JP2013036501A - Actuator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an actuator whose width dimension can be designed to a small size, to attain further space reduction.SOLUTION: The actuator includes a longitudinally extending base, sliders movably attached to the base in the longitudinal direction by way of a motion guide device, an endless belt for moving the sliders, a pair of rotating members mounted to the base and hanging the belt therearound, and a driving member for driving the belt, in which a plurality of the sliders are provided being arranged in an array in the longitudinal direction.

Description

  The present invention relates to an actuator for moving and guiding a guided object in a desired direction.

  Conventionally, a long base extending in the longitudinal direction, a plurality of sliders attached to the base via a motion guide device in a longitudinal direction, a belt for moving the slider, and a base In addition, an actuator including a pair of rotating members that wind the belt and a driving member that drives the belt is known.

  The actuator described in Patent Document 1 includes a long base member, end plates coupled to both ends of the base member, side covers disposed along the left and right side surfaces of the base member, and a top cover that covers the top surface. A first table and a second table that protrude from an upper surface of the casing and are slidable along the longitudinal direction on the base member. Two sets of linear motion rolling guide units for slidably guiding the table and the second table in parallel with each other in parallel with each other, both ends on the base member between the linear motion rolling guide units A plurality of toothed belt wheels disposed on the side of the first table and the second table that are wound around the toothed belt wheel and passed between the linear motion rolling guide units and facing each other. A toothed belt having portions corresponding to each other and a motor fixed to one end on the base member to drive and rotate one of the toothed belt wheels, the first table and the second table, The motor is controlled so as to be close to each other by rotational driving in one direction and to be separated from each other by rotational driving in the reverse direction of the motor, and the linear motion rolling guide unit is Track rails which are fixed in parallel and substantially parallel to each other on the base member, and track grooves are formed along the longitudinal direction. The track rails straddle each of the track rails and can move relative to each other. A slide unit in which either the first table or the second table is fixed on the upper surface and the rolling element circulation path are arranged and accommodated in the track. It has a number of rolling elements to circulate along with the movement of the slide unit under load be between the rails and the slide unit.

  According to such a configuration, it is possible to provide an actuator that can be manufactured at a low cost with a small occupied space, and that can be easily maintained and managed for operation.

Utility Model Registration No. 2605995

  However, according to the conventional actuator, since the sliders (the first table and the second table) are arranged in parallel, the size in the width direction cannot be designed small, and further space saving is realized. There was a problem that I couldn't.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides an actuator that can be designed to have a small size in the width direction of the actuator and can realize further space saving. Objective.

  An actuator according to the present invention includes a base extending in the longitudinal direction, a slider attached to the base via a motion guide device so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction, an endless belt for moving the slider, In an actuator that is attached to a base and includes a pair of rotating members that hang around the belt and a driving member that drives the belt, a plurality of the sliders are provided and arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, since the plurality of sliders are arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction of the base, the width of the entire actuator can be kept small, and further downsizing of the actuator can be realized.

The perspective view which shows the actuator which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The partially exploded view for demonstrating the inside of the actuator which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The longitudinal direction sectional view of the actuator concerning the embodiment of the present invention. The width direction sectional view of the actuator concerning the embodiment of the present invention. The partial sectional view for explaining the motion guide device applied to the actuator concerning the embodiment of the present invention.

  Embodiments of an actuator according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to each claim, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention. .

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially exploded view for explaining the inside of the actuator according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view in the longitudinal direction of the actuator according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is applied to the actuator according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial sectional view for explaining a motion guidance device.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the actuator 1 according to this embodiment includes a base 10 extending in the longitudinal direction and a pair of bases 10 attached to the base 10 via a motion guide device 21 so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction. The sliders 20 and 20, the endless belt 30 that moves the sliders 20 and 20, a pair of rotating members 31 and 31 that are attached to the base 10 and hang around the belt 30, and a drive member 40 that drives the belt 30. And. Further, the upper surface of the actuator 1 is covered with a cover 12 arranged along the longitudinal direction to prevent foreign matter from being caught by the belt 30. Furthermore, one rotating member 31 is connected to the driving member 40 via a shaft 31a.

  The belt 30 is composed of a pair of belt-like belts 30a and 30a that are arranged to face each other and are driven in opposite directions by being wound around the pair of rotating members 31 and 31.

  The sliders 20 and 20 include a bottom portion 20a to which the motion guide device 21 attached to the base 10 is attached, and a pair of side walls 20b and 20b standing from both ends of the bottom portion 20a. Has been. The sliders 20 and 20 are arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction of the motion guide device 21. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a fastening hole 23 for attaching a fixing block 22 described later is formed in the bottom portion 20a.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the base 10 has a plurality of through holes 11 drilled from the upper surface to which the motion guide device 21 is attached toward the lower surface of the actuator 1. The base 10 can be attached to the attachment member through the through hole 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the motion guide device 21 is disposed at a substantially central portion in the width direction of the base 10, and is attached to a substantially central portion of the bottom portion 20 a of the slider 20. Since the motion guide device 21 is disposed at substantially the center of the slider 20, the weight of the object guided by the slider 20 can be applied only to the motion guide device 21 as a radial load. Can be miniaturized.

  Further, the motion guide device 21 is disposed so as to be buried in the recess 13 formed in the base 10, so that a large gap does not occur between the base 10 and the slider 20 as shown in FIG. 4. Is formed. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the motion guide device 21.

  Next, the configuration of the motion guide device 21 will be described with reference to FIG. The motion guide device 21 includes a race member 21a having a rolling element rolling groove 21b formed in the longitudinal direction on the outer surface, and a moving member 21c assembled to the race member 21a through a plurality of rolling elements 21d. And.

  The moving member 21c is formed in a U-shaped cross section, and includes a loaded rolling element rolling groove 21e corresponding to the rolling element rolling groove 21b and a rolling element return passage 21f drilled in parallel with the loaded rolling element rolling groove 21e. Is formed. Further, the rolling element rolling passage and the rolling element return passage 21f composed of the rolling element rolling groove 21b and the load rolling element rolling groove 21e are connected to each other through a direction changing path (not shown), and these passages are connected to a plurality of rolling elements. 21d rolls to realize infinite circulation of the rolling element 21d. The rolling element 21d is composed of a ball.

  The configuration of the actuator 1 according to this embodiment will be described again with reference to FIG. The rotary members 31 and 31 are rotatably attached to both ends in the longitudinal direction of the base 10. The rotary members 31 and 31 are formed as pulleys around which the belt 30 is wound.

  As described above, the belt 30 is composed of a pair of belt-like belts 30a and 30a. The belt-like belts 30a and 30a are formed by the sliders 20 with the fixed blocks 22 and 22 at the ends of the belt-like belts. , 20 is formed in an endless shape. With this configuration, the length of the belt 30 can be adjusted as appropriate according to the longitudinal dimension of the actuator 1, so that the manufacturing cost can be suppressed even if variations in the longitudinal dimension of the actuator 1 increase.

  The fixed block 22 is attached to one side wall 20b side of the bottom 20a of one slider 20 and the other side wall 20b side of the bottom 20a of the other slider 20. Thus, when the belt 30 is rotationally driven by the rotating members 31, 31, the sliders 20, 20 can be driven so as to approach or separate from each other.

  Further, the rotating shafts 31a of the pair of rotating members 31, 31 are both provided so as to stand in the vertical direction. That is, the pair of disk-shaped rotating members 31 and 31 are disposed on the same horizontal plane. Further, the pair of rotating members 31, 31 are positioned above the bottom portions 20 a of the pair of sliders 20, 20, that is, on the side where the side wall 20 b is erected. Moreover, the diameter dimension of a pair of disk-shaped rotating members 31 and 31 is smaller than the dimension between the mutually opposing surfaces of a pair of side walls 20b and 20b. Therefore, the pair of drive belts 30a and 30a provided around the pair of disk-shaped rotating members 31 and 31 are positioned inside the mutually opposing surfaces of the pair of side walls 20b and 20b.

  The fixed block 22 is attached to the side of the side face 20b of the bottom portion 20a facing each other, and the belt 30 is also attached to the inside of the sliders 20 and 20 by this configuration. Therefore, the belt 30 can be protected from external damage while preventing foreign matter and the like from being caught by rotation.

  One shaft 31 a of the rotating member 31 is rotationally driven by the driving member 40. The drive member 40 is a member with a built-in motor, and is rotated by being supplied with electric power from a power supply device (not shown).

  In addition, since the base 10 and the sliders 20 and 20 are formed using the extrusion material of aluminum, the actuator 1 can be manufactured easily and cheaply.

  Note that the actuator 1 according to the present embodiment is designed so that the dimensions in the width direction of the slider 20, the base 10, and the drive member 40 are substantially the same, as shown in FIG. This is a configuration that can be realized by arranging the sliders 20 and 20 in a single row on a single motion guide device 21 and succeeds in designing the actuator 1 more compactly.

  Further, since the sliders 20 and 20 have the fastening holes 23 for attaching the fixing blocks 22 and 22 on both side walls of the bottom portion 20a, the slider 20 can be selected by appropriately selecting the fastening holes 23 to which the fixing blocks 22 are attached. , 20 can be used for the same member, which can contribute to the reduction of the manufacturing cost.

  As described above, the actuator 1 according to the present embodiment has the sliders 20 and 20 arranged in a single row in the longitudinal direction in the single motion guide device 21, so the width direction dimension of the actuator 1 is designed to be smaller than the conventional one. It becomes possible to do.

  Moreover, although the actuator 1 which concerns on this embodiment demonstrated the case where a pair of sliders 20 and 20 were assembled | attached to the movement guide apparatus 21, several movement guide apparatuses are arrange | positioned along the longitudinal direction of a base, and each You may assemble | attach a moving member to an exercise | movement guide apparatus, respectively.

  Further, a cylindrical roller may be used as the rolling element in addition to the ball. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The actuator according to the present invention can guide an object with a compact configuration.

The actuator according to the present invention is suitable for use in the following work as an example.
That is, on the line where certain parts are conveyed to the next process by the belt conveyor as a workpiece, the parts etc. that have passed through the previous process are scattered over a wide area on the belt conveyor, and are ready for the next process. This is the case when it is necessary to collect at the center of the belt conveyor. In this case, the actuator is arranged in the middle of the component conveyance path by the belt conveyor, and a plate or the like is mounted on the two sliders 20 provided in the actuator so as to be in contact with the component on the belt conveyor. In such a configuration, when the two sliders 20 are operated synchronously during the conveyance of the parts and the like by the belt conveyor, the parts and the like on the both sides of the belt conveyor can be collected at the center.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Actuator, 10 base, 20 slider, 20a bottom part, 20b side wall, 21 motion guide apparatus, 22 fixed block, 23 fastening hole, 30 belt, 31 rotating member, 40 drive member.

Claims (7)

A base extending in the longitudinal direction;
A slider attached to the base so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction via a motion guide device;
An endless belt for moving the slider;
A pair of rotating members attached to the base and for hanging the belt;
An actuator comprising a driving member that drives the belt;
An actuator comprising a plurality of the sliders and being arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein
The said slider is provided with the bottom part attached to the said motion guide apparatus, and the side wall standingly arranged from the both ends of the said bottom part, The actuator characterized by the above-mentioned. The actuator according to claim 2, wherein
The bottom portion is formed with a fastening hole for fixing the belt via a fixing block. The actuator according to claim 2 or 3,
The actuator is characterized in that the belt is fixed to mutually opposing surfaces of the side wall. The actuator according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The motion guide device is attached to a substantially central portion of the bottom portion. The actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The actuator, wherein the base, the slider, and the driving member are formed to have substantially the same width. The actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The motion guide device includes a raceway member in which a rolling element rolling groove is formed along a longitudinal direction on an outer surface, and a moving member assembled to the raceway member so as to be movable via a plurality of rolling elements. An actuator characterized by.

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