JP3932392B2 - Air chuck - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air chuck that grips an object such as a workpiece by a pair of gripping members that are opened and closed by air pressure, and more particularly to an air chuck that is suitable for use in a clean room.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as an air chuck used for gripping and transporting an object such as a workpiece, a pair of gripping members for gripping the object is assembled to the chuck body so as to be opened and closed, and these gripping members are attached to the body. A device that is opened and closed by an air-driven piston disposed in an inner cylinder hole is known.
In this type of air chuck, when the pair of gripping members are closed, the gripping members may stop operation when they collide with each other. Part will be worn out and dust will be generated.
And when using an air chuck in a place where dust is disliked such as in a clean room, it is necessary to take measures against the generation of the wear powder.
In order to prevent the generation of such wear powder, the piston stroke may be set so that it stops immediately before the pair of gripping members collide with each other when designing the air chuck. It is difficult to always stop the gripping member at a desired position unless the accuracy of the mechanism for converting to the opening / closing operation of the gripping member is increased.
In addition, if the gripping member is designed to stop sufficiently before the mutual collision instead of improving the accuracy, not only will there be a lot of structural waste, but the amount of compressed air used to drive the air chuck will also be increased. Waste will occur.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The technical problem of the present invention is to stop the gripping members immediately before the collision when closing the gripping members of the chuck, to prevent the collision and to eliminate the generation of wear and wear powder.
Another technical object of the present invention is to prevent the above-mentioned collision between gripping members of a chuck by a simple means.
Still another technical problem of the present invention is that the stop positions of the pair of gripping members can be easily adjusted immediately before colliding with each other without improving the accuracy of the mechanism for converting the piston operation into the opening / closing operation of the gripping member. Is to make it.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, an air chuck according to the present invention includes a chuck body having a cylinder hole therein, a piston that is slidably inserted into the cylinder hole and is air-driven in an axial direction, and a cylinder hole A pair of opening and closing members that are assembled to the chuck body and are driven in a direction intersecting the axis of the rod to grip or release the object. The end member is screwed into the cylinder hole so that the position of the end member can be adjusted. The end member abuts against one end of the piston to limit the stroke length. settable width in a range where the pair of gripping members do not collide with each other, provided with a threadedly engaging a groove in the end member of the cylinder bore, on the outside, the ene Screwed a fixing nut for fixing the position of the member, to the fixed nut, it is characterized in that it has opened a hole which allows the disengagement of the threadedly tool relative to the threadedly for locking groove.
[0005]
In the air chuck having the above-described configuration, the gripping member moves and grips the object by driving the piston in the cylinder hole of the chuck body. The position of the gripper can be adjusted in the gripping operation. By restricting the stroke length of the piston by screwing the screwed end member, the closed width of the gripping member can be set to a minute interval within a range where the pair of gripping members do not collide with each other. The members can be stopped immediately before the collision to prevent the occurrence of wear and wear powder by preventing the collision, and can be used even in a clean room or the like that does not like dust.
Further, the setting of the closing width of the gripping member can be performed very easily because the end member is only screwed to limit the stroke length of the piston, and is converted into an opening / closing operation of the gripping member. Even if the accuracy of the mechanism is not improved, the gripping member can be stopped at a desired position with a very simple configuration.
[0006]
In the present invention, a guide block having a guide mechanism for linearly moving the gripping member in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the rod, and the gripping member is engaged through the through-hole provided in the guide block, and the operation of the rod And a pair of levers that convert the opening / closing operation of the gripping member, and the pair of levers are incorporated into a recess provided at the end of the chuck body, and the guide block is positioned so as to cover the recess. A suction / discharge path for discharging dust to the outside can be opened in the recess in the chuck body, which ensures that dust generated by gripping operation is scattered into a clean room. To be prevented.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1 to 3 show an embodiment of an air chuck according to the present invention. The air chuck of this embodiment includes a chuck body 1 provided with a cylinder hole 2 therein, and slides in the cylinder hole 2. A piston 3 that can be inserted and driven by air in the axial direction, an end member 4 that hermetically closes one end of the cylinder hole 2 in the upper part of the chuck body 1, and the chuck body 1 are assembled to the piston 3. A pair of openable and closable gripping members 5 and 5 that are driven to grip or release an object, and a pair of levers 9 and 9 that convert the operation of the rod 6 integral with the piston 3 into the opening and closing operation of the gripping members 5 and 5. And a guide block 15 having a guide mechanism for moving the gripping members 5 and 5 linearly.
[0009]
The chuck body 1 has ports 10 and 11 communicating individually with the head side and the rod side of the piston 3, and these ports 10 and 11 are open on the side surfaces of the chuck body 1. Therefore, when compressed fluid is supplied to and discharged from the head side and the rod side of the piston 3 in the cylinder hole 2 through the ports 10 and 11, the piston 3 and the rod 6 are reciprocated in the cylinder hole 2.
[0010]
A recess 8 is formed at the lower end of the chuck body 1, and the tip of the rod 6 is led out and disposed in the recess 8, and the operation of the rod 6 is controlled by the gripping members 5, 5. A pair of substantially L-shaped levers 9 and 9 for converting to an opening / closing operation are provided.
The lever 9 is pivotally supported at its intermediate portion by a pin 17 on the chuck body 1, and the drive pin 6 a at the tip of the rod 6 is fitted and locked into a concave notch 9 a provided at the base end of the lever 9. Therefore, the tip end side of the lever 9 engaged with the engagement hole 5a of the gripping member 5 is rotated by a certain angle by the upward or downward movement of the rod 6.
In the case of this embodiment, as shown in the right half of FIG. 1, the levers 9 and 9 cause the gripping members 5 and 5 to close when the piston 3 moves up, while the levers 9 and 9 As shown, when the piston 3 moves down, the gripping members 5 and 5 are opened.
[0011]
Further, a guide block 15 is attached at a position covering the recess 8 in the chuck body 1 so as to close the recess 8.
The guide block 15 includes a guide mechanism that linearly moves the grip members 5 and 5 in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rod 6 on the lower surface. This guide mechanism has a groove 16 extending in the longitudinal direction of the guide block 15, and a large number of rolling elements are accommodated in a retainer between the side walls of the groove 16 and the gripping member 5. Thus, the gripping members 5 and 5 are slidably assembled in the concave groove 16. The levers 9 and 9 have their tip portions 9 a and 9 a led out downward from through holes 15 a and 15 a formed in the concave groove 16 in the guide block 15, respectively, and are slidable in the concave groove 16. The gripping members 5 and 5 are engaged with the engagement holes 5a and 5a.
[0012]
Inside the concave portion 8 of the chuck body 1 is opened a suction / discharge passage 12 for sucking and discharging dust such as wear powder generated by the operation of the gripping member 5 and the rod 6. When using an air chuck, the dust is surely prevented from being scattered to prevent contamination of the surrounding environment.
The suction / discharge path 12 communicates with a discharge port 13 provided on the lower side of the chuck body 1, and dust is sucked and discharged from the discharge port 13 to the outside.
[0013]
A screw groove portion 2a is formed on the upper side of the cylinder hole 2 by a certain distance, and the end member 4 is screwed into the screw groove portion 2a so that the position thereof can be adjusted.
The end member 4 restricts the stroke length by abutting against one end of the piston 3 when the piston 3 moves up, and the end member 4 is screwed to adjust the position. Thus, the closed width of the gripping members 5 and 5 can be set within a range where the gripping members 5 and 5 do not collide with each other.
In this embodiment, as the end member 4 is pushed down, the closed width of the gripping member 5 is set to be gradually wider.
[0014]
Note that a protrusion 20 is integrally formed on the surface of the end member 4 that contacts the piston 3, and when the end member 4 and the piston 3 are in contact with each other, compressed air is applied to the head side of the piston 3. However, in place of the projecting portion 20, a thin plate-like cushioning member such as rubber or synthetic resin is attached to the surface, and the impact when the end member 4 and the piston 3 come into contact with each other is applied. It may be possible to buffer.
[0015]
On the outer surface of the end member 4, there is provided a screw locking groove 4a for inserting a screw tool for screwing the end member.
A fixing nut 7 is screwed into the outside of the end member 4 in the cylinder hole to securely fix the position of the end member 4. The fixing nut 7 is provided with a hole 7a that allows the screw tool to be engaged with and disengaged from the screw locking groove 4a of the end member, so that the position of the end member 4 can be easily adjusted. ing.
[0016]
The air chuck having the above-described configuration supplies a compressed fluid from the port 10 to the head side of the cylinder hole 2 of the chuck body 1 and air-drives the piston 3 and the rod 6. On the other hand, when the compressed fluid is supplied from the port 11 to the rod side of the piston 3 and the head side is exhausted, the gripping members 5 and 5 grip the object.
During this gripping operation, the end member 4 is screwed into the cylinder hole 2 so that the position of the end member 4 can be adjusted. Therefore, the end member 4 is screwed to limit the stroke length of the piston 3, thereby Since the closing width can be set to a minute interval in a range where the gripping members 5 and 5 do not collide with each other, the gripping members 5 and 5 can be stopped immediately before the collision. Can be prevented, and the generation of wear and wear powder can be eliminated, and it can be used with confidence even in a clean room that does not like dust.
[0017]
Furthermore, the closing width of the gripping members 5 and 5 can be set very easily because the end member 4 is only screwed to limit the stroke length of the piston 3. , 5 can be stopped at a desired position by a very simple configuration without improving the accuracy of the mechanism for converting into the opening / closing operation of.
[0018]
In addition, since the air chuck having the above-described configuration has no waste in terms of configuration and space for setting the closed width of the gripping members 5 and 5, it prevents the overall length of the air chuck from being shortened and the entire size from being reduced. Nor.
[0019]
In the above embodiment, the gripping members 5 and 5 are opened and closed by the rod 6 of the piston 3 by the substantially L-shaped levers 9 and 9, but the gripping member 5 is opened and closed by levers of various structures. Of course, it can be configured to do so.
Furthermore, the guide mechanism is not limited to the mechanism described above, and any mechanism can be used. The guide mechanism linearly moves the gripping members 5 and 5 in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rod 6. It doesn't have to be a thing.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described in detail above, according to the air chuck of the present invention, the end member is screwed into the cylinder hole so that the position of the end member can be adjusted during the gripping operation of the gripping member. The stroke width of the gripping member can be limited, and the closing width of the gripping member can be set to a minute interval in a range where the pair of gripping members do not collide with each other, whereby the gripping members are stopped immediately before the collision, The collision can be prevented and generation of wear and wear powder can be eliminated, and it can be used even in a clean room or the like that dislikes dust.
Further, the setting of the closing width of the gripping member can be performed very easily because the end member is only screwed to limit the stroke length of the piston, and is converted into an opening / closing operation of the gripping member. Even if the accuracy of the mechanism is not improved, the gripping member can be stopped at a desired position with a very simple configuration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an embodiment of an air chuck according to the present invention. However, the right half shows a state where the piston is moved up and the gripping member is closed, and the left half shows a state where the piston is moved down and the gripping member is opened.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a right side view of the embodiment of FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Chuck body 2 Cylinder hole 3 Piston 4 End member 4a Screw locking groove 5 Holding member 6 Rod 7 Fixing nut 7a Hole 8 Recess 9 Lever 12 Suction / discharge path 15 Guide block

Claims (2)

A chuck body having a cylinder hole therein, a piston that is slidably inserted into the cylinder hole and is air-driven in an axial direction, an end member that hermetically closes one end of the cylinder hole, and the chuck body And a pair of openable and closable gripping members that are driven in a direction crossing the axis of the rod by the movement of the rod provided on the piston to grip or release the object,
The end member is screwed into the cylinder hole so that the position thereof can be adjusted. The end member abuts against one end side of the piston to limit the stroke length, thereby reducing the closed width of the gripping member between the pair of gripping members. to be set in a range that does not collide with the,
The end member in the cylinder hole is provided with a screwing locking groove, and a fixing nut for fixing the position of the end member is screwed on the outside of the end member, and the fixing nut is screwed into the screwing locking groove. Opened a hole to enable and disengage the moving tool,
An air chuck characterized by that.   2. The air chuck according to claim 1, wherein the guide block includes a guide mechanism that linearly moves the gripping member in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the rod, and engages with the gripping member through a through-hole provided in the guide block. And a pair of levers that convert the movement of the rod into an opening / closing operation of the gripping member, and the pair of levers is incorporated in a recess provided at the end of the chuck body and covers the recess The guide block is mounted on the chuck body, and a suction discharge path for discharging dust to the outside is opened in the recess in the chuck body.

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