GB2566224A

GB2566224A - Filling device and method for filling micro-texture pits with solid lubricating material

Info

Publication number: GB2566224A
Application number: GB1900193.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Wang Yun; Lu Suwen; Xu Zhenying; Li Fuzhu; Cui Xigui; Yin Yan; Zeng Yawei; Yu Chao
Original assignee: Jiangsu University
Current assignee: Jiangsu University
Priority date: 2017-06-27
Filing date: 2017-07-10
Publication date: 2019-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-10
Also published as: GB2566224B; WO2019000485A1; CN107461597B; CN107461597A

Abstract

The invention provides a filling device and method for filling a micro-texture with a solid lubricating material. The device comprises a supporting system, a filling system, a multi-station mold rotation system, a locking system, a mold head spacing adjustment system, and a control system. By application of the multi-station mold rotation system and the mold head spacing adjustment system, continuous processing can be implemented, and filling requirements of different sizes and different pitch textures can be satisfied. The device can directly press solid lubricating material into a micro-texture of a workpiece surface, which is a purely physical filling method, without modifying properties of the workpiece. Moreover, the filling device is easily operated, has low requirements on working conditions, is efficient and low-cost, and can be easily automated.

Description

A filling device and the method for filling solid lubricant in micro texture

Technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of micro-size filling process, and it relates to a device and a method for filling solid lubricant in a pit of small size.

Background technique

According to statistics, 70% of mold failures are caused by friction and wear. So, it is essential to improve the tribological performance of molds. In recent years, the micro-texture has developed rapidly and is widely used in the fields of mold, aviation, and biology with the rise of bionics. To further improve the tribological properties of the friction counterparts, a variety of lubricants such as solid lubricant, lubricating oils, and greases are added to the micro-texture on the friction counterparts. Forming a layer of solid lubricating film on the surface is the sputter deposition usually, for which the control is complicated equipment and parameter setting are relatively high, and the deposition rate is slow. In addition, thick films formed are easy to crack. To make solid lubricant better fill the texture on the surface between the friction counterparts, a variety of processes are developed, such as hot-press curing of molds, heat-preservation and pressure-keeping curing methods, etc. However, the equipments for these methods are very complicated. And working conditions are also relatively demanding.

Summary of the Invention

In order to overcome the difficulty of filling and storing the solid lubricant in the micro-texture, the present invention provides a method and device for filling solid lubricant into micro-texture, which relates to the pressing of the solid lubricant into the texture and increasing the storage. The lubricant in the texture provides a long-standing lubricating between the friction counterparts and increases the service life of the friction counterparts.

A device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture comprises a filling system, a multi-station mold rotation system, a locking system, a spacing adjustment system of mold heads, and a controlling system.

The multi-station mold rotating system includes a first stepper motor, a first coupling, a main shaft, a driving wheel, a driven wheel, and a spline shaft. The driving wheel mentioned is a partial wheel and the driven wheel is a complete wheel, and the first stepper motor drives the main shaft by the first coupling. The driving wheel is mounted on the main shaf, and the driven wheel meshing with the driving wheel is mounted on the spline shaft by the key.

The filling system includes a fixed mold disc, a sliding mold disc, a mold, and a mold head. The molds with the mold heads are mounted on the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc, respectively, and the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc are both mounted on the spline shaft, to achieve axial positioning, and fixed mold disc is fixed by pin.

The locking system comprises a cam cover, a spring, a cam, and a pin shaft. The cam is fixed on the main shaft and concentric with the cam cover, the direction of the tooth of the incomplete driving wheel is installed in the same direction as the short axis of the cam. The surface of the cam and the bottom surface of the pin shaft are connected by the spring, so the outer cylindrical surface of the cam is always in contact with the bottom surface of the pin shaft, and some positioning holes are formed on the fixed mold disc. Further the pin shaft passing out of the cam cover cooperates with the positioning hole to achieve the locking function.

The spacing adjustment system of mold heads consists of a spline bearing housing, an intermediate connecting rod, a rail holder, a guide rail, a second stepper motor, a second coupling, a screw rod and a first supporting frame. Both ends of the guide rail are fixed on supporting column. One end of the screw rod connects with the second stepper motor by the second coupling. The second stepper motor is fixed on the supporting column by the motor frame, and the other end of the screw rod is fixed on another supporting column by the second supporting frame. The first supporting frame has threaded holes and is mounted on the screw rod, and the rail holder is mounted on the guide rail. The sliding mold disc is fixed on the rail holder by the intermediate connecting rod and also connected with the intermediate connecting rod by the second bearing, and the first supporting frame fixedly connects with the rail holder. The sliding mold disc can slide on the spline shaft under the drive of the screw rod. Both ends of the spline shaft are fixed on the guide rail by a connecting rod and the spline shaft is connected with the connecting rod by the first bearing. The first stepper motor is fixed on the connector by the second connecting support. The cam on the main shaft is fixed on the guide rail by the first connection support. The spline bearing housing mounted on the spline shaft is able to slide on the spline shaft, and the sliding mold disc is fixed to spline bearing housing by the bolts.

The controlling system includes a raster, a scale data acquisition and display apparatus and a second stepper motor controller. One end of the raster is mounted on the connecting rod and the other end is mounted on the connector, and the raster is electrically connected to the scale data acquisition and display apparatus, and the second stepper motor controller connects with the second stepper motor.

What is more, the supporting column and the guide rail are connected by the digital servo hydraulic cylinder. The guide rail is mounted on the digital servo hydraulic cylinder by a connector.

What is more, the mold head is integrated with the mold.

What is more, the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc are multi-station mold discs, and the circumferential surface is machined with M mounting screw holes which match the molds, and the number of positioning holes on the fixed mold disc is also M, the center line of the mounting screw hole and the positioning hole in corresponding direction are at the same level.

What is more, the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc are installed with the same mold head in the corresponding position.

The method to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture is comprised of the following steps:

First, the size of the mold head required for filling is determined according to the shape and size of the micro-texture of the friction pair, and two sets of molds with the mold heads that matches the cross-sectional shape of the texture are machined. They are respectively mounted on the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc.

Next, the first stepper motor drives the driving wheel to rotate, and the whirling of the driven wheel rotates the fixed mold disc at a certain station angle, making the required mold head rotate to the filling position. The driving wheel continuously rotates under the driving of the first stepper motor without meshing with the driven wheel and drives the cam to rotate independently, at the same time the outer cam surface in contact with the pin shaft changes from the short side to the long side, and the pin shaft is pushed into the positioning hole of the fixed mold disc, to achieve position lock.

According to the center distance of the two adjacent textures that will be filled, the second stepper motor controller controls the operation of the second stepper motor and drive the screw rod to rotate, so the first supporting frame can move and drive the sliding mold disc to slide on the spline shaft. In this case, the distance between the mold heads installed on the fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc is satisfied for the filling requirement.

Finally, the filling path is designed according to the characteristics of the micro-texture; if the distance between two adjacent textures is L, there are 2N textures in each row. The spacing L of the textures is generally small, so the spacing between the mold heads of the sliding mold disc and the fixed mold disk is set to NL in the filling process. 1st and nth textures of the first row will be filled first, then the table is translated in the direction of the textured row to drive the friction pair to move a distance L, so that the second and N+lth textures can be filled. After the 2N textures in the first row are filled, the next row begins to be filled in the same way, and so on. If there are 2N+1 textures per row, the first 2N textures of each row are filled in the same way as the former case, and the last texture is filled individually, or the last texture is filled in columns until all the textures are filled.

What is more, the mold head is processed according to the cross-sectional shape of the texture, and multiple mold heads can be used to fill one pit, and the smallest mold head are selected first and then the mold head is gradually increased in size. All the selected mold heads are smaller than the texture size.

What is more, a digital servo hydraulic cylinder in the supporting column is adjusted to change the vertical distance between the mold and the table, so it is possible to expand the range of friction pair that can be filled and control the amount of pressurization during filling.

The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

1. The fixed mold disc and the sliding mold disc are multi-station mold discs. The mold head required for filling can be adjusted by rotating the multi-station mold discs, so the texture of different sizes can be continuously filled, and integrated processing can be achieved. In addition, the procedure is easy.

2. The multi-station mold disc will be locked when rotated at a certain degree, and experiences re-turning and locking again, ensuring the normal to neutral between the mold and the friction counterpart. Additionally, it has high accuracy and good filling effect.

3. The screw between the mold and the mold plate can be dismantled; the mold with a certain size of the mold head can be replaced; the size and shape of the textures which are filled can be expanded. Therefore, this system can be applied widely.

4. The distance between the mold heads can be adjusted to meet the filling requirement of various micro-textures, it can be accurately adjusted according to the pitch of the surface texture, and solid lubricant can be filled without special requirements.

5. The device of the invention can press the solid lubricant into the micro-texture and this is a purely physical filling process. The equipment can be easily operated and is environmentally friendly and automated.

6. The device of the invention can compact the solid lubricant in the texture, increasing the amount of the solid lubricant that are stored in the texture and providing the surface with more lubrication, and thus increasing the service life of friction counterparts.

7. According to the method of the present invention, the solid lubricant is filled in the texture by a purely physical method, and there is no requirement on the temperature and the pressure, and no change in the performance of the friction counterpart will occur in the filling process. Moreover, the device can fill various textures.

Description of the drawings

FIG.l is a schematic of a micro-texturing filling device according to the present invention.

FIG.2 is a sectional view of the multi-station mold disc assembly.

FIG.3 is a three-dimensional view of spacing adjustment system of mold heads.

FIG.4 is a three-dimensional view of the multi-station mold rotating system and the locking system.

FIG.5 is a section view of the multi-station mold rotation system and the locking system.

FIG.6 is a three-dimensional view of the filling processing state.

FIG.7 is a three-dimensional view of process of filling.

FIG.8 is a path diagram of the space filling method.

In the picture:

1-First stepper motor; 2-First v=coupling; 3-Main shaft; 4-Large clamp spring; 5-Driving wheel; 6-Cam cover; 7-Spring; 8-Cam; 9-Pin shaft; 10-First connection support; 11-Bolt; 12-Driven wheel; 13-Spline shaft; 14-First bearing; 15-Small clamp spring; 16-Connecting rod; 17-Fixed mold disc; 18-Mold; 19-Mold head; 20-Spline bearing housing; 21-Sliding mold disc; 22-Second bearing; 23-lntermediate connecting rod; 24-Rail holder; 25-Guide rail; 26-Second stepper motor; 27-Second coupling; 28-Screw rod; 29-First supporting frame; 30-Second supporting frame; 31-Supporting column; 32-Digital servo hydraulic cylinder; 33-Connector; 34-Motor frame; 35-Grating ruler connector; 36-Raster; 37-Scale data acquisition and display apparatus; 38-Second stepper motor controller; 39-Second connection support; 40-Third bearing; 41-Pin; 42-Positioning hole; 43-Key.

Detailed description

The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG.l, the device for filling solid lubricant into the micro-texture according to the present invention comprises a filling system, a multi-station mold rotating system, a locking system, a spacing adjustment system of mold heads, and a controlling system.

As shown in FIG.2, the multi-station mold rotating system includes a first stepper motor 1, a first coupling 2, a main shaft 3, a driving wheel 5, a driven wheel 12, and a spline shaft 13. The driving wheel 5 is an incomplete wheel, and the driven wheel 12 is a complete wheel. The first stepper motor 1 drives the main shaft 3 by the first coupling 2, and the driving wheel 5 is installed on the main shaft 3. The driven wheel 12 is mounted on the spline shaft 13 via a key 43 and meshes with the driving wheel 5. The filling system includes a fixed mold disc 17, a sliding mold disc 21, a mold 18, and a mold head 19. The molds 18 with the mold heads 19 are mounted on the fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21, respectively. The fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 are mounted on a spline shaft 13. The fixed mold disc 17 and the spline shaft 13 are connected by a pin 41 to achieve axial positioning. The fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 are multi-position mold plates, and the circumferential surfaces are processed with M screw holes cooperated with molds 18, and the molds 18 with different sizes of mold heads 19 are connected to the multi-position molds by screws and they can be replaced. The mold head 19 and the mold 18 are integrated.

The multi-station mold rotation system mainly utilizes the driving wheel 5, an incomplete wheel, and the driven wheel 12,a full wheel, to mesh with each other, and drives the fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 to rotate at several station angles to convert different work. So, the mold head 19 required can be rotated to the machining position. During the movement, the driving wheel 5 drives the driven wheel 12 to rotate, which then drives the spline shaft 13, fixed mold disc 17, the sliding mold disc 21, and the spline bearing housing 20 to rotate. Thus, the connecting rod 16, connected by the first bearing 14 and the second bearing 22, and the intermediate connecting rod 23 do not rotate together with the spline shaft 13. As the multi-position mold plate is processed with M install threaded holes to match with molds 18, M molds 18 are installed and a single station angle is 360/M° . The incomplete wheel set meets the requirement that one round rotation of the driving wheel will only drive the driven wheel 12 to rotate 360/M° . If it is necessary to replace the molds 18 on the positions of N*360/M° , the driving wheel 5 rotates N laps.

As shown in FIG.4 and FIG.5, the locking system includes a cam cover 6, a spring 7, a cam 8, and a pin shaft 9. The cam 8 is a hollow cylinder. The inner cylindrical surface of the cam 8 is connected to the main shaft 3 by a key 43 and is placed on the inner surface of the cam cover 6, and a third bearing 40 is installed between the cam cover 6 and the main shaft 3. When the motor drives the main shaft 3, the cam cover 6 at both ends is fixed because of the third bearing 40. The teeth of driving wheel 5 is installed in the same direction as the minor axis of the cam 8, and the outer cylindrical surface of the cam 8 is connected to the bottom surface of the pin shaft 9 by the spring 7 which is always in tension. So the outer cylindrical surface of the cam 8 is always in contact with the bottom surface of the pin shaft 9. The fixed mold disc 17 is machined with positioning holes 42, and the number of the positioning holes 42 is M, so the centerlines of the mold mounting screw holes and the positioning holes 42 in all corresponding directions are in the same horizontal plane, and the dimensions of the molds 18 mounted on the corresponding positions are exactly the same. After the mold 18 is installed, the lengths of the mold heads 19 that exceed fixed mold disc 17 and sliding mold disc 21 in the corresponding positions are equal; during the filling processing, the vertical heights from the two molds to the friction counterpart are equal. The pin shaft 9 which passes out of the cam cover 6 can be engaged with the positioning hole 42 to achieve a locking function.

The direction of the tooth in the driving wheel 5 is installed in the same direction as the minor axis of the cam 8. When the driving wheel 5 meshes with the driven wheel 12, the pin shaft 9 contacts the short side of the cam 8, which separates from the positioning hole 42 on the fixed mold disc 17. When the driving wheel 5 and the driven wheel 12 do not mesh with each other, the driving wheel 5 drives the cam 8 to rotate independently, and the pin shaft 9 is pushed into the positioning hole 42 of the fixed mold disc 17. So, the circumferential positioning deadlock can be achieved. If the first stepper motor 1 is started to drive the cam 8 to rotate, the pin shaft 9 changes from the long side to the short side. Then, the pin shaft 9 is separated from the positioning hole 42 of the fixed mold disc 17, and unlocking can be achieved. After that, the mold head 19 can be changed during filling, and locking and unlocking requirements can be meet too.

FIG.3 shows the spacing adjustment system of mold heads. It includes a spline bearing housing 20, an intermediate connecting rod 23, a rail holder 24, a guide rail 25, a second stepper motor 26, a second coupling 27, screw rod28 and first supporting frame 29. Both ends of the guide rail 25 are fixed on the supporting columns 31 and the entire device is supported by the supporting columns 31. In this embodiment, a digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 is arranged between the supporting column 31 and the guide rail 25. The guide rail 25 is mounted on the digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 by the connector 33 which is fixed on the guide rail 25 using the bolt 11. The digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 can adjust the vertical distance of the mold 18 so various heights of the friction counterpart can be filled too; as a result, the filling range can be expanded and the downward movement can be accurately controlled during filling. One end of the screw rod 28 is connected to the second stepper motor 26 by the second coupling 27, and the second stepper motor 26 is fixed on the supporting column 31 by the motor frame 34. The other end of the screw rod 28 is fixed on the other supporting column 31 by the second supporting frame 30. The first supporting frame 29 machined with threaded holes is mounted on the screw rod 28 and the rail holder 24 is mounted on the guide rail 25, and the sliding mold disc 21 is fixed on the rail holder 24 via the intermediate connecting rod 23. The sliding mold disc 21 is connected with the intermediate connecting rod 23 by the second bearing 22, and the first supporting frame 29 is fixedly connected with the rail holder 24, and the sliding mold disc 21 can slide on the spline shaft 13 driven by the screw rod 28. Both ends of the spline shaft 13 are fixed on the guide rail 25 by the connecting rods 16; the spline shaft 13 is connected with the connecting rod 16 by the first bearing 14; the first bearing 14 on the spline shaft 13 can achieve axial positioning by the small clamp spring 15. The first stepper motor 1 is fixed on the connector 33 by the second connection support 39; the cam covers 6 are fixed to the guide rail 25 by the first connection support 10; and the spline bearing housing 20 is mounted on the splined shaft 13. The sliding mold disc 21 is fixed to the spline bearing housing 20 by bolts 11, and can slide on the spline shaft 13; the sliding mold disc 21 is fixed on the spline bearing housing 20 by bolts 11.

The control system includes a raster 36, a scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37, and a second stepper motor controller 38. The scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37 is mounted on the intermediate connection rod 23, and can slide on the raster 36. One end of the raster 36 is mounted on the connecting rod 16, and the other end is mounted on the connector 33 and is electrically connected with the scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37. Therefore, the distance between the mold heads can be displayed in real time. The second stepper motor controller 38 is coupled with the second stepper motor 26 .The scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37 feeds data back to the second stepper motor controller 38, which is mounted on the motor frame 34 fixed on the connector 33 by bolts 11. A second stepper motor 26 is mounted in the motor frame 34, which drives the screw to rotate by the second coupling 27, adjusting the distance between the mold heads.

In the filling process, the distance between the mold heads 19 can be adjusted according to the texture of the friction counterpart. The fixed mold disc 17 can rotate together with the spline shaft 13 without axial movement; the sliding mold disc 21 is mounted on the spline bearing housing 20 and can rotate together with the spline shaft 13 and slide on spline shaft 13, adjusting the spacing between mold heads 19. Specifically, the distance between the mold heads 19 is controlled by the screw rod 28. After measuring the distance by the raster 36, the scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37 can show it in real time, and feedback is sent to the second stepper motor controller 38 to accurately control the second steppr motor 26 that can drive the screw rod 28 to rotate, offsetting the displacement of the sliding mold disc 21 and the intermediate connecting rod 23. Thus, the distance between the mold heads 19 can be adjusted. In this device, the sliding mold disc 21 can move from the fixed mold disc 17 to the first bearing 14 and the sliding distance is 30 mm. The spline shaft 13 with various specifications can be processed to meet the requirements of sliding distance.

Since the mold head 19 required for filling micro-texture is small, it is processed with the mold 18 as a whole; the fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 are multi-station mold discs with M mounting threaded holes, which match with molds 18 on their circumferential surfaces. The centerlines of the mold mounting screw holes and the pin shaft positioning holes 42 in all corresponding directions are on the same horizontal plane, and the mold head 19 installed in the corresponding position has the same size. Moreover, two mold heads 19 can be filled at the same time to improve the filling efficiency. After the molds 18 are mounted on the multi-station mold disc, the length of the mold heads 19 beyond the fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 are equal at the corresponding position, making the vertical height from the mold head to the friction pair equal during the filling processing.

The specific filling method of the device of the present invention is as follows:

First, according to the shape of the micro-texture of the friction pair, two sets of mold heads 19 are designed, and they are mounted on the fixed mold disc 17 and the sliding mold disc 21 respectively. The cross-sectional size of mold head 19 is designed smaller than that of the micro-texture, as the micro texture typically have a diameter of 50 pm to 1 mm, the diameters of the cylindrical mold heads 19 ranges from 40pm to 1mm. If the micro-texture is rectangular or hexagonal, mold head 19 can be designed accordingly. If the micro-texture is parallel or reticulated, it can be filled successively. The multi-station mold disc can fill the pits by the mold heads 19 with various sizes: first, the smallest selected mold head 19 is used; then the size of the mold head 19 is increased. All mold heads 19 selected are smaller than texture, which is helpful to press. In the filling process, the mold head 19 can also squeeze the solid lubricant in the micro-texture many times for further compaction purposes.

In the filling process, the transfer and locking of the mold 18 are achieved using a multi-station mold rotation system and a locking system. The first stepper motor 1 drives the driving wheel 5 and the driven wheel 12 to rotate. The driven wheel 12 drives the spline shaft 13 to rotate, making the fixed mold disc 17 on the spline shaft 13 and sliding mold disc 21 rotate for a certain degree and the mold head 19 required to the filling position. When the driving wheel 5 meshes with the driven wheel 12, the short side of the cam 8 is in contact with the pin shaft 9, making pin shaft 9 separate from the positioning hole 42, so that the multi-station mold disc can rotate freely; the first stepper motor 1 continues to drive the driving wheel 5 to rotate, which does not mesh with the driven wheel 12 but drives the cam 8 to rotate. And the outer surface of the cam 8 in contact with the pin shaft 9 changes from the short side to the long side, making the pin 9 pass by the cam cover 6 and advance in the positioning hole 42 of the fixed mold disc 17, with the fixed mold disc 17 locked.

The spacing adjustment system of mold heads uses a second stepper motor controller 38 to control the operation of the second stepper motor 26, which drives the screw rod 28 to rotate. The first supporting frame 29 drives the sliding mold disc 21 to slide on the spline shaft 13, making the distance between the mold heads 19 meet the filling requirement. The digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 in the supporting column 31 is used to adjust the vertical distance of the mold 18 from the table so the range of the filling can be expanded, and the digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 can further accurately control the amount of press down during filling.

In the filling process, the space filling method is chosen here. FIGS.6, 7 and 8 show a three-dimensional map and a path diagram of the filling process. The solid lubricant is pressed into the texture by the mold 18 with mold head 19. The smallest size of the mold heads 19 will be first selected for the filling processing, and then the mold head 19 slightly smaller than the pit size is used for the filling and compaction, and the multi-station mold disc rotates the mold 18 in the above manner. In this device, when the fixed mold disc 17 is in close contact with the sliding mold disc 21, the minimum distance between the mold heads 19 is 2.5 mm. Since the center distance L between two adjacent texture is relatively small-generally several hundred micrometers, two adjacent textures cannot be filled with the molds 18, so the space filling method is chosen. If there are 2N textures per line, the distance of the mold head 19 is set to be NL during the actual filling process. 1st and Nth textures of the first row will be filled first, and the friction counterpart is translated in the direction of the row to move a distance L, to fill the 2nd and N+lth textures, and so on. After the 2N textures in the first row are filled, the next row begins to be filled in same way; if there are 2N+1 textures per row, the first 2N textures of each row are filled in the abovementioned manner, and the last texture is filled separately, or the last texture is filled in column.

In the present invention, the filling is a physical filling method. After the process is completed, the mechanical and chemical properties of the friction counterpart will not change.

The process of filling according to the present invention will be described below by a specific example:

For example, when the number of molds on the multi-station mold disc is 12; the texture a spherical pit; the diameter size 500 pm; the arrangement of the pit five-rows and five-columns, the filling method is as follows: first a 300 pm mold head 19 is used for filling, then 450 pm mold head 19 which is close to 500 pm will be chosen, and each size of mold head 19 will press multiple times to achieve compaction. As M is 12, one workstation angle is 30° .

First, the friction counterpart is installed below the multi-station mold disc with the position adjusted and fixed. According to the height of the friction counterpart, the protrusion of the digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 is adjusted so that the vertical height from the mold heads 19 to the friction counterpart can be adjusted.

Then, choose a mold 18 with a300 pm mold head 19, start the first stepper motor 1 which can drive the main shaft 3 and the driving wheel 5 to rotate, and the driving wheel 5 drive the driven wheel 12 to rotate. For a round of the driving wheel 5, the driven wheel 12 rotates for 30° . The incomplete wheel set rotates mold 18 with 300 pm mold head 19 to the filling position when the driving wheel 5 rotates for the given rounds. The first stepper motor 1 continues to drive the driving wheel 5 to rotate, which will not mesh with the driven wheel 12. The driving wheel 5 drives the cam 8 to rotate independently, and the outer surface of the cam contacting the pin shaft 9 changes from the short side to the long side. The pin shaft 9 is advanced into the positioning hole 42, then the first stepper motor 1 is closed, and positioning lock in the circumferential direction can be achieved.

After rotating of the mold head 19, the position of the sliding mold disc 21 can be adjusted so that the distance between the mold heads 19 can meet the filling requirement. Starting of the second stepper motor 26 drives the screw rod 28 which can further drive the intermediate connecting rod 23 to slide on the guide rail 25. The intermediate connecting rod 23 can drive the sliding mold disc 21 to slide on the spline shaft 13, so the position of the sliding mold disc 21 can be adjusted. In addition, the raster 36 can measure the distance between the mold heads 19 very accurately, so the scale data acquisition and display apparatus 37 can show the measured values in real time and feeds it back to the second stepper motor controller 38 and the rotation of the second stepper motor 26 can be controlled. As a result, the position of the sliding mold disc 21 is accurately offset and the distance between the mold heads 19 can be accurately adjusted.

After rotating of the mold 18, the distance between the mold heads 19 is adjusted, and the filling process begins. Since the pits are arranged in five rows and five columns and the distance between two adjacent pits is L, the distance between the mold heads 19 is set to be 2L during the filling process. The first and third pits of the first row are filled first, then the second and fourth pits, followed by the fifth pit separately. The pits are filled row by row until all the pits are filled.

The digital servo hydraulic cylinder 32 accurately adjusts the depression during the filling. First, a 300 pm mold head 19 press the lubricant into the pits. Then the 450 pm mold head 19 is replaced. For mold replacing, the first stepper motor 1 need to be activated again to drive the cam 8 to rotate, and the outer cam surface that contacts the pin shaft 9 is changed from the long side to the short side. Since the spring 7 is always in tension, the pulling force of the spring 7 slowly pull the pin shaft 9 out of the positioning hole 42 and the driving wheel 5 drives the cam 8 until the pin shaft 9 is completely removed from the positioning hole 42, making the fixed mold disc 17 unlock. Then, such operation of the multi-station mold rotating system is repeated and the 450 pm mold head 19 rotates to the filling position to press and fill the pits. As a result, the 500 pm texture can be filled.

The above is a preferred embodiment of present invention and the scope of the present disclosure fully encompass other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture comprises a filling system, a multi-station mold rotation system, a locking system, a spacing adjustment system of mold heads, and a controlling system.

The multi-station mold rotating system includes a first stepper motor (1), a first coupling (2), a main shaft (3), a driving wheel (5), a driven wheel (12), and a spline shaft (13). The driving wheel (5) mentioned is a partial gear and the driven wheel (12) is a complete gear, and the first stepper motor (1) drives the main shaft (3) by the first coupling (2). The driving wheel (5) is mounted on the main shaft (3), and the driven wheel (12) meshing with the driving wheel (5) is mounted on the spline shaft (13) by the key (43).

The filling system includes a fixed mold disc (17), a sliding mold disc (21), a mold (18), and a mold head (19). The molds (18) with the mold heads (19) are mounted on the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21), respectively, and the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21) are both mounted on the spline shaft (13), to achieve axial positioning, and fixed mold disc (17) is fixed by pin (41).

The locking system comprises a cam cover (6), a spring (7), a cam (8), and a pin shaft (9). The cam (8) is fixed on the main shaft (3) and concentric with the cam cover (6), the direction of the tooth of the incomplete driving wheel (5) is installed in the same direction as the short axis of the cam (8). The surface of the cam (8) and the bottom surface of the pin shaft (9) are connected by the spring (7), so the outer cylindrical surface of the cam (8) is always in contact with the bottom surface of the pin shaft (9), and some positioning holes (42) are formed on the fixed mold disc (17). Further the pin shaft (9) passing out of the cam cover (6) cooperates with the positioning hole (42) to achieve the locking function.

The spacing adjustment system of mold heads consists of a spline bearing housing (20), an intermediate connecting rod (23), a rail holder (24), a guide rail (25), a second stepper motor (26), a second coupling (27), a screw rod (28) and a first supporting frame (29). Both ends of the guide rail (25) are fixed on supporting column (31). One end of the screw rod (28) connects with the second stepper motor (26) by the second coupling (27). The second stepper motor (26) is fixed on the supporting column (31) by the motor frame (34), and the other end of the screw rod (28) is fixed on another supporting column (31) by the second supporting frame (30). The first supporting frame (29) has threaded holes and is mounted on the screw rod (28), and the rail holder (24) is mounted on the guide rail (25). The sliding mold disc (21) is fixed on the rail holder (24) by the intermediate connecting rod (23) and also connected with the intermediate connecting rod (23) by the second bearing (22), and the first supporting frame (29) fixedly connects with the rail holder (24). The sliding mold disc (21) can slide on the spline shaft (13) under the drive of the screw rod (28). Both ends of the spline shaft (13) are fixed on the guide rail (25) by a connecting rod (16)and the spline shaft (13) is connected with the connecting rod (16) by the first bearing (14). The first stepper motor (1) is fixed on the connector (33) by the second connecting support (39). The cam (8) on the main shaft (3) is fixed on the guide rail (25) by the first connection support (10). The spline bearing housing (20) mounted on the spline shaft (13) is able to slide on the spline shaft (13), and the sliding mold disc (21) is fixed to spline bearing housing (20) by the bolts (11).

The controlling system includes a raster (36), a scale data acquisition and display apparatus (37) and a second stepper motor controller (38). One end of the raster (36) is mounted on the connecting rod (16) and the other end is mounted on the connector (33), and the raster (36) is electrically connected to the scale data acquisition and display apparatus (37), and the second stepper motor controller (38) connects with the second stepper motor (26).

2. A device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture according to claim 1, wherein the supporting column (31) and the guide rail (25) are connected by the digital servo hydraulic cylinder (32). The guide rail (25) is mounted on the digital servo hydraulic cylinder (32) by a connector (33).

3. The device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture according to claim 1, wherein the mold head (19) is integrated with the mold (18).

4. A device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture according to claim 1, wherein the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21) are multi-station mold discs, and the circumferential surface is machined with M mounting screw holes which match the molds (18), and the number of positioning holes (42) on the fixed mold disc (17) is also M, the center line of the mounting screw hole and the positioning hole (42) in corresponding direction are at the same level.

5. A device to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture according to claim 4, wherein the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21) are installed with the same mold head (19) in the corresponding position.

6. The method to fill the solid lubricant in the micro-texture according to claim 1, is comprised of the following steps:

First, the size of the mold head required for filling is determined according to the shape and size of the micro-texture of the friction pair, and two sets of molds (18) with the mold heads (19) that matches the cross-sectional shape of the texture are machined. They are respectively mounted on the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21).

Next, the first stepper motor (1) drives the driving wheel (5) to rotate, and the whirling of the driven wheel (12) rotates the fixed mold disc (17) at a certain station angle, making the required mold head (19) rotate to the filling position. The driving wheel (5) continuously rotates under the driving of the first stepper motor (1) without meshing with the driven wheel (12) and drives the cam (8) to rotate independently, at the same time the outer cam surface in contact with the pin shaft (9) changes from the short side to the long side, and the pin shaft (9) is pushed into the positioning hole (42) of the fixed mold disc (17), to achieve position lock.

According to the center distance of the two adjacent textures that will be filled, the second stepper motor controller (38) controls the operation of the second stepper motor (26) and drive the screw rod (28) to rotate, so the first supporting frame (29) can move and drive the sliding mold disc (21) to slide on the spline shaft (13).In this case, the distance between the mold heads (19) installed on the fixed mold disc (17) and the sliding mold disc (21) is satisfied for the filling requirements.

Finally, the filling path is designed according to the characteristics of the micro-texture; if the distance between two adjacent textures is L, there are 2N textures in each row. The spacing L of the textures is generally small, so the spacing between the mold heads of the sliding mold disc (21) and the fixed mold disk (17) is set to NL in the filling process. 1st and nth textures of the first row will be filled first, then the table is translated in the direction of the textured row to drive the friction pair to move a distance L, so that the second and N+lth textures can be filled. After the

2N textures in the first row are filled, the next row begins to be filled in the same way, and so on.

If there are 2N+1 textures per row, the first 2N textures of each row are filled in the same way as the former case, and the last texture is filled individually, or the last texture is filled in columns until all the textures are filled.

7. The filling method according to claim 6, wherein the mold head (19) is processed according to the cross-sectional shape of the texture, and multiple mold heads can be used to fill one pit, and the smallest mold head (19) are selected first and then the mold head (19) is gradually increased in size. All the selected mold heads (19) are smaller than the texture size.

8. The filling method according to claim 6, wherein a digital servo hydraulic cylinder (32) in the supporting column (31) is adjusted to change the vertical distance between the mold (18) and the table, so it is possible to expand the range of friction pair that can be filled and control the amount of pressurization during filling.