JP2023183927A - Lubricant supply body and linear motion guide device including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a lubricant supply body which ensures supply of a lubricant to a rail through sliding of a slider to maintain lubrication over a long time, and to provide a linear motion guide device including the lubricant supply body.SOLUTION: A lubricant supply body 13 is provided at an end 5a of a slider 5 which moves straight in an axial direction L1 along a guide rail 1 and contacts with a rolling element rolling groove 3 of the guide rail 1 to supply a lubricant. The lubricant supply body 13 includes a lubricant containing polymer member 23 and a synthetic resin fiber member 19 which are at least partially disposed adjacent to each other. The lubricant containing polymer member 23 and the synthetic resin fiber member 19 at least partially contact with the rolling element rolling groove 3. The synthetic resin fiber member 19 includes a flange part 21 so that the flange part 21 covers an outer periphery of the lubricant containing polymer member 23. In a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of the slider 5, a flange part inner periphery 21b of the synthetic resin fiber member 19 is formed smaller than the outer periphery 23b of the lubricant containing polymer member 23.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an improvement of a lubricant supply body provided in a linear motion guide device, and a linear motion guide device equipped with the lubricant supply body.

The linear motion guide device includes, for example, a guide rail that extends in the axial direction, and a slider that straddles the guide rail and relatively moves in the axial direction. Rolling element rolling grooves extending in the axial direction are formed on both sides of the guide rail, and rolling element rolling grooves on the guide rail side are formed on the inner surfaces of both sleeves of the slider body. Opposing rolling element rolling grooves are respectively formed. A large number of balls (rolling elements) are built in between the rolling grooves of these opposing rolling elements so that they can roll freely, and the slider is pivoted on the guide rail through the rolling of these many balls. Move relative to the direction.

Patent Document 1 proposes a lubricant supply body having a lubricant retaining layer capable of storing and resupplying lubricant inside an outer shell layer.
The outer layer is made of a lubricant-containing polymer and is at least partially in contact with the lubricated area. The recesses provided inside the outer layer are filled with needle felt made of replenishable synthetic resin fibers that absorb grease or lubricating oil.
However, in Patent Document 1, the needle felt is not in contact with the rail and does not have the function of applying lubricant to the rail.
Furthermore, when the machine is intended for long-term use, it is necessary to stop the machine to replenish lubricant.

Moreover, Patent Document 2 has a lubricant supply member formed from a porous resin material containing a lubricant and supplies the lubricant by slidingly contacting the rolling groove of the rolling element, and has a lubricant supply member that is overlapped on the outer surface side of the lubricant supply member. It includes a plurality of arranged sealing materials. Felt material is used as the material for this sealing material.
However, this felt material is intended to be in the form of a seal and does not have the function of pressing the lubricant-containing polymer member against the rail.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-036814 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-337407

The present invention has been made to solve these problems of the prior art, and its object is to reliably supply lubricant to the rail by sliding the slider and maintain long-term lubrication. It is an object of the present invention to provide a lubricant supply body that makes it possible to achieve the desired performance, and a linear motion guide device equipped with the lubricant supply body.

In order to achieve this object, the first invention provides a lubricant supply body that is provided at an end of a linear motion body that moves straight in the axial direction and supplies lubricant in contact with a lubricated region,
comprising a lubricant-containing polymer member and a synthetic resin fiber member, at least some of which are disposed adjacent to each other;
At least a portion of each of the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member is in contact with the lubricated portion,
The synthetic resin fiber member is provided with a flange portion so as to cover the outer periphery of the lubricant-containing polymer member,
The lubricant supplying body is characterized in that the inner circumference of the flange portion of the synthetic resin fiber member is smaller than the outer circumference of the lubricant-containing polymer member in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the linear motion body. It is.

A second aspect of the present invention is a lubricant supply body according to the first aspect, characterized in that the synthetic resin fiber member initially contains a lubricant.

A third invention is a lubricant supply body based on the first invention, characterized in that the synthetic resin fiber member does not initially contain a lubricant.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a lubricant supply body based on the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member are housed in a case.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the lubricant supply body according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member are housed in a case.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a guide rail having a rolling element rolling groove extending in the axial direction, a rolling element rolling groove facing the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail, and provided astride the guide rail. a slider that is relatively movable in the axial direction, a rolling element that is rotatably incorporated between the rolling grooves of both of the rolling elements, and a rolling element that is attached to the axial end of the slider and of the guide rail. A lubricant supply body that slides into the rolling groove and supplies lubricant, and a sealing material that is arranged to sandwich the lubricant supply body together with the slider,
The linear motion guide device is characterized in that the lubricant supply body is the lubricant supply body according to any one of the first to fifth present inventions.

According to the present invention, a lubricant supply body that can reliably supply lubricant to a rail by sliding a slider and maintain long-term lubrication, and a linear motion guide device equipped with the lubricant supply body can be provided.

1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a linear motion guide device equipped with a lubricant supply body of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a first embodiment of a lubricant supply body of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of a slider including a first embodiment of a lubricant supply body of the present invention. It is a schematic front view which shows the lubricant supply body of 3rd embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional view which expands and shows a part of slider containing the lubricant supply body of 3rd embodiment of this invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
Note that this embodiment is only one embodiment of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting in any way, and design changes can be made as appropriate within the scope of the present invention.
"First embodiment"

In this embodiment, for example, a linear motion guide device shown in FIG. 1 is assumed.
The linear motion guide device includes a guide rail 1 having a first rolling element rolling groove 3 extending in the axial direction, and a second rolling element rolling groove (not shown) facing the first rolling element rolling groove 3 of the guide rail 1. A slider 5 having a moving groove and having a substantially U-shape in cross section so as to straddle the guide rail 1 and be relatively movable in the axial direction (direction L1 in the figure), and a first rolling element rolling groove 3. A large number of rolling elements (not shown) are rotatably incorporated between the second rolling element and the rolling groove, and a first rolling element of the guide rail 1 is attached to the axial end of the slider 5. A lubricant supply body 13 that is approximately U-shaped in cross section and supplies lubricant by sliding into rolling groove 3; It is configured to include a letter-shaped sealing material (side seal) 9. Further, the axial end portion 5a of the slider 5 is provided with an end cap 11 having a substantially U-shape when viewed in cross section. Note that the slider 5, the end cap 11, the lubricant supply body 13, and the side seal 9 have substantially the same U-shaped shape when viewed in cross section.
The present invention has a characteristic configuration for the lubricant supply body 13, and well-known configurations of the guide rail 1, slider 5, side seal 9, and end cap 11 can be adopted within the scope of the present invention. The detailed explanation here will be omitted, and the lubricant supply body 13, which is a characteristic component of the present invention, will be explained in detail below.

The lubricant supply body 13 is disposed sandwiched between the side seal 9 and the end cap 11, and is housed in a case 15 formed to have the same external size as the side seal 9 and the end cap 11. , a synthetic resin fiber material (felt member) 19 and a lubricant-containing polymer member 23 are arranged adjacent to each other (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

The case 15 is formed into a substantially U-shape when viewed in cross section with substantially the same shape as the slider 5, side seal 9, and end cap 11, and extends from the upper end surface, lower end surface, and left and right end surfaces in the end cap direction (axial direction). A flange portion 17 of a predetermined length is provided to protrude toward L1).

The felt member 19 is provided in close contact with the inner surface of the case 15 and has a substantially U-shape in cross section. The felt member 19 has flange portions 21 of a predetermined length protruding from the upper end surface, the lower end surface, and the left and right end surfaces toward the end cap direction (axial direction L1). Each end surface 21a of the flange portion 21 is arranged to be flush with the end surface 17a of each flange portion 17 of the case 15 (see FIG. 3).
That is, the felt member 19 is disposed by its flange portion 21 so as to cover the lubricant-containing polymer member 23 from the outer periphery of the lubricant-containing polymer member 23 to the outside in the axial direction, and at least a portion of the felt member 19 covers the rolling direction of the guide rail 1. It is in contact with the moving body rolling groove 3. Felt member 19 is disposed between case 15 and lubricant-containing polymer member 23 .
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the felt member 19 contains a lubricant.

The lubricant-containing polymer member 23 is made by heating a raw material mixture of a lubricant and a resin above the melting point of the resin to plasticize it, molding it into a predetermined shape, and then cooling and solidifying it. This is formed in a substantially U-shape in cross-section and is provided in close contact with the inner surface of the felt member 19, and is in close contact with the inner surface of the felt member 19, and also connects to the end surfaces 17a and 21a of the flange portions of the case 15 and the felt member 19, respectively. They are arranged so that they are flush.
At least a portion of the lubricant-containing polymer member 23 is in contact with the rolling groove 3 of the guide rail 1.

The inner circumference of the felt member 19, in this embodiment the inner circumference 21b of the flange portion 21, is smaller than the outer circumference 23b of the lubricant-containing polymer member 23.
In this way, since the inner circumference 21b of the flange portion 21 of the felt member 19 is formed smaller than the outer circumference 23b of the lubricant-containing polymer member 23, when the case 15 and the felt member 19 are combined, the felt member 19 Since the lubricant-containing polymer member 23 is pressed against the guide rail 1 from the outer periphery, stable contact with the guide rail 1 can be realized (arrow P in FIG. 2 indicates the pressing direction).

According to this embodiment, the felt member 19 can recover the lubricant initially released from the adjacent lubricant-containing polymer member 23 and supply the retained lubricant to the guide rail 1 by sliding. By collecting and resupplying the excess lubricant released, long-term lubrication can be maintained without stopping the machine.
Further, by impregnating the felt member 19 with lubricant in advance, excessive collection of lubricant from the guide rail 1 and the lubricant-containing polymer member 23 is suppressed.
"Second embodiment"

The lubricant supply body 13 of this embodiment has the same overall configuration as the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, but is different in that the felt member 19 is not impregnated with lubricant in advance. This is different from one embodiment.
This allows a large amount of lubricant to be recovered in an environment where a large amount of lubricant is initially released and wasted.
Note that other configurations and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment, so the description of the first embodiment will be referred to and detailed description here will be omitted.
"Third embodiment"

In the lubricant supply body 13 of this embodiment, the felt member 19 has the role of the case 15 and does not include the case 15 (FIGS. 4 and 5).
Note that other configurations and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment or the second embodiment, so the explanation of the first embodiment or the second embodiment will be referred to and detailed explanations will be omitted here. do.

The present invention is applicable not only to linear guide devices but also to linear motion guide devices in general.

1 Guide rail 3 Rolling element rolling groove (lubrication part)
5 Slider (linear motion body)
9 Side seal 11 End cap 13 Lubricant supply body 15 Case 17 Flange portion 19 Felt member (synthetic resin fiber material)
21 Flange portion 21b Inner circumference 23 Lubricant-containing polymer member 23b outer circumference

Claims (6)

A lubricant supply body that is provided at an end of a linear motion body that moves straight in the axial direction and supplies lubricant in contact with a lubricated part,
comprising a lubricant-containing polymer member and a synthetic resin fiber member, at least some of which are disposed adjacent to each other;
At least a portion of each of the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member is in contact with the lubricated portion,
The synthetic resin fiber member is provided with a flange portion so as to cover the outer periphery of the lubricant-containing polymer member,
A lubricant supply body characterized in that an inner circumference of the flange portion of the synthetic resin fiber member is configured to be smaller than an outer circumference of the lubricant-containing polymer member in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the linear motion body. The lubricant supply body according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic resin fiber member initially contains a lubricant. The lubricant supply body according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic resin fiber member does not initially contain a lubricant. The lubricant supply body according to claim 2, wherein the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member are housed in a case. The lubricant supply body according to claim 3, wherein the lubricant-containing polymer member and the synthetic resin fiber member are housed in a case. A guide rail having a rolling element rolling groove extending in the axial direction, and a rolling element rolling groove opposing the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail, and being installed astride the guide rail so as to be relatively movable in the axial direction. a slider, a rolling element rotatably incorporated between both of the rolling element rolling grooves, and a rolling element attached to an axial end of the slider and in sliding contact with the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail. A lubricant supply body that supplies lubricant, and a sealing material that is arranged to sandwich the lubricant supply body together with the slider,
A linear motion guide device, wherein the lubricant supply body is the lubricant supply body according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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