JPH09225757A - Ball siding device, uniformly arranging device, and bearing assembling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automate the whole process of the bearing assembly. SOLUTION: A bearing assembly equipment comprises a ball siding device 11 having a shaft displaceable in the axial direction above a bearing 10 and a projecting part which is driven by the shaft and turned in a raceway groove of the bearing, and a ball uniformly arranging device 12 in which a shaft displaceable in the axial direction through an inner race shaft hole of the bearing 10 and a guide ring to insert the shaft in the center are provided, a spirally stepped part is formed on a tip of the shaft, and oscillating claws projecting in the raceway groove of the bearing corresponding to the passage of the spirally stepped part of the same number as that of bearing balls are uniformly arranged in the circumferential direction. Because the ball siding device 11 and the ball uniformly arranging device 12 are both operated by displacing the shaft in the axial direction, driving means of both the devices can be jointly used, the devices are simplified, and automation of the uniformly ball arranging process is facilitated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bearing assembling apparatus for automatically assembling a ball of a bearing at a predetermined position for assembling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general deep groove radial ball bearing 1 is composed of an inner race 2, an outer race 3, balls 4 and a retainer 5, as shown in FIG. The procedure for assembling this bearing 1 is to measure the dimensions of the inner race 2, the outer race 3 and the balls 4, the inner race 2,
Assembly of outer race 3 and ball 4, ball 4
Are arranged at regular intervals, the retainer 5 is assembled, and the inspection is performed in this order. And these processes are automated by a machine.

By the way, in the step of arranging the balls 4 at equal intervals, as shown in FIG. 12A, after all the balls 4 are brought to one side in the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 1, the process shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), there are two steps of uniformly arranging the balls 4 on the entire circumference of the raceway groove 6. In the step of moving the ball 4 to one side (ball moving step), a pen tip-shaped ball moving jig 7 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the balls 4 are offset by being inserted into the raceway grooves 6 of the bearing 1 to a predetermined position. Further, in the step of evenly arranging the balls 4 (equal distribution of balls)
As shown in FIG. 14 (a), a ball dividing jig 8 in which a plurality of vertical grooves are formed at equal intervals in a cylinder whose end face is cut off obliquely
As shown in FIG. 14 (b), the balls 4 were evenly arranged by inserting the balls 4 into the orbital grooves 6 after the one-sided shifting of the balls to a certain position and drawing the balls 4 into the grooves.

[0004]

However, as shown in FIG. 15, a bearing having a collar 9 formed on the inner race 2 (or the outer race 3) so as to close the raceway groove 6, for example, a clutch release bearing 10 or the like. In this case, it is impossible to insert the ball shifting jig 7 and the ball splitting jig 8 to a predetermined position, and the process of evenly distributing the balls 4 cannot be performed by a machine, which requires manual work. It was Therefore, despite the fact that other processes are automated, by leaving only one process that relies on manual work,
It was not possible to rationalize the assembly of the bearing.

At the time of assembling the clutch release bearing 10, an attempt has already been made to automate the biasing process of the balls 4, and as a conventional example, a practical example, Shokai 58-8013.
The details are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 0. In addition, after the balls of the clutch release bearing 10 are offset,
Attempts have been made to automate the process of evenly arranging the balls 4, and the details thereof are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-80131 as a conventional example. However, these conventional examples have a problem in that the structure and operation of the device for automation are complicated, and the accuracy of evenly arranging the balls depends on the operation accuracy of the machine. Was not satisfied with.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to use a ball biasing device having a simple structure and operation and a bearing assembly device having a ball equalizing device. , It is to automate the whole process of bearing assembly and to stabilize the accuracy of uniform ball placement.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A ball biasing device according to the present invention for solving the above problems is a shaft movable in an axial direction of a bearing, and is driven by the shaft to swivel in a raceway groove of the bearing. And a protruding portion that moves.

That is, by the axial movement of the shaft,
The protrusion is pivotally driven in the raceway groove to guide the ball in the raceway groove. The projection, which comes into direct contact with the ball in the raceway groove, does not involve axial movement relative to the bearing when guiding the ball.

Further, a ball equalizing device according to the present invention for solving the above problems has a shaft movable in an axial direction and a guide ring inserted through the shaft in the center, and a tip end of the shaft. Forms a spiral step,
The guide ring is characterized in that rocking claws protruding in the raceway groove of the bearing corresponding to the passage of the spiral stepped portion are evenly arranged in the circumferential direction by the same number as the number of balls of the bearing.

The oscillating claw protruding from the guide ring into the bearing groove by the axial movement of the shaft is
Corresponding to the passage of the spiral stepped portion formed at the tip of the shaft, the rocking claws are sequentially projected into the orbital groove, and one rocking claw is inserted between each ball. Further, the swinging claws only project with respect to the guide ring and swing in the storing direction, and do not move in the circumferential direction.

Further, a bearing assembling apparatus for solving the above problem is characterized by comprising the ball biasing device and the ball equalizing device.

In both the ball biasing device and the ball equalizing device, since the projection or the swinging pawl is actuated by moving the shaft in the axial direction, a common one is used for both driving means.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figure, the same or corresponding parts as those of the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a bearing assembling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The bearing assembling device has a ball biasing device 11 and a ball equalizing device 12, and automatically arranges the balls at equal intervals. Now, the clutch release bearing 10 with the inner race, outer race and ball just assembled.
(Hereinafter, simply referred to as “bearing”) is a working position a of the ball biasing device 11 by a bearing transfer device (not shown).
Go to Then, after performing the ball biasing process by the ball biasing device 11, the bearing 10 is moved to the work position b of the ball equalizing device 12 by a bearing transfer device (not shown), and the balls are biased by the ball equalizing device 12. Place the balls evenly. Then, the bearing transfer device (not shown) again moves the bearing 10 to the working position of the retainer assembling device.
To move.

First, the ball biasing device 11 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a ball biasing device
Column 13 of 11 has guide rail 14 and actuator 15
And are fixed. The base 16 is guided by the guide rails 14 and driven by the actuator 15 so that it can move up and down. The base 16 has a ball offset jig
Actuator that drives 17 and ball biasing jig 17
18 is fixed. The bearing 10 being assembled is positioned by a receiving hole (not shown) formed in the bed 19.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the ball biasing jig 17 includes an outer cylinder 20, an inner cylinder 21, a shaft 22, and a swivel plate.
It is composed of 23. The shaft 22 is arranged inside the inner cylinder 21, and the swivel plate 23 is arranged between the outer cylinder 20 and the inner cylinder 21.
A pin 24 extending in the horizontal direction is attached to the shaft 22, and a long hole 21a through which the pin 24 passes is provided in the inner cylinder 21 so as to face each other. Since the long hole 21a is formed linearly in the axial direction of the inner cylinder 21, the shaft 22 is
The inside of 21 can be moved in the axial direction.

The swivel plate 23 is smaller in diameter than the outer cylinder 20 and is an inner cylinder.
A pair of parts formed by utilizing a part of a cylinder having a diameter larger than the diameter of 21, which are symmetrical to each other. As is clear from FIG. 6, the lower end corner of the swivel plate 23 has
A protrusion 23a having a sharp tip is formed. The protrusion 23 a projects from the lower end of the outer cylinder 20. When the side portions of the two swivel plates 23 come into close contact with each other, the tips of the protrusions 23a come into close contact with each other to
One projection (Fig. 4). In addition, each of the swivel plate 23,
From the vicinity of the protrusion 23a, passing substantially on the diagonal line of the swivel plate 23,
A symmetrical groove 23b is formed to reach the vicinity of a corner opposite to the protrusion 23a. The pin 24 of the shaft 22 is also engaged with this groove 23b (FIG. 5). Outer cylinder 20 is inner cylinder 21 and swivel plate
23 is housed inside and plays the role of regulating vertical displacement. The outer cylinder 20 is fixed to the base 16 shown in FIG.

The operation of the ball biasing jig 17 will be described with reference to FIG. (1) When the pin 24 of the shaft 22 is located at the upper end of the long hole 21a of the inner cylinder 21, it is also located at the upper end of the groove 23b of the swivel plate 23. 23b, and the tips of the protrusions 23a come into close contact with each other (states of FIGS. 4 and 5). (2) When the shaft 22 is lowered, the pin 24 will
21a, and at the same time, it also descends into the groove 23b of the swivel plate 23. At this time, the swivel plate 23 is swung in a direction in which the swivel plate 23 is separated from each other by the pin 24 and the groove 23b that passes substantially diagonally on the swivel plate 23. The protrusions 23a, which are initially in close contact with each other, pivotally move while being separated from each other. (3) When the pin 24 moves to the lower end of the elongated hole 21a of the inner cylinder 21, the pin 24 also moves to the lower end of the groove 23b of the swivel plate 23, and the swivel plate 23 moves to the pin 24 and the groove 23b. It is guided by and and pivots to the most distant position. At this time, the protrusion 23a of the swivel plate 23 is also separated most.

Next, the procedure of the ball piece shifting process using the ball piece shifting jig 17 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4. (i) After the shaft 22 is driven upward by the actuator 18 to bring the ball shifting jig 17 into the operating state of (1) above, the actuator 15 lowers the base 16 so that the protruding portion 23a moves to the bearing 10. Insert into the raceway groove 6. (ii) By driving the actuator 18 to lower the shaft 22 and bringing the ball biasing jig 17 into the operating state of (2) above, the balls 4 properly scattered in the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 10 Are gathered by turning the protrusion 23a. (iii) When the shaft 22 is lowered to the lower end of the movable range and the ball biasing jig 17 is brought into the operating state of (3) above, the balls 4 in the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 10 are shown in FIG. 12 (a). It is put to the state.

The ball offsetting jig 17 of the ball offsetting device 11 having the above-described structure moves the shaft 22 in the axial direction above the bearing 10, and by this movement, the swivel plate 23 is swung to drive the swivel plate 23. The projections 23a provided at the lower end part bring together the balls 4 in the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 10,
The balls are justified. The driving force of the swivel plate 23 is transmitted by the shaft 22 that moves up and down, but since the swivel plate 23 itself does not move in the axial direction with respect to the bearing 10, the projection 23a that actually abuts the ball 4 also has an axial direction. Never move. Therefore, it is possible to perform the biasing process of the clutch release bearing 10 in which one of the raceway grooves 6 is blocked by the collar 9.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the ball equalizing device 12
Will be explained. The ball equalizing device 12 has a structure in which the ball equalizing jig 17 of the ball equalizing device 11 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced with a ball equalizing jig 25. The column 13 has a guide rail 14 and an actuator. 15 and are fixed. The base 16 is guided by the guide rails 14 and driven by the actuator 15 so that it can move up and down. On the base 16, a ball equalizing jig 25 and an actuator 18 for driving the ball equalizing jig 25 are fixed.
The clutch release bearing 10 in the one-sided shift state of FIG.
The position is fixed by a receiving hole (not shown) formed in the.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the ball equalizing jig 25 has a shaft 26 which is axially movable through the shaft hole 2a of the inner race 2 of the bearing 10 and a shaft which is inserted in the center. It is composed of a guide ring 27. The shaft 26 has a small diameter portion at its tip, and the small diameter portion and a portion having a general diameter are connected by a spiral step portion 26a. This spiral step portion 26a is provided on the shaft 26 from the start point to the end point.
After making one round, the height difference between the start point and the end point becomes H. And
When passing through a guide ring 27, which will be described later, the spiral stepped portion 26a plays a role of abutting a rocking pawl 28 provided on the guide ring and projecting the rocking pawl 28 downward. Further, the spiral step portion 26a is formed with a slight inclination from the center of the shaft 26 toward the outside, so that the spiral step portion 26a can be smoothly brought into contact with and pass through a swing claw 28 described later. As for the shape of the spiral step portion 26a, as shown in FIG. 9, a spiral slope is formed from the lower side to the upper side, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, there is one that forms a spiral staircase evenly divided into the same number as the number of swing claws 28. In each case,
With the passage of the step 26a, the swing claw 28 can be sequentially projected downward.

The guide ring 27 is composed of an outer cylinder portion 27a and a top plate 27c having an opening portion 27b for inserting the shaft 26 therein, and has the same number of rocking pawls 28 as the number of balls 4 of the bearing 10 inside. Are evenly arranged in the circumferential direction. Then, the width of the swing claws 28 is set so that the balls 4 can easily enter between the adjacent swing claws 28. Further, the rocking pawls 28 are arranged in the radial direction of the guide ring 27, and
a is rotatably supported in the vertical direction in the vicinity of the outer cylinder portion 27a,
The tip portion 28b is adapted to overlap the opening portion 27b. The swing claw 28 has a branch portion 28c and extends downward at a predetermined angle.

The operation of the ball equalizing jig 25 will be described. (A) As shown in FIG. 7, the base end portion 28a and the tip end portion 28b of the swing claw 28 are substantially horizontal by a biasing means such as a spring (not shown), and the branch portion 28c is inside the guide ring 27. Stored in. (B) As shown in FIG. 8, when the shaft 26 is lowered and inserted into the opening 27b of the guide ring 27, the spiral step 26a of the shaft 26 abuts on the tip 28b of the swing claw 28, and By passing through the spiral step portion 26a, the tip end portion 28 of the swinging pawl 28 is
The swing claw 28 rotates downward by an angle θ determined by b and the outer cylindrical portion of the shaft 26. By this operation, the branch portion 28c of the swing claw 28 projects from below the guide ring 27. The diameter of the circle connecting the branch portions 28c when all the branch portions 28c project downward is substantially the same as the diameter of the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 10.

Next, the procedure of the ball equalizing process using the ball equalizing jig 25 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 7 and 8. (I) Shaft 26 is guided by actuator 18
After stopping above 27 and placing the ball equalizing jig 25 in the operating state of (a) above, the base 15 is lowered by the actuator 15 and the lower surface of the guide ring 27 is brought into contact with the bearing 10. (II) When the actuator 18 is driven to lower the shaft 26 to bring it into the operating state of (b), the swing claw 28 at the portion where the spiral step 26a has passed protrudes into the raceway groove 6 in order. . When the oscillating pawl 28 projects counterclockwise with respect to the bearing 10 in the biased state shown in FIG. 12A, the branch portion 28c of the oscillating pawl 28 protruding first is contacted with the ball. Contact A
Set to match. Then, a branch portion is formed at the contact point A.
When 28c is interrupted, each ball is pushed right and left by the width of the branch portion 28c. The distance between the adjacent swinging pawls 28 is set so that the ball 4 can easily enter therein, as described above, so that the branch portion 28c of the second swinging pawl 28 has the contact point B. Then, it interrupts without difficulty, and then the contact point C, ... (III) Then, the swing claw 28 is inserted between all the balls, and the ball equalizing process is completed.

The ball equalizing jig 25 of the ball equalizing device 12 having the above-mentioned structure is arranged so that when the shaft 26 passes the guide ring 27, the spiral step portion 26a formed on the shaft 26 allows the guide ring to move. The swinging claws 28 in 27 are sequentially projected downward. Then, the branch portions 28c of the rocking claws 28 are sequentially cut into between the balls of the bearing 10 which are offset, and when all the rocking claws 28 project into the raceway groove 6 of the bearing 10,
The uniform placement of the balls 4 is completed. Since the shaft 26 penetrates the shaft hole of the inner race 2, it does not interfere with the bearing, and the branch portion 28 of the swinging pawl 28 that actually abuts the ball 4.
Since c also projects only by the rotation of the predetermined angle θ, the balls 4 can be evenly arranged even on the clutch release bearing 10 in which one of the raceway grooves 6 is blocked by the collar 9.

The width dimension of the branch portion 28c of the swing claw 28 and the accuracy of the installation interval of the swing claw 28 are given at the time of manufacturing the jig. Since the swinging claw 28 only projects with respect to the guide ring 27 and swings in the storing direction and does not move in the circumferential direction, the installation interval is not changed. Therefore, the positioning of the ball 4 can be performed with high accuracy without being affected by the operation accuracy of the device.

As described above, the ball biasing jig 17
The ball equalizing jig 25 is operated by moving the shaft 22 or the shaft 26 in the axial direction, and a common one can be used for both driving means. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,
The ball offsetting device 11 and the ball equalizing device 12 are all common except for the ball biasing jig 17 and the ball equalizing jig 25.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the following effects are obtained. By the axial movement of the shaft with respect to the bearing, the protrusion is driven to rotate in the raceway groove, guiding the ball in the raceway groove and biasing the ball, but at this time, it directly contacts the ball in the raceway groove. When the ball is guided, the protrusion does not move in the axial direction with respect to the bearing. Therefore, even in a clutch release bearing in which the conventional pen tip-shaped ball offset jig cannot be used, the ball is offset. Can be performed automatically. Further, the operation required for biasing the ball is only the vertical movement of the shaft, which simplifies the structure and operation of the device.

Further, in the ball equalizing device, a spiral step portion is formed on a shaft which is movable in the axial direction, and the guide ring projects into a raceway groove of a bearing corresponding to passage of the spiral step portion. The same number of oscillating pawls are arranged in the circumferential direction as many as the number of balls of the bearing, and the oscillating pawls sequentially orbit in response to passage of the spiral stepped portion formed at the tip of the shaft. Since each rocking claw protrudes into the groove, and one rocking claw is inserted between each ball, there is little vertical movement of the rocking claw, and even with clutch release ball bearings where conventional ball splitting jigs cannot be used, It is possible to automatically perform the uniform arrangement of the.

Since the swing claws only project and swing with respect to the guide ring in the housing direction and do not move in the circumferential direction, the width dimension of the swing claws and the accuracy of the installation interval can be determined by manufacturing the jig. If it is taken out, the ball can be positioned with high accuracy without being affected by the operating accuracy of the device. Further, the operation required for evenly arranging the balls is only the vertical movement of the shaft, which simplifies the structure and operation of the device.

Further, when the bearing assembling device including the ball biasing device and the ball equalizing device is configured, both the ball biasing device and the ball equalizing device project by moving the shaft in the axial direction. Since it has a structure for actuating the portion or the swinging pawl, both driving means can be made common. Therefore, the structure of the device is simplified, and the process of evenly arranging the balls of the clutch release ball bearing, which has conventionally relied on manual operation or a device whose structure and operation are complicated, is a small, low-cost ball eccentric and even distribution device. Can be replaced with
Therefore, it becomes easy to automate the entire process of assembling the bearing. Further, since the driving means of the ball biasing and equalizing device is the same, it is easy to change the layout of the manufacturing line, and one driving means can be appropriately used as the ball biasing device or the ball equalizing device. Becomes

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a bearing assembly device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a side surface of a ball biasing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a side surface of a ball equalizing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a ball biasing jig and a clutch release ball bearing of the ball biasing device shown in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane S of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a development view of the ball biasing jig shown in FIG. 4.

7 is a schematic sectional view showing a ball equalizing jig and a clutch release ball bearing of the ball equalizing device shown in FIG.

8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an operating state of the ball equalizing jig shown in FIG. 7. FIG.

9 is a perspective view showing a spiral stepped portion formed on the shaft of the ball equalizing jig shown in FIG. 7. FIG.

10 is a perspective view showing a spiral stepped step portion formed on the shaft of the ball equalizing jig shown in FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a general deep groove radial ball bearing.

12A and 12B show a procedure of arranging balls at equal intervals, wherein FIG. 12A is a diagram showing a state where the balls are brought close to each other, and FIG.

FIG. 13A shows a conventional ball biasing jig,
(B) is a schematic diagram showing a state where a ball is biased by a conventional ball biasing jig.

FIG. 14A shows a conventional ball splitting jig,
FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram showing how balls are evenly arranged by a conventional ball dividing jig.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a clutch release ball bearing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Orbital groove 10 Clutch release ball bearing 11 Ball offset device 12 Ball equalizer 17 Ball offset jig 22 Shaft 23 Swivel plate 23a Projection 25 Ball equalizer 26 Shaft 26a Spiral step 27 Guide ring 28 Swing Moving claw

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ball biasing device having a shaft that is movable in the axial direction of a bearing, and a protrusion that is driven by the shaft and that swivels in a raceway groove of the bearing. 2. A shaft that is movable in the axial direction and a guide ring that is inserted through the shaft in the center, a spiral step portion is formed at the tip of the shaft, and the guide ring has the A ball equalizing device characterized in that rocking claws projecting into a raceway groove of a bearing corresponding to passage of a spiral stepped portion are evenly arranged in the circumferential direction by the same number as the number of balls of the bearing. 3. A bearing assembly device comprising the ball biasing device according to claim 1 and the ball equalizing device according to claim 2.