JP2007078075A - Guide roller device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a guide roller device having a structure capable of suppressing production cost and maintenance cost by using it under a vacuum environment to reduce the frequencies of maintenance. <P>SOLUTION: This guide roller device is used to carry a carrier W holding a workpiece in a vacuum. The guide roller device comprises a pivot shaft member 1, rolling bearings 2, 3 fitted onto the pivot shaft member 1, and a guide roller member 4 fitted onto the rolling bearings 2, 3. The guide roller member 4 is formed in a double-split structure, and comprises a cylindrical body member 5 and an annular roller member 6 fitted onto the body member 5 and harder than the body member 6. The wear resistance of the guide roller member is increased by the hard roller member 6. The axial dimension of the roller member 6 is set smaller than the axial dimension of the body member 5 to reduce the dimension of the member which is hard and expensive and takes much labor for machining. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a guide roller device used for conveying a workpiece in a vacuum.

As an apparatus for processing a part or a tray carrying various parts (workpieces) to be processed while being conveyed in vacuum, there is, for example, a vapor deposition apparatus for processing the surface of a disk for a hard disk device. This vapor deposition apparatus is provided with a plurality of vacuum chambers and a vacuum transfer path connecting them, and a carriage moves in the vacuum chamber in sequence, and performs a vapor deposition process on the surface of a disk mounted on the carriage. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a portion of such a device.
In this vapor deposition apparatus, there is a guide roller apparatus as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, as a transport apparatus used in vacuum for transporting a carriage W on which a component P is mounted. The guide roller apparatus A of Patent Document 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. A support shaft member 1 fixed to a fixed base 10 of a vapor deposition apparatus, and a rolling bearing (not shown) externally fitted thereto. , And a guide roller member 4 fitted on the rolling bearing. A contact surface with the carriage W is formed on an outer peripheral surface of a portion of the guide roller member 4 extending (protruding) outward in the radial direction.

A guide groove 7 having a V-shaped cross section is formed on the lower surface of the carriage W. The guide roller member 4 contacts the guide groove 7 to support the carriage W, and the guide roller member 4 rotates to cause the carriage. W is transported. Since such a guide roller device is used in a chamber and a conveyance path in a vacuum environment, maintenance is difficult, and it is necessary to reduce the frequency thereof as much as possible.
Therefore, the guide roller member 4 is made of a material having high hardness in order to suppress wear due to contact with the guide groove 7.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-24044 (see FIG. 1)

In order to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the contact surface with the rolling bearing, which is the inner peripheral surface of the guide roller member, it is necessary to perform cutting and polishing, but in order to reduce wear on the outer peripheral surface, the guide roller member is made of a hard material. In this case, the above-described cutting / polishing process becomes difficult, and there is a problem that the production cost increases as the processing area increases. Since the inner peripheral surface of the guide roller member of Patent Document 1 is longer in the axial direction than the outer peripheral surface of the outer ring of the rolling bearing, the area that requires cutting and polishing is increased, and the processing time is further increased. It has the problem that it requires.
In addition, when the guide roller member is worn and replaced due to long-term use, it is necessary to replace the entire guide roller member. Since the guide roller member is made of a hard material, it is expensive and maintenance costs are low. There is a problem that it takes a lot.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to reduce the production cost, reduce the frequency of maintenance, and further reduce the cost even if maintenance is performed. It is an object to provide a guide roller device provided.

  The present invention is a guide roller device for conveying a carriage holding a workpiece in a vacuum, and includes a support shaft member, a rolling bearing externally fitted to the support shaft member, and an external fit to the rolling bearing. A guide roller member, and a contact surface with the carriage is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the guide roller member. The guide roller member includes a cylindrical main body member externally fitted to the rolling bearing; The main body member has a split structure including an annular roller member that is externally fitted to the main body member and whose outer peripheral surface serves as a contact surface with the carriage, and the axial dimension of the roller member is the main body member. The roller member is made harder than the main body member at least on the outer peripheral surface.

According to this configuration, it is the outer peripheral surface of the roller member that contacts the carriage, and since the roller member is hardened, the wear resistance due to the contact can be improved. Further, since the axial dimension of the roller member is smaller than the axial dimension of the main body member, the area of the inner peripheral surface of the roller member is made smaller than the inner peripheral surface of the main body member. Therefore, in both the main body member and the roller member, machining is performed on the inner peripheral surface in order to obtain the fitting accuracy with the inner peripheral member. However, since the machining area for the hard roller member is reduced, the number of manufacturing steps is reduced. Can be reduced.
Further, when the contact surface with the carriage is worn and the guide roller member needs to be replaced, only the roller member among the guide roller members may be replaced.
Furthermore, when the rolling bearing needs to be replaced, only the rolling bearing can be replaced with the roller member and the main body member assembled. That is, the positional relationship between the roller member and the main body member is not impaired, and assembly can be performed with good reproducibility even when the rolling bearing is replaced.

In this guide roller device, the roller member can be a cemented carbide. Alternatively, the roller member can be tool steel.
In the case of cemented carbide, the specific gravity is large and heavy. However, since the roller member can be made small, the overall weight can be reduced.
In addition, since the members using cemented carbide or tool steel for increasing the hardness of the contact surface are only roller members, the production cost can be reduced even if these metals are expensive. And an abrasion resistance can be improved by making a roller member into a cemented carbide alloy or tool steel.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said main body member has the outer collar part which receives the side surface of the said roller member in the outer periphery. Thereby, positioning with respect to the main body member of a roller member becomes easy, and an assembly becomes easy.

  According to the guide roller device of the present invention, the wear resistance can be improved and the maintenance frequency can be reduced. Since a member having high hardness can be reduced, the production cost can be reduced, and the cost can be suppressed even if maintenance is performed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the guide roller device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a part of an apparatus in which the guide roller device is used. For example, a part of a vapor deposition apparatus that performs vapor deposition on a disk for a hard disk device is shown.
In FIG. 2, this vapor deposition apparatus includes a plurality of vacuum chambers (not shown) and a vacuum transfer path (not shown) connecting them, and holds or mounts an object to be processed (workpiece). W (represented by “cart” hereinafter) is configured to move sequentially in the vacuum chamber by a transfer device. In these chambers, the surface of the disk P, which is a work mounted on the carriage W, can be subjected to vapor deposition. As a transport device used in vacuum for transporting such a carriage W, there is a guide roller device A shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a guide roller device A includes a support shaft member 1 fixed to a fixed base 10 inside a vapor deposition device, and two rows of rolling bearings 2 and 3 attached to the support shaft member 1 so as to be fitted. , And a guide roller member 4 that is externally fitted to the rolling bearings 2 and 3. In the present invention, the guide roller member 4 has a structure in which the guide roller member 4 is divided into two inward and outward in the radial direction. The guide roller member 4 is a substantially cylindrical body member that is externally fitted to the two rows of rolling bearings 2 and 3. 5 and an annular roller member 6 attached to the main body member 5 by external fitting.
And the contact surface 6a which contacts the guide groove 7 of the trolley | bogie W is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the roller member 6 among the guide roller members 4, and the trolley | bogie W is supported by the rotation of the guide roller member 4, and is vacuumed. Can be transported in.

The support shaft member 1 includes a screw portion 11 from one end side (the right side in FIG. 1), a shaft portion 12 having a diameter larger than that of the screw portion 11, and an end having a diameter larger than that of the shaft portion 12. And has a flange portion 13.
Further, the guide roller device A includes an annular seat member 8 that is externally fitted to the screw portion 11 of the support shaft member 1, and the seat member 8 is outside the shaft portion 12 of the support shaft member 1. A small-diameter portion 8a having the same diameter as the diameter and a large-diameter portion 8b in contact with the end face of the inner ring 21 of the rolling bearing 2 on one side are provided.
The axial dimension of the shaft portion 12 of the support shaft member 1 is shorter than the total axial dimension of the pair of rolling bearings 2, 3, and the pair of rolling bearings 2, 3 is the shaft portion of the support shaft member 1. 12 and the small diameter portion 8a of the seat member 8 are externally fitted. And the end surface of the inner ring 23 of the other side rolling bearing 3 and the side surface of the flange 13 of the support shaft member 1 are in contact with each other, and the pair of rolling bearings 2 and 3 are in contact with each other side by side in the axial direction. Is provided.
Therefore, the guide roller device A can be fixed in the vapor deposition device by screwing the screw portion 11 of the support shaft member 1 into the fixed base 10 and the wall surface of the flange portion 13 of the support shaft member 1 and the fixed base 10. The rolling bearings 2 and 3 can be fixed in the axial direction by sandwiching the pair of rolling bearings 2 and 3 and the large-diameter portion 8b of the seat member 8 between them. it can.

  The two rolling bearings 2 and 3 are the same, and have inner rings 21 and 23, outer rings 22 and 24, and rolling elements 41 and 42 that can freely roll between them. The rolling bearings 2 and 3 are single row deep groove ball bearings.

The guide roller member 4 having a divided structure will be described. The guide roller member 4 has a cylindrical main body member 5 on the inner diameter side and an annular roller member 6 on the outer diameter side.
The main body member 5 has an inner flange portion 14 on the inner peripheral surface side of one end portion in the axial direction, and the end surface of the outer ring 24 of the rolling bearing 3 can be brought into contact with the side surface of the inner flange portion 14. A concave circumferential groove 16 is formed on the inner circumferential surface on the other end side of the main body member 5, and a retaining ring 9 is fitted into the concave circumferential groove 16. The inner peripheral surface of the main body member 5 has an axial dimension longer than the total axial dimension of the pair of rolling bearings 2, 3, and the rolling bearings 2, 3 are between the retaining ring 9 and the inner flange portion 14. The movement in the axial direction is restricted. That is, the main body member 5 that is longer in the axial direction than the pair of rolling bearings 2 and 3 stably holds the rolling bearings 2 and 3 from the outer peripheral side, and conversely, the pair of rolling bearings 2 and 2. The posture of the roller member 6 is stabilized by interposing the main body member 5 with respect to 3.
Further, an outer flange portion 15 that receives the side surface of the roller member 6 is formed on the outer peripheral surface side of one end portion in the axial direction of the main body member 5, and the side surface of the roller member 6 is in contact with the side surface of the outer flange portion 15, The roller member 6 is fitted on the outer peripheral surface of the main body member 5. The outer flange portion 15 is formed so as to protrude radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the main body member 5. According to the outer flange portion 15, the roller member 6 can be easily positioned with respect to the main body member 5 and assembled. It will be easy.

The roller member 6 is separate from the main body member 5 and has an inner peripheral portion having a rectangular cross section and an outer peripheral portion having a semicircular cross section. A contact surface 6a is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the roller member 6 (outer peripheral portion) so as to contact the guide groove 7 having a V-shaped cross section formed in the carriage W. The contact surface 6a is formed in a curved surface, and is an arc surface that makes point contact with the left and right inclined surfaces of the guide groove 7 having a V-shaped cross section. Since the roller member 6 contacts and supports the guide groove 7 at two points, the carriage W is stabilized. The radius of the arc surface which is the contact surface 6 a is half of the axial dimension of the roller member 6.
The roller member 6 is formed as an integral annular body, and is attached by extrapolating the roller member 6 from the end of the cylindrical body member 5. The roller member 6 is attached to the main body member 5 by press-fitting. Since the inner peripheral surface of the roller member 6 is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the main body member 5 in the attached state, the roller member 6 An annular member for fixing and a set screw such as a bolt are not required for fixing 6, and the number of parts can be reduced, and in particular, the radial dimension of the guide roller member 4 can be reduced.

The roller member 6 is made of a material whose hardness is higher than that of the main body member 5. Specifically, the main body member 5 is made of SUS440C stainless steel, and the roller member 6 is made of cemented carbide. The material of the roller member 6 will be further described. The cemented carbide is a general-purpose cemented carbide and mainly composed of WC. If necessary, a hard carbide containing a small amount of TaC or the like is combined with a metal such as Co or Ni. Yes.
That is, in the guide roller member 4 having a divided structure, the main body member 5 on the inner peripheral side is made of a low-priced material, and the small roller member 6 on the outer peripheral side is made of a hard and expensive member. Cost is reduced by using a small amount of expensive members. Further, in this case, although the cemented carbide has a large specific gravity, since the member using the cemented carbide is made small, the overall weight of the guide roller device A can be reduced. The wear resistance of the roller member 6 is improved.
The support shaft member 1 and the seat member 8 are made of the same material and are made of SUS304 stainless steel. Moreover, the member in which the guide groove 7 of the carriage W is formed is SUS440C that has been quenched.

According to the guide roller device A according to this embodiment, since the roller member 6 that comes into contact with the guide groove 7 of the carriage W is hardened, wear resistance due to contact with the guide groove 7 can be improved. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the maintenance frequency, and it can be suitable as a transfer device used in a vacuum environment.
Furthermore, since the axial dimension of the roller member 6 is smaller than the axial dimension of the main body member 5, the area of the inner peripheral surface of the roller member 6 can be reduced. According to this, machining is required to ensure the fitting accuracy with the main body member 5 on the inner peripheral side of the roller member 6, but the roller member 6 is made of a hard material and difficult to machine. In addition, by reducing the processing area, man-hours can be reduced and productivity can be increased as compared with the case where the conventional guide roller member is integrated. In other words, when the guide roller member is not a divided structure as in the present invention, but is a single body and all are cemented carbide in order to improve wear resistance, a pair of inner peripheral surfaces of the guide roller member is provided. In order to secure the fitting accuracy with the outer peripheral surface of the rolling bearing, it is necessary to machine the entire inner peripheral surface of the hard guide roller member which is an integral body. This increases the production cost in the conventional configuration.

Furthermore, in the present invention, when the contact surface 6a of the roller member 6 is worn and needs to be replaced, only the roller member 6 can be removed from the body member 5 and replaced, which is economical.
Furthermore, the rolling bearings 2 and 3 are loosely fitted (clear fit) to the inner support shaft member 1 and the outer guide roller member 4 (main body member 5), and the rolling bearings 2 and 3 are worn and replaced. If the main body member 5 and the roller member 6 and the support shaft member 1 of the guide roller member 4 are not replaced, only the rolling bearings 2 and 3 can be easily removed and replaced. Further, at the time of the replacement, the new rolling bearings 2 and 3 are attached to the support shaft member 1 by contacting the support member 13 with the flange portion 13 of the support shaft member 1, and the inner shaft formed on the main body member 5 of the guide roller member 4. The guide roller member 4 is positioned and attached by bringing the portion 14 and the rolling bearing 3 into contact with each other. Accordingly, in this guide roller member 4, the roller member 6 is still attached to the main body member 5, so that the roller member 6 can be reassembled with respect to the support shaft member 1 with good reproducibility. Thereby, even after replacement | exchange of the rolling bearings 2 and 3, it can prevent that the position of the contact surface 6a of the roller member 6 shifts | deviates with respect to the guide groove 7 of the trolley | bogie W which is conveyance object.

  As another embodiment of the present invention, the roller member 6 may be tool steel. Specifically, SKH51 high-speed tool steel or SKD11 die steel (alloy tool steel) can be used. According to this, wear resistance can be improved similarly to the case where a cemented carbide is used. Further, since the member using such a metal is only the roller member 6, even if these metals are expensive, the production cost and the maintenance cost by replacement can be reduced.

  Furthermore, the guide roller device A of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated form, and may be of another form within the scope of the present invention, and the hardness of the roller member 6 is at least the outer peripheral surface of the contact surface 6a. In this case, it may be higher than the main body member 5. That is, the contact surface 6a or the entire surface of the roller member 6 only needs to be harder than the main body member 5. For example, the roller member 6 is made of the same material (for example, SUS440C) as the main body member 5, and only the roller member 6 is used. It may be subjected to a surface hardening treatment. As this surface hardening treatment, for example, there is a salt bath treatment such as TD treatment, and there is one in which a carbide layer of vanadium oxide (VC) is formed on the surface. In this case, since the roller member 6 which is a member to be processed is small, deformation of the roller member 6 due to high temperature processing or the like can be suppressed as much as possible.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the guide roller apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is the schematic of a part of apparatus by which the guide roller apparatus of this invention is used.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support shaft member 2 Rolling bearing 3 Rolling bearing 4 Guide roller member 5 Main body member 6 Roller member 6a Contact surface 15 Outer part A Guide roller apparatus W Carriage

Claims (4)

A guide roller device for conveying a carriage holding a workpiece in a vacuum,
A spindle member;
A rolling bearing externally fitted to the spindle member;
A guide roller member that is externally fitted to the rolling bearing,
A contact surface with the carriage is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the guide roller member,
The guide roller member includes a cylindrical main body member that is externally fitted to the rolling bearing, and an annular roller member that is externally fitted to the main body member and has an outer peripheral surface serving as a contact surface with the carriage. Has a divided structure,
The guide roller is characterized in that an axial dimension of the roller member is smaller than an axial dimension of the main body member, and the roller member is harder than the main body member at least on the outer peripheral surface. apparatus.   The guide roller device according to claim 1, wherein the roller member is made of cemented carbide.   The guide roller device according to claim 1, wherein the roller member is made of tool steel.   The guide roller device according to claim 1, wherein the main body member has an outer flange portion that receives a side surface of the roller member on an outer periphery thereof.

Images