JPH03253216A - Cable processing mechanism for industrial ct scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a rotating positioning accuracy by so laying an S-shaped cable as to wind the bare end of the cable along the outer periphery of a rotating positioning device, anchoring the bare end of the cable to a rotary unit of the device, and always energizing a roller in a direction for deepening a bent. CONSTITUTION:When a rotary table 1 is rotated in a direction of an arrow 20, the moving end fittings 7 of a bare cable 6 are rotated, and the cable 6 is also guided by a guide roller 8, and moved to a direction of an arrow 20. In this case, since a roller 10 is always pulled by a spring balancer 15 in a direction of an arrow 19, the roller 10 is moved by the slack of the cable 6 in the direction of a slide shaft of a linearly moving mechanism which has a slide bearing 11, a slide shaft 12 and supporting materials 13, 14 to remove the slack of the cable 6. The pulling force of the wire 16 of the balancer 15 is operated at the roller 10. Thus, the looseness of the rotary unit can be prevented.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Object of the invention] (Field of industrial application) This invention is applicable to industrial CT (computer tomography)
The present invention relates to scanners, and particularly to improvements in cable handling mechanisms for maintaining pneumatic hoses and electric cables connected to a workpiece (subject) holding device mounted on a rotary positioning device in a predetermined state.

(Prior Art) A typical configuration example of an industrial CT scanner is shown in FIG. Frame 1 for solidifying and holding the subject 105
13 is placed on top of the rotary positioning device 111. An X-ray tube 103 and an X-ray detector 109 are arranged facing each other on an arm 107, and the entire mechanism is mounted on the scanning mechanism 101. Although the figure shows a donut-shaped object 105, this is just an example, and the shape is not limited. The rotary positioning device 111 is normally rotatable by 180 degrees or more, and the frame 113 mounted thereon is
has a mechanism for clamping, tilting, and deforming the subject 105, and incorporates an actuator operated by air, electric power, etc., and various detectors. For this reason, hoses and cables 114 for air and power are suspended from the top, and a large space is prepared around them so as not to hinder rotation by more than 180@.

The rotary positioning device 111 is a known mechanism having the structure shown in FIG. That is, a worm gear 121 connected to a motor 120. Worm wheel 122 meshing with worm gear 121. It consists of a rotary table 123 integrally connected to a worm wheel 122. The frame 113 shown in FIG. 3 is placed on top of the rotary table 123. This mechanism positions the rotary table 123 by a predetermined angle. X emitted from the X-ray tube 103 in the form of a fan beam
The rays pass through the subject 105 and enter the X-ray detector 109 . The method of combining the scanning operation of the scanning mechanism 101 and the rotational operation of the rotational positioning device 111 is the first known method.
Any of generation CT to third generation CT may be used. The output signal of the X-ray detector 109 is processed to obtain a cross-sectional image of the object.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the configuration shown in FIG.
4 (hereinafter referred to as cables 114) had the following problem.

The frame 113 is moved approximately 1
Although the cables 114 are rotated more than 806 times, the cables 114 must be laid so as not to obstruct the movement. When the number and thickness of the cables 114 increases, their flexibility decreases, so it is necessary to leave enough extra space above the device and lay the cables 114 loosely there without being restricted too much. The conventional problem is that the space in which the cables 114 are laid needs to be very large, and if this space is small, the cables 114 cannot be laid out smoothly.

Another problem is that positioning accuracy decreases due to play in the rotational direction of the rotary positioning device 111. A rotation mechanism using a worm and a worm wheel has backlash, which causes the above-mentioned backlash. Although there is a mechanism to prevent rattling due to backlash, adding such a mechanism increases the price of the device.

This invention was made in view of the conventional problems mentioned above, and the first object is to compactly handle the cables connected to the work holding device on the rotary positioning device so that they do not interfere with the rotational movement, and The second purpose is to eliminate looseness in the rotational direction of the rotary positioning device using the cable handling mechanism.

[Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, in the present invention, the cable carrier is curved into a hairpin shape around the roller at the outer peripheral portion of the rotary positioning device, and the tip side of the cable carrier is curved in the shape of a hairpin. The cable carrier is installed so as to be wrapped around the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device, and a means is provided for fixing the tip end of the cable bear to the rotating part of the rotary positioning device and constantly urging the roller in the direction of deepening the curve. .

(Function) The roller is constantly pulled by the urging means, and the cable bear is constantly pulled by this roller.

Since the tip of the cable bear is fixed to the rotating section, the rotating section is always urged in a constant rotational direction by the tension of the urging means. This rotational biasing force prevents backlash from occurring. Also,
When the rotary positioning device rotates the rotating part in the same direction as the biasing direction, the cable carrier moves in the direction of loosening, but at this time, the roller is moved by the biasing means, the curve is deepened, and the cable carrier is loosened. Bear never slackens. Moreover, the amount of movement of the roller is half of the amount of movement of the cable carrier. If the direction of rotation is reversed, the movement of the roller will be in the opposite direction.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a cable handling mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. The rotary table 1 is integrally fastened to a worm wheel of a rotary positioning device 2 which is a combination of a worm gear and a worm wheel of a known mechanism. The worm gear shaft is connected to a drive unit 3 consisting of a motor or the like for rotating the worm gear, and a rotation detector 4 for detecting the rotation angle of the rotary table 1.

Although not shown, a frame (see FIG. 3) for holding an object to be inspected is placed on the rotary table 1. Cables 5 connected to the frame from the outside are laid through the cable carrier 6. The movable end fitting 7 at the tip of the cable carrier 6 is fixed to the rotary table 1 or a frame placed thereon (not shown).

The cable carrier 6 is arranged so as to be wound around the rotary positioning device 2, and can easily slide by a plurality of guide rollers 8. The cable carrier 6 also has a plurality of wheels 9 on the lower side, and can easily slide. The cable carrier 6 is curved in an S-shape by guide rollers 8 and rollers 10, and its fixed end is fixed to the base 18 with a metal fitting 23.

The roller 10 is rotatably incorporated in a sliding bearing 11 and is combined to be slidable on a sliding shaft 12 in the axial direction. The sliding shaft 12 is held horizontally by supports 13.14. The sliding bearing 11 is fastened to a wire 16 of a known spring balancer 15. The spring balancer 15 is a device that has a built-in mechanism for winding the wire 16 with a fairly constant force. The above mechanism and the scanner mechanism base 17 are assembled on the base 18.

In the above configuration, the subject is held in a frame on the rotary table 1 in order to take a tomographic image. The subject is placed in the space between the X-ray tube and the X-ray detector, rotated at predetermined angles, and X-ray tomographic image information is collected.

Hereinafter, a method of rotationally positioning each predetermined angle will be explained.

Starting from the state shown in FIG. 1, the rotary table 1 is
The rotation is performed by a predetermined angle determined by the device and within a certain angular range (usually 180° or more) which is also determined by the device.

The rotary table 1 is rotated by the drive unit 3, and stopped when a predetermined angle is detected by the rotation detector 4.

When the rotary table 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow 20, the moving end fitting 7 of the cable carrier 6 also rotates, and the cable carrier 6 is also guided by the guide rollers 8 and moves in the direction of the arrow 20. The cable carrier 6 may become slack and bulge outward. However, since the roller 10 is constantly pulled in the direction of the arrow 19 by the spring balancer 15, the roller 10 is moved by the sliding motion of the linear motion mechanism consisting of the sliding bearing 11, the sliding shaft 12 and the support member 13, 14. The cable carrier 6 is moved in the axial direction by the amount of slack in the cable carrier 6, and the slack in the cable carrier 6 is removed. The tensile force of the wire 16 of the spring balancer 15 acts on the roller 10. Further, a tension force that is 1/2 of the force acting on the roller 10 is applied to the cable bearer 6 . That is, since the table 1 is pulled in the direction of the arrow 20 by the cable carrier 6, no looseness occurs at the engagement portion between the worm and the worm wheel.

The above-mentioned operations are performed over the entire rotation range by a predetermined angle, that is, the movable end fitting 7 is moved from position 21 to position 22, and the information collection of the X-ray tomographic image is completed. Even when rotating in the opposite direction after completing rotation in one direction, information on X-ray tomographic images can be collected by rotating and positioning each predetermined angle.

In the case of reverse rotation, the cable carrier 6 is pulled by the amount of movement of the moving end fitting 7 of the cable carrier 6, so if the rollers 10 do not slide, the rotary table 1 will be moved by the resistance force of the cable carrier. You will not be able to move. However, in this mechanism, since the roller 10 is able to slide on the sliding shaft 12, the amount of movement of the cable carrier 6 is 1/1/2.
The rotary table 1 can be rotated by a predetermined angle.

Further, 1/2 of the tensile force of the spring balancer 15 acts on the cable carrier 6, and the rotation table 1 is moved in the direction of the arrow 20.
Torque is applied to the worm gear and the worm wheel, and there is no play in the meshing area between the worm gear and the worm wheel.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained in detail above, in the cable handling mechanism of the present invention, the cable bear is laid in an S-shape curved state by the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device and the roller, and the cable bearer is laid in an S-shape curved state by the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device and the roller. Accordingly, the cable bear moves along the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device, and the roller moves only half of the distance, so the cable installation space becomes much smaller than in the past. In addition, since the constant biasing force of this cable handling mechanism always biases the rotating part in a constant rotational direction, it is possible to prevent rattling of the rotating part and improve rotational positioning accuracy.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cable handling mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a conventional industrial cable handling mechanism.
A perspective view of the T-scanner, and FIG. 4 are a plan view (A) and a front view (B) of a conventional rotary positioning device. 1... Rotary table 2... Rotation positioning device 3... Drive unit 4... Rotation detector 5...
・Cable/hose 6... Cable bear 7... Moving end metal fitting 8... Guide roller 10... Roller 11... Sliding bearing 12... Sliding shaft
13... Support material 14... Support material 15... Spring balancer 16... Wire 17... Scanner mechanism base 18... Base 1
9...Arrow 20...Arrow Dai Tomoe 4f Physician Hidekazu Miyoshi 2 Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] The cable bear is curved into a hairpin shape around the roller at the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device, and the tip side of the cable bear is laid so as to be wrapped around the outer periphery of the rotary positioning device. A cable handling mechanism for an industrial CT scanner, the cable handling mechanism being provided with means for fixing a part to a rotating part of the rotary positioning device and constantly urging the roller in a direction to deepen the curve.