JPH07113372B2 - Conductive characteristics selectable bearing kit and bearing - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bearing kit with selectable conductive properties and a bearing. More specifically, in a spherical bearing, a conductive structure and an insulating structure are selectively provided between a bearing body and a housing. It is related to the improvement of the giving technology.

[0002]

Spherical bearings are used in drive systems where the axes are not aligned. Such bearings are balls, spheres or surfaces that are parts of spheres (convex surfaces defined by cutting the sphere along two parallel faces equidistant from the geometric center).
It has a bearing body with. The bearing body also has one or more fan-shaped surfaces. In addition, the bearing body is provided in two housing pieces with concave mating socket surfaces that make up the housing, the housing pieces along one surface passing through the geometric center of the socket and the bearing body. Have been divided.

To combine a bearing with a shaft in a drive system, the housing pieces are left tightly uncoupled until the shaft and housing are positioned in the system. The main body and the shaft are centered with respect to the housing during positioning. The positioned housing pieces are tightly fastened to each other and the body is fixed relative to the housing. During normal operation, the body remains stationary with respect to the housing, avoiding wear on the convex surface of the body and the concave surface of the socket.

In order to avoid irregular movements of the body relative to the housing during assembly, radial movement restraining pins project from the body which are received in large recesses in the socket face. The body can still move relative to the housing for adjustment of the shaft and body. Movement is constrained by the contact between the locating pin and the recess.

Some drive systems require that the body and shaft be electrically connected to the housing, for example to distribute current or voltage. However, it may be necessary to insulate the body from the housing, for example to avoid creep currents that may electrolyze at the mating surfaces. When electrical isolation is not needed, the convex spherical surface of the body is in direct contact with the concave socket surface of the housing and a metal locating pin is utilized. When insulation is required, it is necessary to insulate the locating pin from the housing and interpose an insulative layer between the body and the concave socket surface of the housing.

[0006]

As a result, even if the drive system has the same load and dimensional specifications, different housings and / or bearings may be used depending on the conductive characteristics (conductive or insulative). It is necessary to use the main body. When the insulating property is required, it is necessary to use two kinds of bearing bodies and housings having different dimensional specifications in order to accept the thickness of the insulating layer body interposed between the bearing body and the housing. . That is, conventionally, it was necessary to prepare an insulating bearing specification and an electrically conductive bearing specification.
In addition, the tolerances required during the manufacture of the bearing body and the housing are fairly strict in order to provide a tight fit between the bearing body and the concavo-convex surface of the housing and to ensure that the housing pieces are oil-tightly associated. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks found in the prior art as described above, and with a single-specification bearing body and housing, it is possible to handle both conductive properties of insulation and conductivity, and replacement work is also possible. It is to provide a simple bearing at low cost.

Therefore, in the bearing of the present invention, the insulating layer body is interposed between the concave socket surface of the housing and the convex spherical surface of the bearing body, and in order to restrict the movement of the bearing body with respect to the housing, The gist is that the first restricting means of the conductive structure and the second restricting means of the insulating structure extend through the insulating layer body and are exchangeably provided.

[0008]

When the first restricting means is used, the bearing body and the housing are electrically connected via this, and when the second restricting means is used, the bearing body and the housing are electrically connected. Insulated.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the bearing of the present invention having a conductive structure, and FIG. 2 shows the same bearing having an insulating structure.

Referring to FIG. 1, the spherical bearing 5 of the present invention.
Has a bearing body 2 with a convex spherical surface 18, which is defined by cutting the sphere along two faces equidistant from the geometrical center 17 of the entire bearing. . This bearing body 2 is a housing 1
It is supported inside and the housing 1 is composed of an upper housing piece 8 and a lower housing piece 7.

A shaft 4 is mounted in the body 2, the body 2 rotating about a central axis 19 passing through the geometrical center 17 has a conventional oil ring 3 driven by the shaft 4. . Lubricating oil is introduced from the reservoir in the housing 1 by the oil ring 3. . The oil first flows over the top of the body and then between the body and the bearing of the shaft 4.

As described above, the housing 1 is composed of the upper and lower housing pieces 8 and 7, and both pieces are connected along the flat meeting surface 9. By screwing the bolt 10 into the screw hole 11 of the lower housing piece 7 through the hole formed in the flange portion of the upper housing piece 8, the upper and lower housing pieces are oil-tightly connected. Similarly, the main body 2 is also composed of two main body pieces, and is connected along a flat meeting surface.

An annular web 15 projects toward the inner body 2 at the center of the housing 1 in the axial direction. The inner surface of the web 15 constitutes a concave socket surface 16. The geometric center of this concave socket surface coincides with the center 17.

An insulating ring 20 made of a compressible insulating material is sandwiched between the convex spherical surface 18 and the concave socket surface 16. This ring 20 insulates the electrically conductive body 2 from the likewise electrically conductive housing 1.

The insulating ring 20 is formed of a compressible elastic material which can be compressed by at least 0.1 mm when the upper and lower housing pieces are connected and fastened. Since the ring 20 can be compressed in the radial direction in this manner, the housing pieces 7 and 8 and the bearings are compared with the case where the insulating ring is not used as in the conventional case or the case where an extremely thin incompressible insulating ring is used. The tolerance in manufacturing the main body 2 can be made much larger.

Positioning pins are used to allow some movement of the body relative to the housing prior to the fastening of the housing pieces during assembly. As shown in FIG. 1, the positioning pin 24 is made of a conductive material and has a lower screw portion 23 that is screwed into the screw hole 22 in the main body 2.

The positioning pin 24 is an annular collar 25.
And a small diameter post 26 protruding in the axial direction.
Both the collar 25 and the post 26 penetrate through the insulating ring 20 and the socket surface 16 and form a recess 28 in the web 15.
It penetrates inside (formed in the lower housing piece 7 in the illustrated example). In order to maintain conductivity between the main body 1 and the housing 2, a conductive coiled compression spring 32 is used.
Is attached to the post 26, one end of which is brought into contact with the collar 25 and the other end thereof is brought into contact with the bottom wall 30 of the recess 28.

Since the positioning pin 24 is separated from the wall of the recess 28 in both the radial direction and the axial direction, the main body 2 can move with respect to the housing 1 even when combined with the compression spring 32. Therefore, unless the housing pieces 7 and 8 are securely fastened with the bolts 10,
The movement of the body 2 relative to the housing 1 is free and the collar 25
It is only constrained by the gap between the and the recess 28. Since both the positioning pin 24 and the compression spring 32 are conductive, the main body 2 and the housing 1 are kept in conductive connection.

As a matter of course, instead of or in addition to the lower housing piece 7, the positioning pin 24 and the compression spring 32 may be housed in the recess formed in the upper housing piece 8. In order to compress the insulating ring 20 in the radial direction by at least 0.1 mm, the radial thickness of the insulating ring 20 in the uncompressed state must be at least 0.2 mm.

In the case of FIG. 2, the structure has an insulating property. In this case, the positioning pin 24 and the compression spring 32 are not used, and instead of them, a positioning pin made of an insulating material such as plastic is used. 34 is used. The positioning pin 34 has a lower threaded portion 33 that is screwed into the screw hole 22 of the main body 2 and a collar 35 that is the same as the collar 25 of the positioning pin 24. In order to enable replacement of parts, the threaded portion 33 of the positioning pin 34 has the positioning pin 24
The pitch is the same as that of the screw portion 23.

The collar 35 of the positioning pin 34 preferably has the same diameter as the collar 25. By doing so, a gap similar to that of the positioning pin 24 is left between the positioning pin 34 and the wall of the recess 28. Even when the positioning pin 34 contacts the wall of the recess 28, the positioning pin 34 is insulative,
The insulation between the body 2 and the housing 1 is retained.

Therefore, by loading the positioning pin 34 instead of the positioning pin 24, the spherical bearing 5 in which the bearing body 2 is electrically insulated from the housing 1 can be obtained. Moreover, apart from the conductive characteristics, there is no change in the functional characteristics of the bearing 5. This includes screw holes 22, recesses 28 and positioning pins 24.
And the locating pin 34 must be dimensioned so that it can be replaced without changing its mechanical properties. Therefore, it is important not only that the screw portions 23 and 33 have the same pitch, but also that the collars 25 and 35 have the same diameter so that the degree of movement restriction is the same regardless of which structure is adopted.

In addition to the above, for example, instead of replacing the positioning pin 34 with the positioning pin 24 and the compression spring 32, an insulating sleeve is fitted to the post 26 and the collar 25 except for the compression spring 32. May be. Further, the concave socket surface 16 and the convex spherical surface 18 may be composed of a large number of spherical fan-shaped pieces having the center 17 as a common center.

[0024]

By using a single-use bearing body and housing, the conductive characteristics (conductive structure and insulating structure) of the bearing can be freely changed as required, so that the cost burden is reduced. . Also, this change can be done only by exchanging the restricting means used in the prior art, more specifically, the positioning pin, so it is also easy in work,
It does not require any major modification in production.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing an example of a bearing kit of the present invention in a conductive state.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view of the bearing kit in an insulated state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Housing 2 Bearing Main Body 4 Axis 5 Spherical Bearing 7 Housing Piece 8 Housing Piece 16 Concave Socket Surface 18 Convex Spherical Surface 19 Center Axis 20 Insulation Ring 22 Screw Hole 24 Positioning Pin 28 Recess 32 Compressive Spring 34 Positioning Pin

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An insulating layer body (20) is interposed between a conductive housing (1) and a conductive bearing body (2) provided therein, and the bearing body is convex. The spherical spherical surface (18) has a concave socket surface (16) with which the housing is associated, both surfaces constituting a spherical connecting part, which is the spherical surface when the insulating layer body is not fastened. The bearing body is rotatable relative to the housing about the connecting portion, and first restraining means and second restraining means for restraining movement of the bearing body with respect to the housing extend through the insulating layer body. Replaceably provided, the first constraining means comprising connection forming means for electrically connecting the housing and the bearing body, and the second constraining means contacting both the housing and the bearing body. A conductive characteristic selection type bearing kit, characterized in that it is provided with an insulating means for insulating the two from each other, and any one of the restricting means is selected according to the conductive characteristic required for the use object. 2. The housing has a recess (28), both constraining means being capable of projecting from the body into the recess, the constraining means having a selected movement of the body relative to the housing and the side wall of the recess. The bearing kit of claim 1, wherein the bearing kit is constrained by contact between them. 3. The first constraining means comprises a conductive locating pin (24), the pin being receivable in a hole provided in the body and projecting radially from the body into the recess,
3. The bearing kit according to claim 2, wherein the connection forming means comprises a conductive compression spring, and the compression spring can simultaneously engage the recess and the pin. 4. The insulating layer body is made of an elastic material capable of being radially compressed by 0.1 mm in a fastening state during bearing operation, and the bearing body is immovable with respect to the housing during bearing operation under normal load conditions. The bearing kit according to claim 1, wherein 5. The body has a screw hole, and the first and second screw holes are provided.
The constraint ss has pins, each pin has a threaded portion that fits into the threaded hole, the housing has a recess, and the selected pin engages the threaded hole in the recess in the housing. The bearing kit according to claim 1, wherein the bearing kit protrudes into the bearing kit. 6. An insulating layer body (20) is interposed between a conductive housing (1) and a conductive bearing body (2) provided therein, and the bearing body is annular. The housing has a convex bearing surface (18) having an annular concave seating surface (16), both surfaces of which form a spherical connecting portion, and when the insulating layer body is not fastened, The bearing body is rotatable relative to the housing about the spherical coupling portion, the movement of the bearing body with respect to the housing is constrained by the positioning means, and the housing has a recess (28) and the bearing body has a hole (22). ) Are respectively formed, and the positioning means are inserted into the holes, and the conductive pins (24) protruding into the recess and the contact for electrically connecting the housing and the bearing body are formed. And a conductive compression spring of this connecting means is provided with the recess (28) and the pin (2).
A conductive characteristic selection type bearing characterized by being in contact with both of (2) and. 7. The compression spring is a coil spring, the pin has a post protruding into the recess, the coil spring is mounted on the post, and the pin has a collar having a diameter larger than that of the post, and the spring has a collar. The bearing according to claim 6, wherein one end of the concave portion is in contact with the concave portion.