JP2000343024A - Inspecting method of lubricant applying state on rolling bearing and inspecting device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect whether a lubricant is applied or not when the lubricant is injected only to the inside of a rolling bearing by optically detecting the applying state of the lubricant. SOLUTION: This device is for inspecting whether a specific quantity of the lubricant is discharged from a lubricant discharge device for injecting the lubricant to the inside of the rolling bearing 4 or not. Whether the lubricant is applied or not to the rolling bearing 4 is inspected based on the output from a light receiving element 16 by irradiating a part between a discharge port 6 of the lubricant discharge device and the rolling bearing 4 with laser beam L1 and receiving the reflected laser beam L2, reflected from the lubricant at the time of discharging the lubricant from the discharge port 6, by the light receiving element 16 arranged on an optical axis of the reflected laser beam L2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inspecting the state of lubricant applied to a rolling bearing for inspecting whether or not a lubricant has been applied to the inside of the rolling bearing. The present invention relates to a technique for optically detecting a lubricant and inspecting an applied state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Rolling bearings for hard disk drives and rolling bearings that are particularly susceptible to contamination used in vacuum equipment are manufactured by injecting a small amount of lubricant onto the rolling elements or between pockets of a cage. A lubricant film is formed inside. In such a method of applying a lubricant, it is important whether or not the lubricant is reliably discharged from a nozzle for injecting the lubricant. If the discharge is incomplete, the rolling bearing becomes poorly lubricated, and this rolling is performed. This will cause trouble in the bearing device using the bearing.

As a general method of applying a lubricant to a rolling bearing, the following method can be mentioned. For example, JP-A-64
JP-46011 discloses an oil plating method in which a lubricant is lightly applied to a bearing raceway surface and the like, and JP-A-8-303467 discloses an assembled rolling bearing immersed in a lubricant. Then, a method of performing centrifugal de-oiling by lifting up is described. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-1934 / 1993
No. 3 describes a method of immersing a bearing in a lubricant and then evaporating petroleum benzene contained in the lubricant.

[0004]

However, in the lubricant application method disclosed in the above publication, grease is applied from the outside of the rolling bearing or the entire rolling bearing is immersed in lubricating oil. The lubricant adheres to, for example, the bearing inner diameter surface, the bearing outer diameter surface, the side surface, and the like other than the rolling surface and the sliding surface. Then, at the time of actual use of the rolling bearing, the attached lubricant diffuses and contaminates the inside of the device in which the rolling bearing is incorporated, which is a factor that significantly deteriorates the performance of the device.

Therefore, the present applicant has proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-370097 a method of injecting a lubricant for selectively applying a lubricant only to the inside of a rolling bearing requiring a lubricant. However, in this lubricant injection method, the lubricant supply tank may become empty, or the lubricant may not be injected due to a failure of the device or the like. In such a case, it is necessary to issue an alarm or to discharge the bearings to which the lubricant has not been injected so that the bearings are not sent to the subsequent process, or to stop the device. This is particularly important when mass producing bearings in which lubricant is injected only inside.

For this reason, it is important to perform a 100% inspection to determine whether or not the lubricant has been injected into the inside of the rolling bearing, and to judge whether or not the lubricant is good. In the method described in the above publication, however, the lubricant is applied. Only the treatment is performed, and none of the methods inspects the state of application of the lubricant after the application. Therefore,
There is a problem that it is unclear whether the finished rolling bearing is properly coated with a lubricant.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when the lubricant is injected only into the inside of the rolling bearing, whether or not the lubricant is applied is detected by optically detecting the application state of the lubricant. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for inspecting the application of a lubricant to a rolling bearing for inspecting whether or not it is applied, and an inspection apparatus therefor.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a method and an apparatus for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant to a rolling bearing according to the present invention are provided by a method for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant into a rolling bearing. A method and an apparatus for inspecting a lubricant application state of a rolling bearing for inspecting whether or not a specified amount of lubricant is discharged, wherein a laser beam is provided between a discharge port of the lubricant discharging apparatus and the rolling bearing. And receiving a reflected laser beam reflected by the lubricant when the lubricant is discharged from the discharge port by a light receiving element disposed on the optical axis of the reflected laser beam. It is characterized in that whether or not a lubricant has been applied to the rolling bearing is inspected based on the output from the element.

According to the method and the apparatus for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant on a rolling bearing, when a lubricant is injected into the inside of the rolling bearing from the discharge port of the lubricant discharge device, for example, the tip of the discharge port is filled with a lubricant. While discharging the lubricant by bringing the balls close to each other, a laser beam is irradiated between the discharge port and the rolling bearing, and the reflected laser light reflected by the lubricant is received by the light receiving element. Since the light receiving element is arranged on the optical axis of the reflected laser beam, if the specified amount of lubricant is not discharged, the reflected laser beam is reflected in another direction,
Alternatively, there is no reflection, and no light is received by the light receiving element. As described above, since the output changes in accordance with the presence or absence of the reflected laser beam, it is possible to determine whether or not the specified amount of lubricant has been discharged based on the output from the light receiving element. Can be inspected.

As a specific inspection device for performing the method for inspecting the lubricant application state of the rolling bearing, there are a discharge device for injecting a predetermined amount of lubricant into the inside of the rolling bearing, a discharge port of the discharge device and a rolling bearing. A laser beam projector for irradiating a laser beam between the laser beam projector and a laser beam receiver for receiving the reflected laser beam, the laser beam from the laser beam projector being arranged on the optical axis of the reflected laser beam reflected by the lubricant And an inspection apparatus for inspecting whether or not the lubricant is applied to the rolling bearing based on an output from the laser beam receiver.

In this inspection device for inspecting the lubricant application state of the rolling bearing, when a predetermined amount of lubricant is injected into the inside of the rolling bearing by the discharge device, a laser beam projector is used to provide a gap between the discharge port of the discharge device and the rolling bearing. Irradiate a laser beam,
The laser beam from the laser beam projector is reflected by a lubricant and the reflected laser beam is received by a laser beam receiver. It is checked whether or not the lubricant has been discharged from the discharge device based on the output from the laser beam receiver at this time. In other words, when the specified amount of lubricant is discharged, the reflected laser beam from the lubricant is detected, and when the specified amount of lubricant is not discharged, the reflected laser beam is directed in another direction. Is no longer detected.

Since the reflected laser beam enters the laser beam receiver only when the lubricant is discharged from the discharge device, the reflected laser beam is no longer detected by the laser beam receiver after the discharge is completed, and the laser beam is not detected. The output of the light receiver only exhibits a large level change momentarily. In order to detect such an instantaneous change in output with high sensitivity, it is desirable to reliably detect the output of the light receiver that changes at the time of light reception by interposing a peak hold circuit.

Further, the discharge of the lubricant from the discharge device into the inside of the rolling bearing and the inspection of the applied state may be performed for each ball individually and sequentially, or may be performed for each ball at once. . In the case of performing the test for each ball at a time, only one inspection may be performed on behalf of the inspection of the lubricant application state.
Inspection can be simplified. The laser beam projector and the laser beam receiver may be individually arranged to increase the degree of freedom in design, but use an integrated device for simplifying the assembly work and adjustment work of the inspection apparatus. You may.

[0014] Other methods for inspecting the state of application of the lubricant and the inspection apparatus include the following.
That is, a method for inspecting the lubricant application state of a rolling bearing for inspecting whether or not a predetermined amount of lubricant has been discharged from a lubricant discharging device for injecting a lubricant into the inside of a rolling bearing, and the inspection device therefor, The lubricant is added with a substance that emits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet light, irradiates the rolling bearing with ultraviolet light while shielding external light, and images the rolling bearing irradiated with the ultraviolet light. The present invention is characterized in that the application state of the lubricant is inspected based on the presence or absence of the fluorescence projected on the captured image.

In the method and apparatus for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant, the application surface emits fluorescence when a prescribed amount of lubricant is discharged and applied. The condition can be checked quickly.

As the fluorescent additive, for example, an amine-based antioxidant which does not impair the lubricity of the lubricant can be used.

As a specific inspection apparatus for performing the method for inspecting the lubricant application state of the rolling bearing, there is provided a lubricant for injecting a lubricant added with a substance which emits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet rays into a rolling bearing. An inspection device for inspecting whether or not a predetermined amount of lubricant has been discharged from a discharge device, which is a lubricant application state inspection device for a rolling bearing, and a light-shielding hood for shielding a rolling bearing to be inspected from external light. A black light provided in the light shielding hood for irradiating the rolling bearing with ultraviolet light, and a video camera for capturing an image of the rolling bearing irradiated with ultraviolet light by the black light. The application state of the lubricant is inspected based on the presence or absence of the emitted fluorescence.

In this inspection apparatus, the rolling bearing irradiated with ultraviolet light by the black light is imaged by a video camera, so that when a predetermined amount of lubricant is applied to the rolling bearing, fluorescent light is applied to the captured image by a predetermined area. If it is projected and not applied, the projected area of the fluorescent light may be smaller than a predetermined area or may not be projected. It is checked whether or not a predetermined amount of lubricant has been discharged from the lubricant discharge device based on the projected area of the fluorescence.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a method for inspecting the application of a lubricant to a rolling bearing and an inspection apparatus therefor according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of a liquid fixed-rate discharge device (hereinafter, abbreviated as a discharge device) for discharging a lubricant to a rolling bearing, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing details of a portion A in FIG. FIG. 3 and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a plan view as seen from the direction C in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge device 1 includes a discharge device main body 2 having a plunger pump (not shown) for discharging a lubricant therein, and a discharge device main body 2 having a lower end side. Discharge unit 3 provided for discharging lubricant to the outside
A lubricant injection nozzle 5 for injecting a lubricant into the rolling bearing 4 is provided at the tip of the discharge unit 3. The discharge device 1 is replenished with, for example, liquid lubricating oil from the outside, and is capable of discharging a lubricant from a lubricant injection nozzle 5 by driving a plunger pump. In this embodiment, a plunger pump (model PM502) manufactured by Unicontrols Co., Ltd. is used, and the lubricant injection nozzle 5 has an outer diameter of 1.5 mm or less and an inner diameter of 0.1 mm.
A tube having a diameter of about 2 mm to 1.0 mm was used. The stroke length of the plunger pump can be adjusted by a so-called micrometer-type stopper, whereby the discharge amount of the lubricant can be appropriately adjusted. The lubricant may be a liquid lubricant or a semi-solid lubricant such as grease. In the discharge device 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the discharge port 6 at the tip of the lubricant injection nozzle 5 is disposed immediately above the ball 10 held by the retainer 13 between the outer ring 11 and the inner ring 12 of the rolling bearing 4. Then, a predetermined amount of lubricant is discharged at regular intervals by a pump drive unit described later.
Is controlled to be discharged onto the ball 10.

When a lubricant is applied to the ball 10, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a predetermined fixed amount of the lubricant O is applied to the ball 10 from the discharge port 5 positioned just above the ball 10. Discharge. This operation is performed for all the balls 10. As a result, the lubricant infiltrates between the outer ring 11, the inner ring 12, and the retainer 13 with the subsequent rotational movement of the ball 10. In this embodiment, since the discharge device 1 is fixed, it is necessary to control the position of the ball 10 immediately below the lubricant injection nozzle 5 in order to apply the lubricant. Therefore, the outer ring 11 is fixed by a jig (not shown), and one of the balls 10 is moved to a position directly below the lubricant injection nozzle 5 by rotating the inner ring 12. The method of positioning the ball 10 is not limited to this, and may be a method in which the inner ring 12 is fixed and the outer ring 11 is rotated, or a method in which the entire jig is rotated together with the bearing. Further, a method of moving the lubricant injection nozzle may be used.

Next, an inspection method for inspecting whether or not the lubricant has been discharged from the lubricant injection nozzle 5 of the discharge device will be described. In the present embodiment, the laser beam projector as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 (hereinafter abbreviated as projector) 15 with laser light L ₁ is irradiated to the discharge position of the lubricant from the case where lubricant is applied By receiving the reflected laser beam L ₂ with a laser beam receiver (hereinafter abbreviated as a light receiver) 16, the application state of whether or not the lubricant is accurately discharged and applied to the surface of the ball 10 is determined. inspect. More specifically, when the lubricant is accurately discharged, an oil droplet of the lubricant is formed by the surface tension between the surface of the ball 10 and the discharge port 6 of the lubricant injection nozzle 5 as shown in FIG. You. When the oil droplet is irradiated with the laser beam L ₁ , the reflected laser beam L ₂ from the surface of the oil droplet is incident on the light receiver 16. And the light receiver 1
6 generates a voltage substantially proportional to the intensity of the received laser beam.

Incidentally, the light receiver 16 is provided with the reflected laser light L _2.
When receiving, it if the oil droplets not ejected specified amount of lubricant is not formed, the reflected light from the surface of the ball 10 by the irradiation position of the laser beam L ₁ is incident directly to the light receiver 16 is there. Then, despite the lubricant is not discharged, the lubricant results in a possibility of mistaken ejected normally as the reflected laser beam L ₂ is detected. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the laser beam L ₁ projected from the projector 11
The mounting positions of the light projector 15 and the light receiver 16 are set so that the angle between the rolling bearing 4 and the axis perpendicular plane H is as acute as possible. Therefore, the laser beam L projected from the projector 15 is prevented so that the laser beam does not interfere with the outer ring of the rolling bearing.
_The light projector 15 is arranged so that ₁ is substantially tangential to the rolling element pitch circle of the rolling bearing. Specifically, ball 1
The projection angle α of the laser light to 0 is set to an angle of, for example, 30 ° or less so as to be an acute angle with respect to the horizontal plane H as shown in FIG. Further, the angle between the projector 11 and the light receiver 12, the light receiver 12 to a position where the reflected laser beam L ₂ from the oil droplets of the ball 10 as shown in FIG. 4 is obtained with sufficient strength
Is set by placing.

In the case of a small-diameter bearing, a small amount of lubricant is injected, and it is desirable that the discharge port 6 of the lubricant injection nozzle 5 and the ball 10 are sufficiently close to each other for accurate injection. . Then, the ejection port 5 and the ball 10 which are sufficiently approached
To irradiate the laser beam L ₁ between is the spot diameter of the laser beam L ₁ is required to be very small.

Next, the configuration of the coating state inspection apparatus 20 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. A laser drive unit 21 for driving and controlling the laser beam projector 15 and a pump drive unit 22 for driving a plunger pump of the discharge device 1
And a bearing ring rotation drive unit 23 for rotating the bearing ring of the rolling bearing 4 so that the position of the ball 10 and the position of the discharge port 6 of the lubricant injection nozzle 5 coincide with each other. It is connected to a control unit 25 that controls the operation. In addition, the reflected laser light from the oil droplets
6, a peak hold circuit 2 for receiving an output signal from the light receiver 16 when the reflected light is received and holding the peak level of the output signal when the reflected light is received.
7 and an OK / NG determination circuit 28 that receives an output signal from the peak hold circuit 27 and determines whether or not the lubricant has been discharged. Then, the control unit 25 outputs a reset signal for canceling the holding of the peak level of the peak hold circuit 27 at a timing described later. An NG product discharging device 48, a display 49, and an alarm device 50 are connected to the control unit 25. The control unit 25 discharges the bearing 47 by the NG product discharging device 48 based on a signal of the determination circuit 28. . At this time, the display 49 and the alarm device 50 are selectively operated.

Next, a method of detecting the state of application of the lubricant to the rolling bearing 4 will be described. First, the rolling bearing 4 is attached to a fixing jig of a coating device (not shown), and the lubricant injection nozzle 5 is mounted.
And the ball 10 of the rolling bearing 4 are aligned. Various methods are conceivable as the positioning method. For example, the position of the ball 10 is changed by rotating the inner ring 8 by the orbital ring rotation driving unit 23, and the laser beam is similarly transmitted from the projector 15 by the laser driving unit 21 as described above. And the position is detected by detecting the intensity of the reflected laser beam by the light receiver 16. According to this method,
The rotational position where the reflected laser light intensity increases and peaks is
The position where the ball 10 is irradiated with the laser beam has a certain distance from the position where the ball 10 is arranged immediately below the discharge port 6 of the lubricant injection nozzle 5. The size of this gap is determined by the positional relationship including the directions of the light emitter 15, the light receiver 16, and the bearing 4. Therefore, the rotation angle of the inner ring corresponding to the size of the gap is measured in advance and stored in the control device 25, and the stored angle is further rotated from the rotation position at which the reflected laser light intensity peaks, The ball 10 is disposed immediately below the discharge port 6 of the lubricant injection nozzle 5.

In this positioning method, when the balls 10 are moved one by one and the lubricant is applied, the balls 10 may be moved each time for the purpose of accurate positioning. Ball 1
If the number of zeros is known, the position of the ball 10 can be simply set by detecting the position of the ball 10 at only one location and rotating the index by a predetermined fixed angle with respect to the other balls 10. Good.

After the ball 10 is aligned, the peak level is held in the peak hold circuit 27 by the reflected light from the ball 10, so that the reset signal is sent from the control unit 25 to return the voltage level to the original level. The drive signal (lubricant discharge operation signal) V ₁ is supplied from the control unit 25 to the pump drive unit 22 at time t ₁ shown in FIG. 6, and the discharge device 1 discharges the lubricant. Since the discharge device 1 is of the type in which the plunger is driven to extrude the lubricant, the discharge operation signal V
There is a time lag from the input of ₁ until the lubricant is actually discharged from the discharge port 6. When the lubricant at the time of t ₂ is discharged from the discharge port 6, the instantaneous large variation in the output signal V ₂ of the light receiver 16 is caused.

[0029] When the voltage level of the output signal V ₂ is largely changed as shown in FIG. 6, this level change, is detected by the peak hold circuit 27 shown in FIG. 5, the output signal V ₃ of the peak hold circuit 27 is V _L From VH to _VH . The OK / NG determination circuit 28 according to the two states of V _{H and} V _L
Determines whether the lubricant has been discharged. Then, based on the determination result from the OK / NG determination circuit 28, when the lubricant discharge is normal, the control unit 25 uses the voltage level of the output signal set to V _H in the peak hold circuit 27 as the original level. A peak hold reset signal for resetting to a state is output. Further, the control unit 25 rotates the inner ring by the orbital ring rotation drive unit 23 to perform the positioning of the next ball 10 in order to apply the lubricant to the next ball 10 and to inspect the lubricant. On the other hand, when the discharge of the lubricant is abnormal, the control unit 25 outputs an abnormal signal to issue an alarm, stop the application of the lubricant, stop the machine, or determine that the bearing is defective. NG emission. As a result, it is possible to prevent the rolling bearing having an abnormal application of the lubricant from flowing out to a subsequent process. The above process is repeated until the lubricant is applied to all the balls 10.

As described above, in the method for detecting the application of the lubricant in the present embodiment, the ball 10 is positioned close to immediately below the discharge port 6 for discharging the lubricant, and then the lubricant is discharged onto the ball 10. Further, laser light is emitted from the side to detect the presence or absence of reflected laser light in a specified direction. that time,
The reflected light of the laser light is generated only in a short period of time when the lubricant is discharged, but by using the peak hold circuit 27, a change in the output signal from the light receiver 16 is detected with high sensitivity, and the instantaneous output signal is detected. This can be detected with high accuracy without overlooking even a change in. In addition, since the light emitter 15 and the light receiver 16 are separated from each other, the degree of freedom in designing and adjusting the installation of the device can be increased.

According to the apparatus for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant having the above-described configuration, when a large number of rolling bearings into which a lubricant is injected are mass-produced, it is possible to automatically inspect whether or not the lubricant has been injected into all of the rolling bearings. Thus, the quality and reliability of the rolling bearing can be improved and the cost can be reduced.

Next, a second embodiment of the lubricant application state inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition,
The present embodiment is characterized in that the light emitter and the light receiver are integrated with each other, and the same reference numerals are given to the functional parts, and the duplicate description will be omitted.
In the present embodiment, a laser sensor 31 in which a light emitter and a light receiver are integrated is used. According to this configuration, the angles of the laser beams L ₁ and L ₂ are adjusted, that is, the light projector 15 and the light receiver 1 are adjusted.
Adjustment of the angle and the like set by the installation position of the device 6 becomes unnecessary, and the assembling work of the coating state inspection device and the configuration of the entire device can be greatly simplified. In addition, as the light projector 11 and the light receiver 12 of this embodiment, for example,
A laser projection / reception device LZ-155 manufactured by Keyence can be used.

Next, a third embodiment of the lubricating oil application state inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment lies in a configuration in which a plurality of balls 10 provided in the rolling bearing 4 are simultaneously applied with lubricating oil and detected. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of lubricant injection nozzles 5 are provided in the discharge device 32 corresponding to the number of balls 10 of the rolling bearing 4. Although five lubricant injection nozzles 5 are shown on one side in FIG. 8, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, when seven balls 10 are provided, seven lubricant injection nozzles 5 are provided. Although not shown, the discharge device 32 includes one plunger pump and a distribution chamber connected to the plunger pump, and is branched to each lubricant injection nozzle 5 at a lower end side of the distribution chamber. By driving the pump, the lubricant is uniformly pushed out to all the lubricant injection nozzles 5. Therefore, by driving the pump in the same manner as in the above embodiment, the application of the lubricant to all the balls 10 can be completed once. For this reason, the lubricant discharge process can be simplified and the speed can be increased.

On the other hand, when inspecting the state of application of the lubricant, since a substantially equal amount of the lubricant is discharged from each lubricant injection nozzle 5, it is necessary to inspect only one location to check the lubricant application state of all the locations. I can understand. Also, as described above, the laser light
The reliability of the inspection may be improved by irradiating the balls 10 one by one to perform the inspection. Furthermore, a plurality of balls 10
May be configured to perform detection by simultaneously irradiating a laser beam to the light source. In this case, since the detection is performed by a plurality of detection systems,
The reliability of the inspection can be further improved and the speed can be increased.

In the first to third embodiments, the lubricant is discharged to the ball 10 of the rolling bearing 4. However, for example, the lubricant may be discharged onto the cage between the balls. May be discharged. The lubricant can be applied not only to the lubricating oil but also to a grease-like solid lubricant.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the lubricant application state inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of the application state inspection device of the present embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the flow of signals for inspecting the application state of the lubricant. In the present embodiment, an amine-based antioxidant that emits fluorescence when excited by ultraviolet light is added to the lubricant. In the rolling bearing to which the lubricant is applied, the surface to which the lubricant is applied emits fluorescence by being irradiated with the ultraviolet rays. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the lubricant is applied properly or not by determining whether the fluorescence is emitted. . The amine antioxidant of the present embodiment is, for example, IRGANOX L0 manufactured by Ciba Specialty Chemicals Co., Ltd.
6 can be used.

Next, the coating state inspection apparatus 40 of the present embodiment
Will be described. The application state inspection device 40 includes a mounting table 41 for fixing the rolling bearing 4 to which the lubricant has been applied, a light-shielding hood 42 for preventing the visible light from illuminating the rolling bearing 4 on the mounting table 41, A black light blue fluorescent lamp 43 that is provided in the hood 42 and irradiates the rolling bearing 4 with near-ultraviolet light, and a video camera 44 that images the rolling bearing 4 irradiated with near-ultraviolet light from above is provided. As shown in FIG. 10, the image data is input to the control unit 46 via the image processing device 45.

The black light blue fluorescent lamp 43 is
A fluorescent lamp in which a near-ultraviolet emitting phosphor is applied in a glass tube using a dark blue special filter that efficiently transmits near-ultraviolet light, and has a wavelength of 300 nm to 400 nm.
(Peak wavelength of 370 nm). The black light blue fluorescent lamp 44 is formed in a ring shape, and its upper part is covered by a lamp cover 47 having a reflective film formed on the inner surface. The video camera 44
It comprises an image pickup device 44a such as a CCD, a condenser lens 44b, and an infrared cut filter 44c for noise cut.

Next, a method for detecting the state of application of the lubricant according to the present embodiment will be described. The rolling bearing 4 coated with the lubricant is placed on the mounting table 41, and the black light blue fluorescent lamp 43 is turned on to irradiate the near-ultraviolet light to the rolling bearing 4. Then, the video camera 44 captures an image of the rolling bearing 4 irradiated with the near ultraviolet rays. In the captured image at this time, since the lubricant receives ultraviolet rays and emits fluorescence, the surface on which the lubricant is applied is projected white, and the area where the lubricant is not applied does not emit light but is projected as black. . An image signal of such a captured image is input to the image processing device 45 shown in FIG. The image processing device 45 binarizes the input image signal and extracts only a white portion projected by the fluorescent light. Then, the total area of the white portion is calculated and compared with the data of the preset white portion area. As a result of the comparison, if the calculated total area is equal to or larger than the set value, it is determined that the lubricant application state is good, and if it is small, it is determined that the lubricant is bad. The result of the determination of OK or NG is sent to the image processing device 45.
The signal is output to the control unit 46 connected to. Control unit 46
When the OK signal is input, the rolling bearing 4 is controlled to be carried out to a subsequent process, and when the NG signal is input, the rolling bearing 4 is discharged as a defective product and an alarm is generated.

If the black light blue fluorescent lamp 43 is kept on during the application detection, the temperature becomes high and infrared rays are emitted. When this infrared ray is reflected by the rolling bearing 4 and enters the CCD 44a, CC
The electric charge is accumulated in D44a and appears as noise in the output image signal Va. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the video camera 44 is provided with an infrared cut filter 44c to remove infrared rays. According to this configuration, accurate coating detection can be continuously performed without noise appearing in the output image signal Va even when coating detection is repeatedly performed.

Since the lubricant application state detecting device 40 in the present embodiment can be incorporated in an automatic machine for applying the lubricant to the rolling bearings 4, the application state inspection can be performed in-line with respect to all the rolling bearings 4. it can. When the lubricant is not applied for some reason or when there is a poor application, the N
By discharging the rolling bearing from the line according to the G signal or automatically stopping the machine automatically, it is possible to prevent the rolling bearing determined to be defective from flowing out to the subsequent process. Therefore, defective products are prevented from being mixed in the rolling bearing product, and a high-quality rolling bearing can be produced.

[0042]

According to the method and apparatus for inspecting the state of application of a lubricant on a rolling bearing according to the present invention, a laser beam is irradiated between a discharge port of a lubricant discharging apparatus and the rolling bearing to discharge the lubricant. The reflected laser beam reflected by the lubricant when the lubricant is discharged from the outlet is received by the light receiving element arranged on the optical axis of the reflected laser beam, and the rolling bearing is lubricated based on the output from the light receiving element. Check whether the agent has been applied. As a result, the rolling bearing with poor coating does not flow out to the subsequent process, the reliability of the rolling bearing itself is improved, and the reliability of equipment using the rolling bearing can be prevented from being reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of a liquid fixed-quantity discharge device for discharging a lubricant to a rolling bearing.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing details of a portion A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view as viewed from a direction B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view seen from a direction C in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a coating state inspection device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating waveforms of a lubricant discharge operation signal, an output voltage of a laser beam receiver, and an output voltage of a peak hold circuit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser sensor of a coating state inspection apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the vicinity of a lubricant injection nozzle of a coating state inspection device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a coating state inspection apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a signal flow for inspecting a lubricant application state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1,32 Liquid quantitative discharge device 3 Injection unit 4 Rolling bearing 5 Lubricant injection nozzle 6 Discharge port 10 Ball 11 Outer ring 12 Inner ring 15 Laser beam projector 16 Laser beam receiver 20, 40 Coating state inspection device 25 Control unit 27 Peak hold circuit 28 OK / NG determination circuit 25, 46 control unit 26, 27, 28 drive circuit 31 laser sensor 44 black light blue fluorescent lamp 44 video camera 45 image processing device O lubricant

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) // B05D 3/00 B05D 3/00 D 4F042 (72) Inventor Michiharu Naka Michiharu Kugenuma 1, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa F-term (reference) No. 5-50 Nippon Seiko Co., Ltd. (Reference) 2F065 AA58 DD03 DD13 FF01 FF42 GG03 GG17 HH02 JJ00 JJ03 JJ26 LL21 QQ05 QQ25 2G051 AA90 AB20 BA05 BA10 BB17 CA04 CB01 3J101 AA42 AA52 GAA AC02 AC91 DA31 DC16 EA37 4F041 AA04 AA17 AB01 BA05 BA22 BA38 4F042 AB00 BA22 DH09

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method and an apparatus for inspecting a lubricant application state of a rolling bearing for inspecting whether or not a predetermined amount of lubricant has been discharged from a lubricant discharging apparatus for injecting a lubricant into a rolling bearing. Irradiating a laser beam between the discharge port of the lubricant discharge device and the rolling bearing, when the lubricant is discharged from the discharge port, reflected laser beam reflected by the lubricant, Lubricating a rolling bearing, comprising: receiving light by a light receiving element disposed on an optical axis of a reflected laser beam; and inspecting whether or not a lubricant is applied to the rolling bearing based on an output from the light receiving element. An inspection method and an inspection device for an agent application state.