannot hold or handle a porous surface because they cannot complete the vacuum.

A regular vacuum works well on clean, flat surfaces, but rarely deals with porosity. Even if the spaces are microscopic, maintaining the gaskets is difficult. Although you can hold the suction cup for a few seconds or more, it will not stick.

Vacuum fluctuations are difficult to manage with normal suction. This is why GRABO is leading the vacuum lifter technology industry.

We develop tools that benefit from patented air balancing. The important thing is that the GRABO tool draws more air through the engine than it can get through the porous surfaces. This requires a lot of calculations because it is more than a simple ratio or balance! But at a basic level, it’s pumping out more air than your porous surface is losing.

We design our suction cup tools based on Murray’s Law methods. Essentially, this means that we consider mass variation, force transfer, and molecular diffusion. The equations are often quite complex – but GRABO’s engineers are highly adept at this level of analytics.

Engineers design tools based on your air transfer rate and the surface in question. By multiplying the flow rate by the surface area, we can find out how powerful our pumps need to be.

We have designed and developed our tools to work with the most awkward and complex surfaces. If you are interested in more information, check out our table below!

The amount of current required from GRABO to maintain a strong vacuum seal on a porous surface is generally described by the generalised Murray’s Law formula:

where X is the ratio of mass variation during mass transfer in the main pore, the exponent α depends on the type of transfer. For laminar flow, α = 3; for turbulent flow α = 7/3; for molecule or ion diffusion α = 2; etc

The flow rate is multiplied by the area under the seal at a given pressure difference, resulting in the flow rate and power of the GRABO internal electric pump.

But as interesting as the engineering is, GRABO users don’t have to worry about the science. All you need to know is that GRABO is designed to work well with the most common porous materials in the industry.

For maximum lift capabilities, see the “Lift in Different Conditions” table at the bottom of this page.

GRABO Gripper technology:

What is a vacuum gripper (GRABO)?

The vacuum gripper consists of a rigid base element and a loop-shaped vacuum seal element. The base element has first and second opposite sides. The sealing element is at least indirectly attached to the second side and extends therefrom away from the first side. The sealing element includes a contact surface that at least partially contacts the object surface and a surrounding surface oriented transversely to the contact surface to define a chamber. The sealing element is elastically deformable on the contact surface in order to allow, on the contrary, to be pushed to conform to the surface of the object. The vacuum gripper includes air extraction means mounted on the first side in fluid communication with the chamber through the main member and configured to continuously extract air from the chamber, causing the contact surface to advance toward the surface of the object and to be pressed against the grip.

 

The above describes the core of GRABO, an electric vacuum gripper capable of attaching itself to various surfaces using a powerful constant-flow air pump and unique sealing technology.

Pressure and force are related, so you can calculate one if you know the other using the physics equation P = F / A. Since pressure is force divided by area, its units of metre-kilogram-second (MKS) are newtons per square metre, or N/m2.

 

GRABO uses powerful air pumps that provide both high flow rates (10 litres per minute up to 500 litres per minute on some models) and high pressure deltas (commonly referred to as “strong suction”, “strong vacuum” or “low pressure”) up to -0.85 bar.

From a technical point of view, a small vacuum pump can produce a huge holding force effect even with a small air flow. For example, a typical centrifugal vacuum pump (such as in vacuum cleaners) can lift a water column of 200 cm (vacuum pressure is often measured in “CM h20”. 200 cm H2o equals 0.2 bar). This means that when it is fully closed, a pressure of 0.2 bar is applied to the surface. However, the total force of the lifting device is proportional not only to the pressure, but also to the area.

So to find the actual “holding force” of an electric suction cup like the GRABO, the pressure delta must be multiplied by the surface area of the vacuum chamber.

 

In our case, a pressure delta of 0.85 bar (or 85000 pascal) multiplied by the area of a typical GRABO vacuum chamber (- 0.0282 M ^ 2) gives a force of 2400 Newtons or 240 Kg. The actual “safe lifting” power quoted on the products is usually 30-50% lower, so you will likely see a “120kg maximum lifting capacity” note on GRABO, which is capable of lifting much higher loads under ideal conditions.

Porous materials slightly complicate our above calculation. When lifting porous material – higher airflow is required to compensate for air leaks and maintain adequate vacuum. This is where GRABO high flow air pumps come into play.

While low flow – high pressure delta pumps can theoretically allow heavy loads to be lifted by gradually reducing the air pressure in the air chamber, the real world works a little differently.

When lifting pieces of plywood, dry wood or other porous materials, the average pressure changes from a maximum of 0.85 bar to a value determined by a complex combination of the air flow rate provided by the pump and the porosity of the material.

HIGH TECH PRODUCTION ROOM

Would you like to learn more about how GRABO’s electric lifting technology is made? We strive for impeccable product quality. That’s why we make sure our tools leave the assembly lines only when they meet our exacting and exacting standards.

Why not take a behind-the-scenes look at our assembly line? Don’t forget to inquire about aftercare, warranty and more.