Evaluation of suction force focusing on suction cup area of elliptical micro suction cup array

In this study, we evaluated the suction forces focusing on suction cup area of circler micro suction cup arrays and elliptical micro suction cup arrays. We fabricated two kinds of both micro suction cup arrays and measured the suction forces in vertical and two parallel directions to the suction surface. It was confirmed that the suction forces in the three directions increased with the increase of the suction cup area. The linearly approximated gradients of the suction forces to the suction cup area were almost same in vertical direction and the long axis direction both circular and elliptical micro suction cup arrays whereas that of elliptical micro suction cup array in the short axis direction was smaller than that of circular micro suction cup array. This result means that by changing the cup shape from circular to elliptical keeping the cup area same, only the characteristics of suction force in the parallel direction to the suction surface can be change.