JPH11351253A - Ball retainer for linear motion guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ball retainer capable of suppressing the friction resistance as much as possible, excellent in working performance and in durability. SOLUTION: In a ball retainer 31 for a linear motion guide device having ball holding members (separator) 32 to be interposed between each ball of a plurality of balls 35 arranged in a row and a connection band member 33 to connect the ball holding members 32 to each other, the ball holding members 32 and the connection band members 33 are flexible. The balls in a row are linked in an endless manner, and fitted in an endless circulation path of the linear motion guide device by holding the balls 35 and bending the connection band member 33. Since both the connection band member 33 and the ball holding members 32 are flexible, the load to be applied to the ball holding members is absorbed through the free deformation when the direction is changed in the endless circulation path. Thus, the whole ball retaining can be bent to smooth its operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a ball retainer used in a linear motion guide device for guiding a linear motion through a moving motion of a plurality of balls arranged at predetermined intervals in an infinite circulation path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ball retainer for a linear motion guide device of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2607993.
There is a ball chain shown in the issue. This is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the ball holding member 2 is provided between the balls 8 of the plurality of balls 8 and the connecting plate 3 connects the ball holding members 2 to each other. And it is used by being mounted on an infinite circulation path provided in a slide (slider) of a linear motion guide device (not shown). The ball holding member 2 is a flat cylindrical member having a smaller diameter than the ball diameter, and has a holding concave portion 2a formed in a spherical shape on both end surfaces to hold the ball 8 slidably. The connecting plate 3 is a thin plate member extending along the center line of the ball 8 and connects the ball holding members 2. The connecting plate 3 is made of a flexible member, and is deformed in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface. In a space between the ball holding members 2 of the connecting plate 3, a ball hole 4 following the ball 8 is provided.
Are formed.

In this ball chain 1, the flexible connecting plate 3 is bent as shown in FIG. 9 to form an endless ball chain. It is incorporated together with the balls 8 into an infinite circulation path formed in the (slider), and functions to smoothly move the balls without interfering with each other while holding the balls 8.

[0004]

However, in the conventional ball chain 1, the cylindrical ball holding member 2, which is one of the constituent members, is inflexible. When the direction is changed by making a U-turn, the holding member 2 is greatly opened outward as shown in FIG. 9 and the interval L is enlarged to L ′, so that the holding force of the ball 8 by the ball holding member 2 is reduced. , The ball may fall off. To prevent this, for example, by increasing the cylindrical diameter of the ball holding member 2 to increase the holding force, FIG.
As a result, the ball holding member 2 having the increased diameter interferes with the inner circulating component 9 forming the inner wall of the circulating path, resulting in an increase in sliding resistance, deterioration in operability, and breakage of the ball retainer due to clogging. It is conceivable that such a phenomenon occurs.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the frictional resistance when incorporated and operated in a linear motion guide device is suppressed as much as possible, so that the operation performance is good and An object of the present invention is to provide a ball retainer having excellent durability.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a ball holding device for holding a ball between a plurality of balls arranged in a row. In a ball retainer for a linear motion guide device having a member and a connecting band member for connecting between the ball holding members, the ball holding member and the connecting band member are both flexible.

In a ball retainer for a linear motion guide device according to the present invention, a ball is held between ball holding members, and a row of balls is chained endlessly by bending a connecting member. Is installed in the infinite circulation path. Thus, not only the connecting band member but also the ball holding member is flexible, so that when the direction is changed in the infinite circulation path, the ball is deformed and absorbed against the load applied to the ball holding member. Therefore, the entire ball retainer can bend, the operation becomes smooth, and a decrease in the holding force of the ball can be suppressed. Further, even when it interferes with another member of the linear motion guide device, it can be easily deformed without escape and escape, or the amount of interference can be reduced.

Here, the ball holding member may be provided with a concave portion at the center of the body to reduce rigidity. Also, the ball holding member is provided on the outer periphery of both ends of the body,
A flexible projection having a curved surface in contact with the ball surface may be provided.

In addition, the ball holding member can be provided with a concave portion at the center of the body to reduce rigidity and increase the holding force by making the outer diameters of both ends of the body closer to the ball diameter.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of a ball retainer according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partial view showing a linear portion of a ball retainer in a state of holding a ball.
(A) is a front view, (b) is a plan view. 2A is a side view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, FIG. 2B is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a bent portion.

The ball retainer 31 includes a separator 32 as a ball holding member interposed between the balls 35 of the ball row used in the linear motion guide device and holding the balls 35 at a predetermined interval, and And a connection band 33 for connecting between them.

Each of the separators 32 has a cylindrical shape having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the ball 35, and has ball holding recesses 32a formed on both end surfaces thereof in a spherical shape so as to slidably hold the ball 35. Further, the rigidity in the axial direction can be reduced at the upper and lower portions in FIG. 1B at the center of the cylindrical body portion 32b, that is, at a portion separated by 90 ° in the circumferential direction from the connecting portion with the connecting band 33. Each of the flexible concave portions 34 is provided to impart flexibility.

The connecting band 33 is a thin plate-like flexible member extending along the center line of the ball 35.
2 and is deformable in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface, and a ball hole 331 corresponding to the ball 35 is formed inside the space between the separators 32 adjacent to each other. Each ball 35 has a ball hole 3
31 and the ball holding recess 32a of the separator 32 are rotatably supported to form a ball row.

The single row of balls held by the ball retainer 31 can be linked endlessly by bending a flexible connecting band 33 as shown in FIG. At that time, a compressive force acts on the flexible concave portion 34 inside the bend of the separator 32 located at the bend portion,
A tensile force acts on the flexible concave portion 34 outside the bend. By the action of the compression force, the inside of the bend of the separator 2 is elastically compressed, and the opening width L of the flexible recess 34 in the separator axial direction is reduced to the width l. In the ball retainer 31 of the present invention, as described above, not only the connecting band 33 but also the separator 32 have flexibility, so that the entire ball retainer 31 can be smoothly bent.

That is, the ball retainer 31 of the present invention
Is incorporated together with the ball 35 into an infinite circulation path 362 formed in a slider (slide table) 361 of a linear guide 36 which is a linear motion guide device as shown in FIG. 4 (see FIG. 5). The balls 35 can be held at regular intervals to smoothly move the balls without interfering with each other. Moreover, the moving ball 35 is curved at the end of the endless circulation path 362.
When the direction is changed, the separator 32 having flexibility as described above absorbs the load by deforming according to the magnitude of the load without opposing the load applied to the ball retainer 31. Therefore, the frictional resistance between the ball 35 and the separator 32 does not greatly increase at the time of the direction change, and a decrease in the holding force of the ball can be suppressed.

The ball 35 changes its direction along the curved paths 363 and 364 while rotating smoothly. At this time, the inner diameter side wall surface 363n (364n) and the outer diameter side wall surface 363g (36g) are formed.
Even if it interferes with 4g), the flexible separator 32 can be deformed without opposing and easily escape, and the effect on friction resistance and operability can be suppressed to a small level.

The ball retainer 31 is twisted, and the connecting band 33 is formed of the slider 3 which is a component of the linear guide 36.
Even in the case of interference with the bearing 61 or the guide rail 365, since the separator 32 and the connecting band 33 are both flexible, the load at the time of the interference can be well absorbed and wear of the ball retainer 31 is reduced. Good durability. Embodiment 2: FIG. 6 shows a ball retainer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The ball retainer separator 32A
The cylindrical body 32b has a smaller diameter and thickness than that of the first embodiment, and does not have a flexible recess 34 on the outer periphery at the center of the body. Instead, the torso 32
Flexible projections 40, which come into contact with the spherical surface of the ball 35, protrude from the outer periphery of both ends of b. In the illustrated example, four flexible projections 40 are provided radially, and the surface 401 of each projection is a curved surface that is smoothly continuous with the curved surface of the ball holding recess 32a of the separator 32A. These projections 40 are thin and easy to bend, and easily elastically deform.

In the case of this separator 32A, the ball 3 is formed on both curved surfaces of the ball holding recess 32a and the flexible projection 40.
Hold 5. When the direction is changed in the curved paths 363 and 364 at the end of the endless circulation path 362 of the linear guide 36, the flexible projection 40 of the separator 32A is applied to the load applied to the ball retainer. It deforms according to the size and absorbs the load. Therefore, the same operation and effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. Embodiment 3 FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the ball retainer according to the present invention.

The ball retainer separator 32B
Is the separator 3 of the ball retainer in the first embodiment.
The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the diameter thereof, particularly the diameter of both end surfaces, is made closer to the diameter of the ball 35 than in the second embodiment.
The cylindrical portion 32b on the side where the flexible concave portion 34 is formed in the center of the cylindrical portion has a flat surface 321 formed by cutting a cylindrical outer diameter surface flat.
b. The third embodiment has an advantage that the holding force of the ball 35 can be improved by increasing the area of the ball holding recess 32a of the separator.

Other functions and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment. In the above embodiments, the plate-shaped connecting band of the ball retainer has been described. However, the connecting band is not limited thereto, and may be a linear band.

The shape of the ball rolling groove of the linear motion guide device to which the ball retainer of the present invention is applied may be a gothic arch groove or a circular arc groove. The linear motion guide device is not limited to the type in which the ball circulates infinitely, but can be applied to the type in which the ball reciprocates linearly.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the ball retainer and the connecting band member of the ball retainer are both flexible, the movement when incorporated and operated in the linear motion guide device is smooth and highly adaptable, resulting in low frictional resistance and ball retention. A ball retainer having a large capacity, good operating performance and excellent durability can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are partial views showing a linear portion of a ball retainer in a state of holding a ball according to a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a plan view.

2 (a) is a side view of the ball retainer taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 (b) is a plan view of the separator alone.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a bent portion of the ball retainer shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a linear motion guide device (linear guide).

FIG. 5 is a view showing a mounted state of the ball retainer of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG.

6A and 6B show a second embodiment of the ball retainer of the present invention, wherein FIG. 6A is a side view corresponding to FIG. 2A, and FIG. 6B is a plan view of the separator alone.

7A and 7B show a third embodiment of the ball retainer of the present invention, wherein FIG. 7A is a side view corresponding to FIG. 2A, and FIG. 7B is a plan view of the separator alone.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a conventional ball retainer.
(A) is a front view, (b) is a plan view.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a curved state of a conventional ball retainer.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a state in which a curved portion of the ball retainer is connected to another member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 ball retainer 32 ball holding member 32A ball holding member 32B ball holding member 33 connecting band 35 ball 34 flexible concave portion 40 flexible projection

Claims (1)

[Claims] A ball holding member interposed between each of a plurality of balls arranged in a row to hold the balls;
A ball retainer for a linear motion guide device having a connecting band member connecting the ball holding members, wherein the ball holding member and the connecting band member are both flexible. Ball retainer.