JPH05296210A - Actuator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an actuator extremely facilitating installation and wiring of various kinds of accessory members and others and suitable for miniaturization and lightening. CONSTITUTION:This actuator has groove parts 28a, 28b along the outside surface of a tube member 20 in the longitudinal direction and installed with automatic switches 46a, 46b to function as detection means at specified positions of the groove parts 28a, 28b. Additionally, inside of the tube member 20, opening parts 25a to 25d are partitioned along its longitudinal direction, and the opening parts 25a to 25d are formed hollow in order to reduce weight of the tube member 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an actuator,
More specifically, for example, by providing a long groove of a predetermined shape used for mounting a switch or the like in the tube member that constitutes the actuator body, it is possible to make the size extremely small without exposing the lead wire to the outside. In addition, the present invention relates to an actuator that allows various accessory members to be easily mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an actuator, such as a cylinder, is widely used, which is configured to obtain mechanical movement by utilizing pressure of gas or liquid. In this type of cylinder, a piston is slidably fitted in a cylindrical tube member, and air or oil of a predetermined pressure is introduced into the tube member to slide the piston,
It is configured to transmit a linear motion to a piston rod extending from this piston.

By the way, in recent years, such a cylinder has been
For example, it has come to be widely used in various work processes using a servo mechanism and the like, and various control devices for suitably controlling a cylinder and various devices equipped with ancillary devices such as an auto switch for easily detecting the position of a piston are installed. Things are being used.

Therefore, a typical pneumatic cylinder equipped with the auto switch is illustrated in FIG.

In the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates a tube member which constitutes a pneumatic cylinder, and cover members 6a and 6b are integrally fixed to both ends of the tube member 2 via tie rods 4a to 4d. Further, a pipe member 8 for introducing / deriving a predetermined pressure air into / from the tube member 2 is provided at the upper end portions of the respective cover members 6a, 6b.
a, 8b are screwed together, and the pipe members 8a, 8b
The other end side of each is connected to a control valve or the like not shown. Further, a piston rod 10 extending from a piston (not shown) is fitted to the cover member 6a, and one end side of the piston rod 10 projects to the outside and is engaged with, for example, a carrier.

Therefore, the auto switches 14a, 1 are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the tube member 2 via the band members 12a, 12b.
4b is attached to the auto switches 14a, 14
The cords 16a and 16b connected to b are connected to a measuring device (not shown). In this case, the auto switch 14
The positions of a and 14b are selected according to the sliding range of the piston (not shown).

In such a structure, the pipe member 8a
Alternatively, pressurized air having a predetermined pressure is introduced into the tube member 2 from 8b to displace the piston rod 10 in the arrow A or B direction. When the piston (not shown) reaches a predetermined position, the information is supplied to the measuring device (not shown) via the auto switch 14a or 14b.
Therefore, it is possible to easily recognize that the piston is displaced within a predetermined range on the carrier table (not shown) that engages with one end of the piston rod 10.

[0008]

However, in such a cylinder, the pipe member 8a,
Since the tie rods 4a to 4d are bridged between the cover members 6a and 6b by piping 8b, the mounting work of the auto switches 14a and 14b becomes extremely complicated. Furthermore, when attaching other accessory devices to the outside of the cylinder, the work of wiring or piping is troublesome,
It exposes the drawback that an efficient assembly operation is not achieved. Moreover, since the cylinder itself is large, the cylinder cannot be mounted in the limited space, and the adaptation range of the cylinder is relatively narrowly limited.

The present invention has been made in order to overcome the above-mentioned inconveniences. By providing a long groove for arranging a switch in the longitudinal direction of the actuator body, various accessory members can be attached and wiring can be performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an actuator that is extremely simple and suitable for reduction in size and weight.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has an opening along the longitudinal direction of the actuator body, and at least the detecting means or the wiring means is provided in the opening. It is characterized in that it has an auxiliary member.

[0011]

In the actuator according to the present invention, an accessory member such as an auto switch can be easily attached in the long groove formed along the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the actuator body. Further, by defining an opening formed by a cavity in the actuator body, the weight of the actuator body can be reduced, and the weight of the entire actuator can be reduced.

[0012]

The preferred embodiments of the actuator according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

To summarize the device of the present invention in advance, a cylinder will be used as an actuator in this embodiment, and a passage for pressure air for displacing the piston in a predetermined direction on the tube member and the position of the piston will be described. A stepped groove portion for mounting an auto switch for detecting the above is provided, and an opening portion for reducing the weight of the tube member is provided.

That is, in FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 20 indicates a rectangular tube-shaped tube member (actuator body) which constitutes the cylinder. The tube member 2
A hole 22 is formed in the center of the hole 0 so that a piston described later can slide in the axial direction. A passage 24 for supplying compressed air in the axial direction of the tube member 20 is provided above the hole portion 22, and openings 25a to 25d surrounding the hole portion 22 and having a rectangular tube-shaped space are provided. , For example by extrusion or pultrusion. Further, on both sides of the tube member 20, there are provided groove portions 26a, 26b which are open to the outside in the axial direction, respectively, and the groove portions 26a, 26 are provided.
The other end side of b is communicated with groove portions 28a and 28b which are expanded from these via step portions 27a and 27b, respectively. Further, screw holes 30a to 30d are formed in a corner of one end surface of the tube member 20 to a predetermined depth, and a screw hole (not shown) is similarly formed in the other end surface of the tube member 20.

By the way, the passage 24 and the openings 25a-2
5d and the opening shapes of the grooves 26a, 26b and 28a, 28b are selected according to their respective applications,
For example, in this case, since the passage 24 becomes a passage for pressurized air, it is desirable to form the passage 24 as a circular hole portion to reduce fluid resistance.

A cover member 31 is attached to one end of the tube member 20 having the above-mentioned structure,
The cover member 32 is similarly attached to the other end side of 0. The cover member 31 is provided with a bendable passage 34. One end of the passage 34 communicates with the passage 24 provided in the tube member 20, and the other end of the passage 34 communicates with the hole 22. (See Figure 2). Further, a hole 36 into which a piston rod described later is fitted is formed in the center of the cover member 31, and bolt insertion holes 38a to 38d are formed in the corners of the cover member 31. Then, the bolts 39a to 30d are inserted into the respective hole portions 38a to 38d, the respective tip portions are screwed into the screw holes 30a to 30d, and the cover member 31 is attached to the tube member 20. On the other hand, the cover member 32 has a passage 40 communicating with the passage 24 and a passage 42 communicating with the hole portion 22.
A hole (not shown) is bored in a corner of the cover member 32, and the cover member 32 is similarly attached to the tube member 20 via a bolt (not shown). In this case, the passages 40 and 42 are provided on the switching valve 4 fixed to the cover member 32.
4 are connected to the output side port portions (not shown).

On the other hand, the groove portions 26a, 28a and 26b,
Auto switches 46a and 46b are attached to 28b.
That is, the auto switches 46a and 46b are connected to the groove portion 28a of the tube member 20 in accordance with the displacement amount of the cylinder.
28b at a predetermined position. Then, the cap screw 48
When a and 48b are screwed into the stoppers 50a and 50b, one ends of the stoppers 50a and 50b are stepped portions 27a and 2a.
Contact 7b. Therefore, the respective auto switches 46a and 46b are fixed to the tube member 20 by the respective tip portions of the holding screws 48a and 48b and the stoppers 50a and 50b. Furthermore, the respective auto switches 46a, 46b
The cords 52a, 52b connected to the groove portions 28a, 28
It is passed through the inside of b and is connected to a measuring device (not shown) from one end side of the tube member 20. Here, the tube member 20
A piston 54 is provided in the inner hole 22 and the piston 5
The piston rod 56 extending from 4 is fitted into the hole 36 of the cover member 31, and the tip end thereof is engaged with, for example, a carrier table or the like. At this time, in order to maintain the airtightness between the piston 54 and the inner wall surface of the hole 22, and between the piston rod 56 and the cover member 31, a seal member is attached respectively.

The cylinder according to this embodiment is basically constructed as described above. Next, its operation and effect will be explained.

First, when the switching valve 44 is driven to supply pressurized air of a predetermined pressure to, for example, the passage 42, the pressurized air is introduced into the hole 22 and presses the piston 54 in the direction of arrow A. Therefore, the carrier table (not shown) attached to the tip of the piston rod 56 extending from the piston 54 is
Similarly, it is displaced in the direction of arrow A. At this time, if the piston 54 reaches the predetermined position of the auto switch 46a,
The auto switch 46a sends the information to a measuring device (not shown). As a result, it is possible to easily confirm that the not-shown carrier is displaced to a predetermined position.

On the other hand, when the switching valve 44 is driven to supply the pressure air of a predetermined pressure to the passage 40, the pressure air passes through the passage 24 provided in the tube member 20 and the cover member 31.
It is introduced into the hole 22 via a curved passage 34 therein. Therefore, the piston 54 is displaced in the direction of the arrow B, and when the piston 54 reaches a predetermined position of the auto switch 46b, a carrier table (not shown) of the measuring device (not shown) is retracted to a predetermined position via the auto switch 46b. It is displayed that the motion has been performed.

By the way, as can be easily understood from FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the air passage 24 and the auto switch 4 are used.
6a, 46b and cords 52a, 52b are provided inside the tube member 20. Therefore, the cylinder itself does not increase in size, and since the air conduit and the control signal line are not exposed to the outside as in the prior art, it is possible to obtain a cylinder having an excellent appearance. Moreover, when a new accessory device is incorporated, the four longitudinal surfaces of the tube member 20 can be used over all of them, so that the assembling work is also facilitated. Further, the tube member 20 has an opening 25a.
Since 25 to 25d are formed, the tube member 20 can be formed into a rectangular tube shape without increasing the weight so much, and thus it becomes possible to eliminate the conventionally used tie rod. Further, in this embodiment, the passage 24 for supplying compressed air and the groove portions 26a, 26b and 28a for attaching the auto switch are provided in the tube member 20.
8b and the weight reducing openings 25a to 25d are provided, the shape of each is variously selected according to each application, and the molding method of each member is, for example, a tube member. It can be arbitrarily selected, for example, in the case where it is integrally molded at the time of cast molding of 20, or when it is formed by machining or the like after molding the tube member 20.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the long groove for attaching the additional member is provided along the longitudinal direction of the actuator body, the trouble of wiring and the like is released and various additional members are provided. The member can be mounted in the long groove very easily. Moreover, by defining an opening formed of a cavity inside the actuator body, the weight of the actuator body can be reduced, and the actuator itself can be reduced in size and weight, and a product having an excellent appearance can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view with a part omitted of a cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional cylinder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 ... Tube member 22 ... Hole 24 ... Passage 25a-25d ... Opening 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b ... Groove 31, 32 ... Cover member 34, 40, 42 ... Passage 44 ... Changeover valve 46a, 46b ... Auto switch 50a , 50b ... Stoppers 52a, 52b ... Cord 54 ... Piston 56 ... Piston rod

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An actuator comprising an opening along the longitudinal direction of an actuator body, and an accessory member comprising at least a detecting means, a wiring means, etc. being held in the opening. 2. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein
An actuator characterized in that the actuator body has a rectangular tube shape and is integrally formed by extrusion molding or drawing molding. 3. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein the actuator body has drive control means at an end thereof. 4. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein the actuator body is provided with an opening for reducing the weight. 5. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein
An actuator characterized in that the detection means is an auto switch. 6. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein
An actuator characterized in that the wiring means arranges lead wires through the openings, and the plurality of lead wires are coupled at one end of the actuator body. 7. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein the actuator body is used for a servo mechanism, and a rectangular outer surface of the actuator body is exposed to the outside. .. 8. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein
The opening is formed of a mounting groove, and the mounting groove is axially engraved on at least one outer peripheral surface of the actuator body having a polygonal cross section, and a desired accessory device is mounted on the mounting groove. An actuator characterized in that a cord connected to the accessory is routed in the mounting groove. 9. The actuator according to claim 8, wherein
An actuator characterized in that the accessory device comprises a switch body, and the switch body and the cord are mounted in a mounting groove. 10. The actuator according to claim 9, wherein the switch body or the cord mounted in the mounting groove is formed to be substantially flush with the flat surface portion of the outer surface of the actuator having the mounting groove, or the outer surface of the actuator. An actuator characterized by being formed without protruding from a side surface.