JP2022059142A - Telescopic motion chain and chain mechanism assembled with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a telescopic motion chain capable of engaging with a sprocket without controlling sprocket tooth.SOLUTION: Each chain unit 7 of a telescopic motion chain 3 is assembled with an upper link 71 having first to fourth link members 71a-71d, a lower link 72 having fifth to eighth link members 72a-72d, first to third rotation shafts S1-S3 connecting the upper link 71 and the lower link 72, a fourth rotation shaft S4, and a fifth rotation shaft S5. The first to fourth rotation shafts S1-S4 are arranged on a rhombic peak in a plane view and the second link member 71b and the fourth link member 71d are rotatably connected with each other via the fourth rotation shaft S4. The fifth rotation shaft S5 is arranged under the fourth rotation shaft S4 with a gap G therebetween, and the sixth link member 72b and the eighth link member 72d are rotatably connected with each other via the fifth rotation shaft S5.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a telescopic chain and a chain mechanism including the telescopic chain.

Conventionally, a sheet-like material processing device that shrinks (or stretches) a sheet-like material while transferring it has been proposed. Such a sheet-like material processing apparatus includes a pair of left and right chains having a large number of clips, and by rotating the chain while gripping both edges of the sheet-like material with clips, the sheet-like material is transferred in a predetermined transfer direction. Transfer to. The chain is expandable and contractible, and the sheet-like material is gradually contracted (or stretched) while being transferred, so that the sheet-like material is contracted (or stretched) in the transfer direction.

For example, the telescopic chain provided in the chain mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a plurality of clip portions and a plurality of chain units for connecting adjacent clip portions, and each chain unit has a diamond-shaped apex in a plan view. It is provided with a pair of upper and lower links connected to each other by four swivel shafts arranged in. Each link includes four link members connected to each other by the four swivel shafts, and the telescopic chain is configured to contract or extend when the link members swivel around the swivel shaft.

Further, the telescopic chain meshes with the sprocket and orbits in a predetermined direction due to the rotation of the sprocket. At this time, the driven roller provided in each clip portion is in contact with the guide rail and guided, so that the upright posture of the clip portion is maintained.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-027404

The chain mechanism disclosed in Cited Document 1 has a structure in which four swivel axes are arranged at the vertices of a rhombus, so that the expansion and contraction of the expansion and contraction chain can be stably performed. On the other hand, the 4th swivel shaft of the chain unit is located inward (closer to the sprocket) than the 1st and 2nd swivel shafts, and the teeth of the sprocket penetrate between the 1st and 2nd swivel shafts. Or, since it is configured to mesh with the second swivel shaft, if a standard sprocket is used, the teeth of the sprocket interfere with the fourth swivel shaft. In order to avoid such interference, it was necessary to thin out every other sprocket tooth and make adjustments such as making the bottom circle smaller. As a result, there has also been a problem that the strength of the teeth is reduced.

Further, since the chain unit is located below the guide rail that guides the clip portion, the chain unit may wobble and the running of the telescopic chain may become unstable.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a telescopic chain capable of meshing with a sprocket without adjusting the teeth of the sprocket, and a chain mechanism provided with the telescopic chain.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a chain mechanism capable of more stably traveling the telescopic chain.

The telescopic chain and the chain mechanism according to the present invention include a plurality of chain units, and each chain unit includes an upper link having first to fourth link members and a lower link having fifth to eighth link members. , The first to third swivel shafts connecting the upper link and the lower link, the fourth swivel shaft connected to the upper link, and the fifth swivel shaft connected to the lower link. The first to fourth turning shafts are arranged at the apex of the rhombus in a plan view, and the second link member and the fourth link member are rotatably connected to each other via the fourth turning shaft. The fifth swivel shaft is arranged below the fourth swivel shaft with a gap, and the sixth link member and the eighth link member are rotatably connected to each other via the fifth swivel shaft. ..

According to the telescopic chain and the chain mechanism according to the present invention, since the first to fourth swivel shafts are arranged at the apex of the rhombus, the telescopic chain can be stably expanded and contracted. Further, since there is a gap between the 4th swivel shaft and the 5th swivel shaft, the sprocket teeth can be positioned in the gap when the sprocket is engaged with the telescopic chain, and the sprocket teeth and the sprocket teeth can be positioned. There is no need to thin out the teeth of the sprocket or modify the tooth profile of the sprocket to avoid interference with the swivel shaft.

The simplified plan view of the sheet-like material processing apparatus provided with the chain mechanism which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the telescopic chain in the extended state provided with the chain mechanism shown in FIG. 1, (a) is the cross-sectional view taken along the line IIa-IIa of FIG. (C) is a sectional view taken along line IIc-IIc of FIG. 2 (b). 2 is a view showing a contracted state of the telescopic chain shown in FIG. 2, where FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IIIa-IIIa of FIG. 1, FIG. 2B is a side view seen from the direction of arrow IIIb in FIG. FIG. 3 (b) is a sectional view taken along line IIIc-IIIc. The figure which shows the meshing between the telescopic chain shown in FIG. 2 and a sprocket. The figure which shows the meshing of a conventional telescopic chain and a sprocket.

Hereinafter, the chain mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The chain mechanism according to this embodiment is used, for example, in the sheet-shaped material processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG.

The sheet-like material processing device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a pair of sheet-like material transfer devices (hereinafter, simply referred to as “transfer devices”) 2 and 2 and a heating means (not shown), and the transfer devices 2 and 2 are provided. The sheet-like object S is transferred to a predetermined transfer direction D2 by sandwiching both side edges in the width direction D1.

Each transfer device 2 includes a telescopic chain 3 which is an annular endless chain, an orbiting means (transfer means) 4 for orbiting the telescopic chain 3, and a guide rail 5 for guiding the telescopic chain 3. The chain mechanism is composed of the telescopic chain 3, the orbiting means 4, and the guide rail 5. The orbiting means 4 includes a pair of sprockets 41, 41 arranged along the transfer direction D2, and a pair of electric motors 42, 42 for rotationally driving each sprocket 41, 41, and the telescopic chain 3 is attached to the sprocket 41. It is meshed and hung between a pair of sprockets 41, 41.

Also with reference to FIG. 2, the guide rail 5 has a first guide rail 51 and a second guide rail 52. When the sprockets 41 and 41 are rotationally driven in a predetermined direction by the drive motors 42 and 42, the telescopic chain 3 moves (circulates) along the guide rail 5 in a predetermined circumferential direction D3.

In the following description, the "inside" means the side where the telescopic chain 3 faces the sprocket 41 (that is, the inside of the loop of the telescopic chain 3), and the "outside" means the opposite side (that is, the telescopic chain). It means (outside the loop of 3).

The telescopic chain 3 can be selectively contracted in the length direction, and includes a plurality of clip portions 6 and a plurality of chain units 7. Each chain unit 7 connects a pair of adjacent clip portions 6 to each other.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, each clip portion 6 is rotatably supported by a clip means 61 that sandwiches the sheet-like object S, a support 62 that supports the clip means 61 from below, and a support 62. It is equipped with a driven roller 63 to 66.

The support 62 has a side wall portion 62a, an upper wall portion 62b extending inward from the upper end of the side wall portion 62a, and a lower wall portion 62c extending inward from the lower end of the side wall portion 62a. The upper wall portion 62b is crank-shaped and has an inner portion 62b1 and an outer portion 62b2 located outside and above the inner portion 62b1.

The driven rollers 63 and 64 are located below the upper wall portion 62b, abut on the first guide rail 51 from the outside and the inside, respectively, and rotatably around the rotation axis extending in the vertical direction, the upper wall portion 62b (outer portion 62b2). ) Is supported. The driven roller 65 is located above the lower wall portion 62c, abuts on the first guide rail 51 from the outside, and is rotatably supported by the lower wall portion 62c around a rotation axis extending in the vertical direction. The driven roller 66 comes into contact with the first guide rail 51 from above and is rotatably supported by the upper wall portion 62b.

Each chain unit 7 includes a pair of upper and lower links 71 and 72 arranged at intervals in the vertical direction, and five swivel shafts S1 to S5. The swivel shafts S1 to S4 are arranged at the apex of the rhombus in a plan view, and the swivel shaft S1 and the swivel shaft S2 are arranged so as to face each other in the circumferential direction D3. The swivel shaft S5 is located below the swivel shaft S4, and the swivel shaft S5 and the swivel shaft S4 are arranged to face the swivel shaft S3 in a direction perpendicular to the circumferential direction D3 (width direction / inner / outer direction of the telescopic chain 3). ing.

The upper link 71 includes first to fourth link members 71a to 71d rotatably connected to each other by the swivel shafts S1 to S4, and the lower link 72 swings to each other by the swivel shafts S1 to S3 and S5. The fifth to eighth link members 72a to 72d which are freely connected are provided.

That is, the swivel shafts S1 to S3 connect the pair of upper and lower links 71 and 72 to each other, while the swivel shafts S4 and S5 are shorter than the swivel shafts S1 to S3, and between the swivel shafts S4 and the swivel shaft S5. Space G (FIG. 2 (a)) is provided.

The first link member 71a and the second link member 71b extend in parallel with each other, and the third link member 71c and the fourth link member 71d extend in parallel with each other. One end of the first and fourth link members 71a and 71d is swivel around the swivel shaft S1, and one end of the second and third link members 71b and 71c is swivel around the swivel shaft S2. There is. Further, the other ends of the first and third link members 71a and 71c are swivel around the swivel shaft S3, and the other ends of the second and fourth link members 71b and 71d are swivel around the swivel shaft S4. It is said to be free. As a result, the link 71 forms a substantially rhombic shape in a plan view as a whole.

Similarly, the fifth link member 72a and the sixth link member 72b extend in parallel with each other, and the seventh link member 72c and the eighth link member 72d extend in parallel with each other. One ends of the fifth and eighth link members 72a and 72d are swivel around the swivel shaft S1, and one ends of the sixth and seventh link members 72b and 72c are swivel around the swivel shaft S2. There is. Further, the other ends of the fifth and seventh link members 72a and 72c are swivelable around the swivel shaft S3, and the other ends of the sixth and eighth link members 72b and 72d are swivel around the swivel shaft S5. It is said to be free. As a result, the link 72 also forms a substantially rhombic shape in a plan view as a whole.

In such a configuration, the chain unit 7 has the planar shape of the links 71 and 72 as shown in FIG. 2 (c) by the link members 71a to 71d and 72a to 72d swiveling around the swivel shafts S1 to S5. Between the stretched state where the long axis direction of the rhombus is the circumferential direction D3 and the contracted state where the short axis direction of the rhombus forming the planar shape of the links 71 and 72 is the circumferential direction D3 as shown in FIG. 3 (c). It can be expanded and contracted with.

Further, the upper end and the lower end of the first swivel shaft S1 of each chain unit 7 are rotatably connected to the upper wall portion 62b (more specifically, the inner portion 62b1) and the lower wall portion 62c of the clip portion 6 adjacent to the upstream side. The upper end and the lower end of the second swivel shaft S2 are rotatably connected to the upper wall portion 62b and the lower wall portion 62c of the clip portion 6 adjacent to the downstream side, respectively. In this way, the chain unit 7 is interposed between the pair of adjacent clip portions 6 to connect the two.

Each chain unit 7 further includes a pair of driven rollers 73, 74 that abut the second guide rail 52. The driven rollers 73 and 74 are located below the link 72, the swivel shaft of the driven loco 73 is coaxial with the swivel shaft S3, and the swivel shaft of the driven roller 73 is coaxial with the swivel shafts S4 and S5. Therefore, when the driven rollers 73 and 74 are guided in the direction of being separated from each other by the second guide rail 52 and the distance between the driven rollers 73 and 74 increases, the chain unit 7 changes from the state shown in FIG. 2 to the state shown in FIG. When the driven rollers 73 and 74 are guided toward each other by the second guide rail 52 and the distance between the driven rollers 73 and 74 is narrowed, the chain unit changes from the state shown in FIG. 3 to the state shown in FIG. Stretch to.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the guide rail 5 includes a first guide rail 51 for guiding the clip portion 6 and a second guide rail 52 for guiding the chain unit 7 as described above. Have. The first guide rail 51 and the second guide rail 52 are annular rails arranged along the circumferential path of the telescopic chain 3, and the clip portion 6 has the driven rollers 63 to 65 in contact with the first guide rail 51. It moves in the circumferential direction D3 while being guided by the first guide rail 51.

The first guide rail 51 is provided with a through hole (not shown) at a position facing the sprocket 41, and the sprocket 41 is configured to mesh with the telescopic chain 3 through the through hole.

In such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 4, the teeth 41a of each sprocket 41 mesh with the first swivel shaft S1 and the second swivel shaft S2 of the chain link 7, and the sprocket 41 rotates in a predetermined direction to cause a telescopic chain. 3 orbits in the orbital direction D3.

Here, FIG. 5 shows the meshing of the telescopic chain 103 and the sprocket 141 disclosed in Cited Document 1. As shown in FIG. 5, in Cited Document 1, the upper link and the lower link of the telescopic chain 103 are connected by four swivel axes S1, S2, S3, S104 arranged at the apex of the rhombus. Therefore, the teeth 141a of the sprocket 141 cannot mesh with the swivel shaft S2 because the swivel shaft S104 interferes with them, and in order to realize the meshing with the swivel shaft S1, every other tooth of the standard sprocket is provided. At the same time, the tooth base circle is expanded to increase the height of the teeth. For this reason, it takes time and effort to process the sprocket, and the strength of the teeth is also lowered.

On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, since the gap G is provided, the teeth 41a of the sprocket 41 invade the gap G provided between the fourth swivel shaft S4 and the fifth swivel shaft S5 and swivel shaft S2. Therefore, it is not necessary to thin out the teeth 41a even when a standard product is used as the sprocket 41. Further, it is not necessary to expand the tooth bottom circle to increase the height of the tooth 41a, and the strength of the tooth 41a can be maintained.

Further, since the meshing position of the sprocket 41 and the telescopic chain 3 is located between the driven rollers 63, 64 and the driven roller 65 guided by the first guide rail 51 in the vertical direction, the meshing position of the sprocket 41 and the telescopic chain 3 is provided. Compared with the conventional configuration in which the position is located below the driven roller, the rattling of the chain unit 7 is reduced, and the running of the telescopic chain 3 can be stabilized. Further, in addition to the driven roller 64 that abuts on the first guide rail 51 from the inside, a driven roller 63 that abuts on the first guide rail 51 from the outside at the same height as the driven roller 64 is provided, so that the clip portion 6 can run. It can be further stabilized.

Although the chain mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is.

1 Sheet-like material processing device 2 Sheet-like material transfer device 3 Telescopic chain 5 Guide rail 6 Clip part (connecting part)
7 Chain unit 51 1st guide rail 52 2nd guide rail 63 Driven roller (1st driven roller)
64 Driven roller (3rd driven roller)
65 driven roller (second driven roller)
66 Driven rollers 71,72 Link 71a 1st link member 71b 2nd link member 71c 3rd link member 71d 4th link member 72a 5th link member 72b 6th link member 72c 7th link member 72d 8th link member 73,74 Driven roller D1 Width direction D2 Transfer direction D3 Circumferential direction S1 Swing axis (first swivel axis)
S2 swivel shaft (second swivel shaft)
S3 swivel shaft (third swivel shaft)
S4 swivel shaft (4th swivel shaft)
S5 swivel shaft (fifth swivel shaft)
S Sheet-like object G Gap

Claims (5)

Equipped with multiple chain units,
Each chain unit has first to third turns connecting the upper link having the first to fourth link members, the lower link having the fifth to eighth link members, and the upper link and the lower link. A shaft, a fourth swivel shaft connected to the upper link, and a fifth swivel shaft connected to the lower link are provided.
The first to fourth swivel axes are arranged at the vertices of the rhombus in a plan view.
The second link member and the fourth link member are rotatably connected to each other via the fourth swivel shaft.
The fifth swivel shaft is arranged below the fourth swivel shaft with a gap.
The sixth link member and the eighth link member are telescopic chains that are rotatably connected to each other via the fifth swivel shaft. The telescopic chain according to claim 1 and
A sprocket that is meshed with the telescopic chain and driven to rotate is provided.
The sprocket is a chain mechanism that meshes with the first swivel shaft and the second swivel shaft. The telescopic chain according to claim 1 and
With the guide rail,
With a sprocket that meshes with the telescopic chain,
The telescopic chain further includes a connecting member for connecting a pair of adjacent chain units to each other.
The connecting member has a first driven roller and a second driven roller that abut on the guide rail, and the second driven roller is located below the first driven roller.
The meshing position between the sprocket and the telescopic chain is a chain mechanism located between the first driven roller and the second driven roller in the vertical direction. The connecting member further includes a third driven roller that abuts on the guide rail.
The chain mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the third driven roller is arranged so as to face the first driven roller with the guide rail interposed therebetween. The telescopic chain according to claim 1 and
With a guide rail,
Each chain unit further comprises a pair of driven rollers that abut the guide rails.
When the pair of driven rollers are guided by the guide rail in a direction in which they are separated from each other and the distance between the pair of driven rollers is increased, the chain unit contracts and the chain unit contracts.
A chain mechanism in which the chain unit expands when the pair of driven rollers are guided by the guide rails in a direction approaching each other and the distance between the pair of driven rollers is narrowed.

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