JP3508181B2 - Cartesian robot and composite cable - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a composite cable and an orthogonal robot using the composite cable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an orthogonal robot, wiring from a fixed portion to a moving portion is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-203795.
As shown in Japanese Patent Publication No.
The first end is fixed to the base of the first shaft and the other end is fixed to the slide member so as to face the vicinity of the moving end of the slide body that is moved with respect to the shaft, and is bent into a substantially U-shape. And a cable extending from the first shaft to the second shaft is arranged along the spring plate.

An example of the above-described conventional orthogonal robot will be described below with reference to the drawings. 7 and 8 show examples of wiring of a conventional orthogonal robot. In FIGS. 7 and 8, 10 is a strip-shaped spring plate, one end of which is fixed to the upper surface of the base 2 so as to face the vicinity of the moving end of the slide body 6 in the direction of arrow A, and the side surface portion of the intermediate portion. It is fixed to the base plate 1 through a substantially L-shaped metal fitting 11. 14,
Reference numeral 15 is a connector fixed to the first shaft 1. Cables 16 and 17 derived from this are fixed along the spring plate 10 by taping or clamp, and finally connected to the motor 8 and the servo device 9. ing.

The operation of the wiring of the orthogonal robot constructed as described above will be described below. First, when the slide body 6 is moved in the direction of arrow A or the opposite arrow A, the other end of the spring plate 10 moves integrally with the slide body 6 while the position of the intermediate U-shaped bent portion changes. The cables 16 and 17 are held by the spring plate 10 and are changed in shape along the spring plate 10.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned structure, the spring plate 10 and the cable 1 which are substantially U-shaped are provided.
Since the curvatures of 6 and 17 are different, the cable 1
Or rubbing against the 6,17 spring plate 10, it takes excessive force to each other, or the cross-sectional line, has a problem that the spring plate is damaged.

The cables 16 and 17 themselves are
Due to the weight of the copper wire, which is the main constituent material of the wire, it is not flexible
Because each along a spring plate 10 has flexibility
It was necessary to fix the electric wires by taping or clamp at a fine pitch so that the electric wires would not be scattered, which was very troublesome.

Orthogonal robots generally use power.
Air must be supplied, but
If the cables are provided in the same way as the cables 16 and 17,
As shown in Fig. 3, the arrangement is bent at a right angle and the air
The problem that the tube definitely causes poor air flow
Had a point.

Further, it is usually necessary to wire a tool or the like provided on a slide body (not shown) on the second shaft.
Similar to the first shaft, this wiring must be provided with another spring plate, and the cable must be fixed to the spring plate by taping or clamping. This cable and the above cables 16 and 17 are connected by a connector in consideration of workability when exchanging the cables. However, since two types of cables are required in such a configuration, it takes a lot of time for wiring the connector, resulting in an increase in cost. Furthermore, there were many quality problems due to poor connection and incorrect insertion in the connector section.

In view of the above problems, the present invention has flexibility.
Make sure that the air tube and the electric wire are not bent.
Is compact and easy to handle.
It is easy to use and can be used for moving parts that can easily change the stroke.
The present invention provides a composite cable and an orthogonal robot that can be used .

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a composite cable having an electric wire body and an air tube which are movable in a continuous manner with a moving member that is capable of moving straight ahead. The air tube is made of a flexible resin, the electric wire body covers a plurality of electric wires in a cylindrical shape with a sheath made of the same material as the air tube, and the air tube and the electric wire body are juxtaposed. It is characterized in that a flexible composite cable obtained by fusing an air tube and a sheath of the electric wire body adjacent to each other can be obtained. As a result, in the wiring and piping from the fixed part to the moving member required for the orthogonal robot , the inflexible electric wire body with the weight of the copper wire which is the main constituent material of the electric wire becomes an air tube with sufficient flexibility. By fusing, a composite cable having a large number of electric wires and an air tube and having flexibility as a whole cable and suitable for movement can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite cable having an electric wire body and an air tube which are connected to a moving member capable of moving in a straight line, and the air tube is made of a flexible resin and is made of air. The outer circumference of the tube is covered with a sheath, the electric wire body covers a plurality of electric wires with a cylindrical sheath, and the respective sheaths of the air tube and the electric wire body are made of the same material. It is characterized in that a flexible composite cable can be obtained in which a tube and an electric wire body are juxtaposed and the adjacent sheaths are fused to each other. As a result, the outer circumference of the air tube is covered with a sheath made of the same material as the sheath of the electric wire body, so that the sheath material suitable for fusion can be set regardless of the material of the air tube.

The composite cable according to claim 3 has two cables.
The feature is that the ar tubes are arranged at both ends . As a result, the flexibility of the entire composite cable is maintained in good balance.

The composite cable according to claim 4 is characterized in that the air tube or the sheath of the air tube and the sheath of the electric wire body have substantially the same diameter. As a result, a large number of electric wires can be arranged most efficiently and the balance of the entire composite cable can be adjusted. Further, by having the same diameter, even if the composite cable is curved in a U shape when moving, the electric wire or the air tube keeps the same curvature, and the substantially U-shaped portion can move while maintaining a smooth shape. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a Cartesian robot having a first straight moving unit having a moving member capable of straight moving.
A second straight-moving unit, which is provided on the moving member and is movable in a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving member, wherein the first straight-moving unit moves to the second straight-moving unit. An orthogonal robot in which the composite cable according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is arranged,
One end of the composite cable is fixed near the end of the first straight-moving unit, further extended along the moving direction of the first straight-moving unit, and bent in a substantially U shape to be fixed to the moving member. Then, while bending the further extended composite cable, it is twisted at about 90 ° to be aligned with the moving direction of the second rectilinear movement unit, and further bent in a substantially U shape to be fixed to the second rectilinear movement unit. It is characterized by having done. As a result, a series of seamless cables can be obtained by eliminating the risk of disconnection and clogging of pipes due to breakage of many electric wires and air tubes. Further, the connector portion can be greatly reduced, and an orthogonal robot with high reliability can be obtained at low cost.

An orthogonal robot according to a sixth aspect of the present invention includes a motor for moving the moving member by rotation of the ball screw, and rotating the ball screw in a plurality of mounting holes provided at equal intervals in a linear rail for guiding the moving member. It is characterized in that the holding motor bracket and the bearing bracket that supports the ball screw are fixed. As a result, the motor bracket and the bearing bracket can be fixed at arbitrary positions, so that the stroke of the moving member can be changed very easily.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Wiring of an orthogonal robot according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6
In the figure, 21 is a first straight-moving unit having a moving member 23 that can move straight, and 22 is provided on the moving member 23 of the first straight-moving unit 21, and is a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving member. A second movable unit that is movable to the first movable cable portion 24, and a first movable cable portion 24 that fixes an end portion 24a that is one end of the movable cable in the wiring box 25 near the end portion of the first straight movable unit. Further, the first rectilinear movement unit 21 is extended along the movement direction and bent into a substantially U shape to form a substantially U-shaped portion 24b, and the other end 24c is fixed to the fixed portion 26 of the moving member 23. Has been done.

Reference numeral 27 is a part of the further extended cable, which is bent in the moving direction of the second rectilinear movement unit 22 and is twisted by approximately 90 °. Reference numeral 28 denotes a second movable cable portion, which is further bent in a substantially U-shape along the movement direction of the second rectilinear movement unit 22 to form a substantially U-shaped portion 28a, and the second rectilinear movement unit 22 has a substantially U-shaped portion 28a. It is fixed to the moving part 22a. Reference numeral 29 denotes a tool portion, and the second movable cable portion reaches this tool portion. The first movable cable portion and the second movable cable portion described above are a continuous series. Therefore, the other end 24c corresponds to an intermediate portion of this series of cables. As a result, a series of seamless cables can be obtained by eliminating the risk of disconnection and clogging of pipes due to breakage of many electric wires and air tubes. Further, the connector portion can be greatly reduced, and an orthogonal robot with high reliability can be obtained at low cost.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the orthogonal robot used in the above .
The cross section of the composite cables 24, 27, 28 having flexibility is shown.
30 is for covering a plurality of electric wires 31 in a cylindrical shape.
It is a sheath that is integrated with multiple wires to form the wire body.
And 32 is the outer circumference of the flexible air tube 33.
Is a sheath covering the same as the sheath of the electric wire body and is made of a resin material such as vinyl chloride or urethane. The above wire body is the main wire
Since the copper wire, which is a necessary material, is heavy, only this wire body is assumed.
If you move the moving part by wiring
If the wire body cannot form a U-shape,
It hangs down with a small curvature at the bent part
Become.

On the other hand, the air tube has a pipe-like shape.
None, by selecting a flexible resin material,
A flexible product can be obtained. In addition, the tree
Urethane is the best fat material.

An air tube having flexibility in this way
A composite cable in which a cable and an inflexible electric wire body are fused and integrated.
The flexible cable makes the inflexible wire body flexible.
The sufficient air tube of the
Even if it is bent to form a substantially U-shaped part and movable,
It is possible to move while maintaining a substantially U-shaped part,
An excellent composite cable can be obtained.

The composite cable is an air tube.
It is lightweight because it is composed of only the cable and the wire itself.
It is compact and compact, and when installed on an orthogonal robot,
Even if it is bent into a substantially U shape, it may hang down under its own weight.
Without, the wiring and piping space can be minimized
It In the fusion bonding, an electric wire body in which a plurality of electric wires 31 are cylindrically covered with a sheath 30 and an air tube 33 covered with a sheath 32 are individually formed. (7 wires, 2 air tubes)
The inflexible electric wire body and the flexible air tube are juxtaposed, and the air tube or the sheath of the air tube and the sheath of the electric wire body which are adjacent to each other are pressed against each other while being heated to a high temperature. .

Further, when the sheath of the electric wire is made of the same material as that of the air tube, for example, urethane of the above example, the sheath of the air tube is not necessary. In addition,
As shown in Fig. 4, attach two air tubes to the composite cable.
A well-balanced flexibility can be obtained by arranging the tabs at both ends .

Further, in the case where the outer periphery of the air tube is covered with a sheath made of the same material as the sheath of the electric wire body, the sheath material suitable for fusion can be set regardless of the material of the air tube.

Further, since the air tube or the sheath of the air tube and the sheath of the electric wire body have substantially the same diameter , a large number of electric wires can be efficiently arranged, and a compact composite cable in which the entire composite cable is well-balanced is obtained. Further, by having the same diameter, even if the composite cable is curved in a U shape when moving, the electric wire or the air tube keeps the same curvature, and the substantially U-shaped portion can move while maintaining a smooth shape. .

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 34 is a linear rail for moving and guiding the moving member 23 by rotation of the ball screw 45, and has a plurality of mounting holes 35 provided at equal intervals. A motor bracket 36 for holding a motor for rotationally driving the ball screw and a bearing bracket 37 for rotatably supporting the ball screw are fixed to a tap 35a provided in the mounting hole 35. As a result, the brackets 36 and 37 can be fixed at arbitrary positions in the mounting hole 35, so that the stroke of the moving member 23 can be changed extremely easily. Conventionally, JP-A-59
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 214579, the mounting holes and the fixing of the brackets at both ends are not associated with each other, and the stroke expansion is very troublesome.

FIG. 6 shows a second linear movement unit, 38 is a linear rail, 39 is a bearing portion, and a housing 40
It is fixed to. The housing 40 is fixed to the moving member 23 of the first linear movement unit 21. 41
Is fixed to the housing 40 with a ball screw nut. A frame 42 is fixed to the linear rail 38, the motor bracket 43, and the bearing bracket 44. A cover 45 covers the cable 28 on the frame 42. As a result, the rigidity of the second linear movement unit is significantly increased. In this embodiment, the rigidity is tripled as compared with the case where only the linear rail is used. Conventionally, JP-A-59-219
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 181, the rigidity of the linear movement unit is ensured only by a sliding member such as a slide shaft. For this reason, it was inevitable to increase the rigidity in order to secure it.

The operation of the orthogonal robot configured as described above will be described. First, ball screws 45, 4
When the moving member 23 is moved by rotating the movable member 6, the movable cable (1) 24 moves along the flexible changing shapes of the sheaths 30, 32 and the air tube 33, and the position of the intermediate U-shaped portion 24b. While the other end 24c moves, the moving member 2
It moves together with 3.

As described above, in the above structure, since the movable cable is guided by the flexibility of the sheath and the air tube, a spring plate for specially guiding the cable is not necessary. Further, since the fusion-bonded portion between the sheaths has a cylindrical center, the sheaths have the same curvature, and the substantially U-shaped portion has a smooth shape.

Furthermore, in the case of the wiring of this embodiment, both ends of the first movable cable portion 24, which is a series of cables, the cable 27, and the second movable cable portion 28 may be fixed. , Very simple.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, a flexible air tube and an electric wire body are fused to form a composite cable.
By doing so, it is possible to obtain a compact and flexible composite cable that is easy to handle, and this composite cable can be smoothly curved into a substantially U shape and fixed to a movable moving member. Further, by using the composite cable in the orthogonal robot composed of two straight-moving units in which the stroke of the moving member can be easily changed, it is possible to easily obtain the movable cable portion according to the stroke.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an orthogonal robot of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a cross section of the main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cable cross-sectional view of the orthogonal robot of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an essential part of a first linear movement unit of the orthogonal robot of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an essential part of a second linear movement unit of the orthogonal robot of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a main part of a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is an overall perspective view of a conventional example

[Explanation of symbols] 21 First straight moving unit 22 Second straight moving unit 23 Moving member 24 First movable cable section 27 cable 28 Second movable cable section 30, 32 sheath 31 electric wire 33 Air tube 34,38 Linear rail 35 mounting holes 42 frames

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-77210 (JP, A) JP-A-2-153519 (JP, A) JP-A-60-180015 (JP, A) JP-A-59- 201317 (JP, A) JP 54-140985 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B25J 19/00 H01B 13/00 525

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A composite cable having an electric wire body and an air tube that are connected to a moving member that is capable of moving straight ahead, and the air tube is made of a flexible resin, and the electric wire body is the air tube. A plurality of electric wires are covered in a cylindrical shape with a sheath made of the same material as the above, the air tube and the electric wire body are juxtaposed, and the air tube and the sheath of the electric wire body which are adjacent to each other are fused to be flexible. Composite cable with. 2. A composite cable having an electric wire body and an air tube that are connected to a moving member that can move in a straight line, and the air tube is made of a flexible resin, and the outer circumference of the air tube is a sheath. The electric wire body covers a plurality of electric wires with a cylindrical sheath,
The sheaths of the air tube and the electric wire body are made of the same material, and the air tube having the sheath and the electric wire body are juxtaposed, and the flexible composite cable is formed by fusion bonding between the adjacent sheaths. . 3. The composite cable according to claim 1, wherein two air tubes are arranged at both ends . 4. The composite cable according to claim 1, wherein the air tube or the sheath of the air tube and the sheath of the electric wire body have substantially the same diameter. 5. A first member comprising a moving member capable of moving in a straight line.
And a second straight moving unit provided on the moving member and movable in a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving member, the first straight moving unit to the second straight moving unit An orthogonal robot in which the composite cable according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is arranged in the linear movement unit of No. 1, wherein one end of the composite cable is fixed near an end of the first linear movement unit. Then, it is further extended along the moving direction of the first rectilinear movement unit, is bent in a substantially U shape and is fixed to the moving member, and the extended composite cable is bent by about 90 ° while being curved. An orthogonal robot fixed along the moving direction of the second rectilinear moving unit, further bent in a substantially U shape, and fixed to the second rectilinear moving unit. 6. A motor bracket for holding a motor for rotating and driving the ball screw in a plurality of mounting holes provided at equal intervals in a linear rail for guiding the moving member by moving the moving member by rotation of the ball screw. The orthogonal robot according to claim 4, wherein a bearing bracket that pivotally supports is fixed.