JP2005061424A - Linear motion guiding device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the noise resulting from a collision of two rolling elements with each other without bringing about a rise of the cost. <P>SOLUTION: The length L of the slider body 16 in the longitudinal direction of a guide rail 11 is made 20-50 times greater than the installing pitch of the rolling elements 13 so that two slides are not required for one guide rail, and it is made unnecessary for making the tapping process for a bolt hole in which a coupling bolt is engaged, for example in case where the slider body is formed from a plurality of split blocks. A spacer 22 made of a soft material more than the material to form a rolling elements 13 is installed between each pair of rolling elements 13, and undesirable contact of two rolling elements in between is suppressed by the spacer 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a linear motion guide device used as a machine part for guiding a linearly moving object such as a linear motion table in a moving direction thereof in a general industrial machine or a transport device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, linear motion guide devices used in general industrial machines and conveying devices are a guide rail and a plurality of linearly formed guide rails extending from one end in the longitudinal direction to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the rail. A slider body having a plurality of slider-side rolling element raceway grooves respectively opposed to the rail-side rolling element raceway grooves, a pair of end caps covering both end faces of the slider body, and a slider composed of the slider body and the end caps. Rolling between the rail-side rolling element raceway groove and the slider-side rolling element raceway groove with relative linear motion, and the rolling element direction changing path formed in the end cap, and the rolling element formed in the slider body And a large number of rolling elements that roll on the return path.
[0003]
In such a linear motion guide device, the rolling element that has rolled on the rolling element rolling path between the rail-side rolling element raceway groove and the slider-side rolling element raceway groove passes through the rolling element direction changing path and the rolling element return path. When trying to enter the rolling element rolling path, it collides with the rolling element in front and generates noise. In particular, when two sliders are provided for one guide rail, there is a problem that noise due to collision between rolling elements is generated from the two sliders and the noise level increases.
Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the following patent document discloses a structure in which the length of the slider body along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail is longer than that in the past and two sliders are not required for one guide rail. 1 is disclosed.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-46050
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the linear motion guide device disclosed in the above document, the slider body is composed of a plurality of divided blocks, a connecting plate that connects these divided blocks, and a number of connecting bolts that fix the connecting plate to the divided blocks. Therefore, it is necessary to tap the bolt holes to be screwed with the connecting bolts into the divided blocks. For this reason, the tapping process of the bolt hole requires a lot of time and cost, and there is a problem that the cost increases.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a linear motion guide device that can reduce noise caused by collision between rolling elements without causing an increase in cost. To do.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a guide rail and a plurality of rail-side rolling element tracks formed linearly on the guide rail from one longitudinal end of the rail to the other longitudinal end. A slider main body having a plurality of slider-side rolling element raceway grooves respectively opposed to the grooves, a pair of end caps covering both end faces of the slider main body, and a relative linear motion of the slider constituted by the slider main body and the end cap. Along with this, rolling between the rail-side rolling element raceway groove and the slider-side rolling element raceway groove and a rolling element direction changing path formed in the end cap and a rolling element return path formed in the slider main body. In the linear motion guide device provided with a large number of rolling elements that roll, the length of the slider main body along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail is set to 20 to 20 of the arrangement pitch of the rolling elements. 0 times the length Satoshi, and is characterized in that the spacer made of the soft material than the material forming the rolling elements provided between the rolling elements.
[0007]
According to such a configuration, a long slider can be obtained without tapping bolt holes that are screwed into the coupling bolts into the divided blocks as in the case where the slider body is constituted by a plurality of divided blocks. Since two sliders are not required for the guide rail, it is possible to reduce noise caused by collision between rolling elements without causing an increase in cost. In addition, by providing a spacer made of a softer material than the material forming the rolling elements between the rolling elements, the competition between the rolling elements is suppressed by the spacers, so that the rolling elements do not increase in cost without incurring an increase in cost. Noise caused by the collision can be further reduced.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a linear guide apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a guide rail 11 and a longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11. A slider 12 that relatively moves in the direction is provided, and a number of spherical rolling elements 13 (see FIG. 4) incorporated between the slider 12 and the guide rail 11.
[0009]
The guide rail 11 has a plurality of rail mounting holes 14 penetrating in the height direction, and the lower surface of the guide rail 11 in the drawing is fixed to a base of a machine (not shown) or the like by a bolt inserted through the rail mounting hole 14. It has come to be. Further, the guide rail 11 has rail-side rolling element raceway grooves 15a and 15b (see FIG. 1) at the center part on both side surfaces and the upper end parts on both side surfaces, and these rolling element raceway grooves 15a and 15b are provided on the guide rail 11. Are formed in a straight line from one longitudinal end to the other longitudinal end.
[0010]
The slider 12 includes a slider main body 16 having inner sides facing the both side surfaces of the guide rail 11 on the left and right sides, and end caps 17 and 17 that cover both front and rear end surfaces of the slider main body 16. Bolt holes 18 for bolting the slider 12 to a linearly moving object are formed at a plurality of locations. Further, slider-side rolling element raceway grooves 19 a and 19 b (see FIG. 3) are formed in the center portion of the inner surface of the slider body 16 and the upper end portion of the inner surface.
[0011]
The slider-side rolling element raceway grooves 19a and 19b are opposed to the rolling element raceway grooves 15a and 15b of the guide rail 11, respectively. When the slider 12 moves relative to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11, the rolling element 13 is moved accordingly. Rolling between the rail-side rolling element raceway grooves 15a, 15b and the slider-side rolling element raceway grooves 19a, 19b, and further, a rolling element direction change path 20 (see FIG. 4) formed in the end cap 17 and the slider body 16 It rolls on the rolling element return path 21 (see FIG. 3) formed therein.
[0012]
The rolling elements 13 are formed of metal or ceramics, and spacers 22 (see FIG. 4) made of a material softer than the rolling elements 13 (for example, resin) are provided between the rolling elements 13.
As shown in FIG. 4, the slider body 16 has a length L that is 20 to 50 times the arrangement pitch P in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11, where P is the arrangement pitch of the rolling elements 13.
[0013]
As described above, when the length L of the slider body 16 is 20 to 50 times the arrangement pitch P of the rolling elements 13, as in the linear motion guide device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the coupling bolt and the screw are screwed. It is possible to obtain a long slider body without tapping the bolt holes to be joined, and since two sliders are not required for one guide rail, the rolling elements can be connected to each other without causing an increase in cost. The noise caused by the collision of can be reduced.
[0014]
Further, as in the above-described embodiment, the spacers 22 made of a softer material than the material forming the rolling elements 13 are provided between the rolling elements 13, so that the competition between the rolling elements is suppressed by the spacers 22. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the noise caused by the collision between the rolling elements.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, although the spherical rolling element is used as the rolling element incorporated between the guide rail and the slider in the above-described embodiment, a roller-shaped rolling element may be used.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the linear motion guide device according to the present invention, it is not necessary to tap the bolt holes that are screwed with the coupling bolts into the divided blocks as in the case where the slider body is constituted by a plurality of divided blocks. Since a long slider can be obtained and two sliders are not required for one guide rail, noise caused by collision between rolling elements can be reduced without increasing the cost. In addition, since the competition between the rolling elements is suppressed by the spacer, it is possible to further reduce the noise caused by the collision between the rolling elements without causing an increase in cost.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a linear guide apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the linear motion guide device shown in FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow III-III in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of the linear guide apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Guide rail 12 Slider 13 Rolling element 14 Rail attachment hole 15a, 15b Rail side rolling element raceway groove 16 Slider main body 17 End cap 19a, 19b Slider side rolling element raceway groove 20 Rolling element direction change path 21 Rolling element return path 22 Spacer

Claims (1)

A guide rail and a plurality of slider-side rolling element raceway grooves respectively opposed to the guide rail and a plurality of rail-side rolling element raceway grooves formed linearly from one longitudinal end portion to the other longitudinal end portion of the rail A slider main body, a pair of end caps covering both end faces of the slider main body, and the rail-side rolling element raceway groove and the slider side along with the relative linear motion of the slider constituted by the slider main body and the end cap. A rolling shaft provided between a rolling element raceway groove and a plurality of rolling elements that roll on a rolling element direction changing path formed in the end cap and a rolling element return path formed in the slider body. In the motion guide device,
The length of the slider body along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail is 20 to 50 times the arrangement pitch of the rolling elements, and a spacer made of a softer material than the material forming the rolling elements is provided for each rolling element. A linear motion guide device characterized by being provided in between.

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