JPS6311534B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention is applicable to X, Y, and Z axes in machine tools such as NC machines, automatic tool changers, automatic welding machines,
The present invention relates to a linear guide device that guides linear reciprocating motion in the sliding portion of general industrial machines such as injection molding machines and industrial robots.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a track base, a slide base guided along the track base, and a slide base interposed between the track base and the slide base, and the slide base is guided while carrying the load of the slide base. A linear guide device is known that includes a guide mechanism that guides.

However, in this type of linear guide device,
A feed mechanism for linear sliding must be incorporated separately from this linear guide device, which increases the size of the device. In addition, if a manual feed handle is used as the feed mechanism, accurate fine movement and There are problems in that it is difficult to determine the feed amount according to the purpose, and a large amount of labor is required for rapid feed.Additionally, if an automatic feed mechanism using a servo motor is adopted as the feed mechanism, a gear reduction mechanism is required. In addition to resulting in a complicated structure, it is necessary to increase the division accuracy of the encoder in order to achieve microscopic high-precision feed, and increasing the encoder division precision increases the load on the servo motor itself, which ultimately results in microscopic precision feeding. There was a problem that high precision feed could not be obtained.

Therefore, the present inventor first developed a track base, a slide base guided along the longitudinal direction of the track base, and a slide base interposed between the track base and the slide base. a guide mechanism that guides the slide table while applying a load; a stator having a large number of teeth extending in the width direction attached to the upper surface of the track base along its longitudinal direction; and a lower surface of the slide base. It consists of a mover having a plurality of excitation parts attached to the side with a predetermined clearance maintained between it and the stator, and a linear motor mechanism that drives the slide table, and the feed mechanism is separately installed. There is no need to install a motor coupling screw, which makes the device more compact.Unlike conventional saddle-type systems, there is no motor coupling screw shaft, making the movable parts lighter. We proposed a linear guide device that has good responsiveness because there are no rotating parts, and can achieve accurate fine-movement feed and feed amount according to the purpose with high precision (Japanese Patent Application No. 196534-1982). .

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, even in a linear guide device that incorporates a linear motor mechanism between the track base and the sliding base to drive the sliding base, the sliding base may be temporarily moved at a desired point to perform some kind of work. If the fixing means is to be stopped automatically, it becomes necessary to provide a separate fixing means such as a clamp device, and if this fixing means is provided separately, it requires extra space and increases costs. If a linear guide device is required to operate with high accuracy, a correspondingly high precision operation is required, and if the accuracy of this operation is low, the accuracy of the operation of the linear guide device itself will be reduced. However, there was a problem in that the balance was lost when performing smooth straight-line guidance, and there was room for improvement in this respect.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention was devised in view of this point of view, and provides a linear guide device capable of performing linear guide and stopping operations with high precision without separately providing fixing means such as a feeding mechanism and a clamp device. It is something to do.

That is, the present invention provides a track base, a sliding base guided along the longitudinal direction of the way base, and a sliding base that is interposed between the track base and the sliding base to carry the load of the sliding base. a guide mechanism that guides the sliding table; a stator having a large number of teeth extending in the width direction attached to the upper surface of the track base along its longitudinal direction; and a stator fixed to the lower surface of the sliding base. a linear motor mechanism that drives the slide table and is composed of a movable element having a plurality of excitation parts installed with a predetermined clearance between the movable element and the movable element, and the movable element of the linear motor mechanism is movable. This is a linear guide device attached to the sliding table via a flexible member.

In principle, the linear guide device of the present invention incorporates a linear motor mechanism consisting of a stator and a mover between a track base and a sliding base, and this linear motor mechanism is a variable reluctance type. , a permanent magnet type, or a composite type combining these, but in order to obtain high precision and high thrust, it is preferable to have a permanent magnet and a plurality of permanent magnets at the tip of the excitation core facing the teeth of the stator. A composite type including a plurality of electromagnets with inductor teeth is preferable.

Furthermore, as a method for exciting the plurality of excitation parts incorporated in the movable element of the linear motor mechanism, there is a one-phase excitation method in which only one phase of current is always applied to the movable element excitation part to perform step feeding. Alternatively, it may be a two-phase excitation method in which a two-phase current is constantly applied to the movable excitation part to perform step feeding, but preferably, it is possible to obtain a high thrust,
Moreover, a two-phase excitation method is preferable because it has less damped vibration and can respond to a wide frequency range.

In addition, various types of springs such as leaf springs, stacked leaf springs, and coil springs can be used as flexible members used when attaching the movable element of the linear motor mechanism to the sliding table, but the operating range is limited. It is preferable to use a leaf spring in consideration of installation.

Furthermore, regarding the method of attaching the movable element of the linear motor mechanism to the sliding base via the above-mentioned flexible member, the movable element is attached so that it can move relative to the sliding base by the amount of deflection of the flexible member. Although there is no particular limitation, it is preferable to form an opening in the body of the sliding table, and fit the movable element of the linear motor mechanism into the opening using a flexible member so as to be movable in the vertical direction. It is best to install it with

There are no particular restrictions on the guide mechanism of this linear guide device, but in order to perform stable linear sliding and linear guidance, linear guide ball bearings with many balls and linear guides with many rollers are used. Guide roller bearings are preferred.

[Effect]

In the linear guide device of the present invention, the movable element of the linear motor mechanism is attached to the slide base via a flexible member, so when fixing the slide base to the track base, this linear motor The voltage applied to the mechanism is increased to strongly excite the excitation part of the mover,
By elastically deforming the flexible member, the movable element is attracted to and fixed to the stator, and when moving the sliding base with respect to the track base, the voltage applied to the linear motor mechanism is lowered. It becomes possible to provide linear guidance.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the linear guide device of this invention will be specifically explained based on an Example.

1 to 5, a linear guide device according to a first embodiment of the invention is shown. The linear guide device of this first embodiment includes a track base 1 and a sliding base 2 guided along the longitudinal direction of the track base 1.
The sliding table 2 is interposed between the track 1 and the sliding table 2, and is loaded with the load of the sliding table 2.
a stator 4 having a large number of teeth 6 extending in the width direction attached to the upper surface of the track base 1 along its longitudinal direction; and the slide base 2.
A linear motor mechanism that drives the sliding table 2 is composed of a mover 5 having a plurality of excitation parts 7 attached to the lower surface side of the stator 5 while maintaining a predetermined clearance between the mover 5 and the stator 5. be done. The movable element 5 of the linear motor mechanism is attached to the slide table 2 via a top plate 8 formed of a flexible plate spring.

In this first embodiment, the track 1 includes:
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, ball rolling grooves 9 are formed along the longitudinal direction of both left and right shoulders, and the stator 4 is formed along the longitudinal direction of the center of the upper surface. It is provided. Note that this track base 1 does not necessarily need to be formed from a single rail, and may be formed into a split type consisting of a pair of rails and a bolster.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5, the sliding table 2 has a body made of a rigid member and formed into a rectangular frame shape, with a rectangular opening 11 formed in the center. A load ball groove 13 and a non-load ball hole 14 are formed on the main body 10 and the lower surface of both left and right sides thereof with screws 18 and face the ball rolling groove 9 of the track base 1 along the longitudinal direction, respectively. A pair of bearing blocks 12
and a guide mechanism 3 which is interposed between the track base 1 and the slide base 2 and guides the slide base 2 while applying the load of the slide base 2.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the bearing block 12 and this bearing block 1
A pair of direction change grooves 16 are attached to both ends of the ball track 2 with screws 19 and communicate and connect the ball rolling groove 9 and the loaded ball groove 13 side and the unloaded ball hole 14 side to form a ball endless track. The side cover 15 and the bearing block 12 of the above-mentioned track 1 and sliding base 2
It is composed of a linear ball bearing consisting of a large number of balls 17 that roll within the ball endless track while applying a load between them. Note that the body main body 10 constituting the sliding table 2 and the bearing block 12 constituting the sliding table 2 and the guide mechanism 3 may be formed integrally.

In this first embodiment, the movable element 5, which together with the stator 4 attached to the track base 1 constitutes a linear motor mechanism, is as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5. Permanent magnet 7a as excitation part 7
A composite type is used in which the excitation core 7b has a plurality of inductor teeth 7c facing each other while maintaining a predetermined clearance with the teeth 6 of the stator 4 on the bottom surface of the tip of the excitation core 7b. A pair of such movers 5 are fixed to the top plate 8. Note that the excitation method for exciting this linear motor mechanism employs a two-phase excitation method that can obtain high thrust, has little damped vibration, and can respond to a wide frequency range.

As shown in FIG. 5, the pair of movable elements 5 fixed to the top plate 8 are arranged such that each movable element 5 is positioned within the opening 11 of the main body 10 and is movable in the vertical direction. Both front and rear ends of the top plate 8 are attached to the front and rear sides of the main body 10 using fasteners 30 such as screws so that the top plate 8 can be fitted.

Therefore, according to the linear guide device of this first embodiment, the suction force exerted between the stator 4 and the movable element 5 in the linear motor mechanism attaches the movable element 5 to the sliding base 2. The excitation part 7 of the movable element 5 until the elastic force becomes greater than the elastic force of the top plate 8 of the flexible member.
By increasing the voltage applied to the top plate 8 and increasing its attractive force, the top plate 8 is bent and the inductor teeth 7c of each movable element 5 are attracted to the teeth 6 of the stator 4, and the clearance between them is reduced to zero. The maximum holding force is then exerted, and the sliding base 2 is fixed to the track base 1.

On the other hand, when linearly guiding the sliding table 2 along the track 1, the above-mentioned steps are taken so that the suction force exerted between the stator 4 and the mover 5 does not exceed the elastic force of the top plate 8. The attraction force may be reduced by lowering the voltage acting on the excitation portion 7 of the movable element 5. At this time, a predetermined clearance is secured between the inductor teeth 7c of each movable element 5 and the teeth 6 of the stator 4, and based on the magnetic action at this clearance part, the sliding table 2 It is guided linearly with respect to the track 1.

In addition, in this embodiment, since the guide mechanism 3 between the track base 1 and the slide base 2 is composed of a linear guide ball bearing, the guide part is formed by the ball 17.
Not only is the wear on the guide part kept to a minimum, but also the distance between the way base 1 and slide base 2 is kept constant during linear guidance, so the thrust of the linear motor mechanism is reduced accordingly. It becomes stable.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the movable element 5, which is a component of the linear motor mechanism, is housed in the opening 11 of the main body 10 of the sliding table 2, so that the device itself is thin and compact. Not only can the sliding table 2 itself, which is a movable part, be made lightweight, the inertial force on the sliding table 2 can be kept small, and responsiveness and It also becomes possible to improve the precision of the linear guidance movement.

Next, a second embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 will be described.

The basic configuration of the linear guide device according to this embodiment is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, but the guide mechanism 3 interposed between the track base 1 and the sliding base 2 is different from that of the first embodiment. Differently, it consists of linear guide roller bearings. The linear guide roller bearing used in this embodiment consists of a pair of guide rails 21 and 22 in which V-shaped guide grooves 21a and 22a are carved on opposing wall surfaces;
The roller cage 23 has a large number of holding holes 25 in the longitudinal direction of a long retainer 24, and each holding hole 25 has a large number of rollers inserted therein. 26 are alternately orthogonal to each other and are rotatably held tilted, and the end surfaces and circumferential surfaces of each roller 26 are brought into sliding contact with the V-shaped guide grooves 21a and 22a. In addition, each guide rail 21, 22
is the track base 1 via fasteners 27 and 28 such as screws,
They are respectively attached to the sliding table 2.

Therefore, the linear guide device according to this embodiment not only provides the same functions and effects as those of the first embodiment, but also has an infinite number of balls, compared to the case where a linear guide ball bearing is used as the guide mechanism 3. Since there is no need to construct a track, the structure of the guide mechanism 3 can be simplified.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the linear guide device according to the present invention, since the linear motor mechanism as the feed mechanism is integrally incorporated, the linear guide movement can be performed without providing a separate feed mechanism. In addition to achieving the basic effect of being able to There is no need to separately provide a clamping device, etc. for fixing the device, and accordingly, there is no need for installation space for the clamping device, etc., making it possible to make the device itself more compact and reduce the device cost. The accuracy of the stopping operation of the slide table can also be made highly accurate without being affected by the accuracy of operation of the fixing means such as the clamp device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view showing a first embodiment of the linear guide device according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views taken along lines - and - in FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a slide table and a mover of a linear motor mechanism according to an embodiment, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are a line sectional view showing a second embodiment of a linear guide device according to the present invention. The explanatory views corresponding to FIGS. 2 and 3, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are enlarged explanatory views of the middle part of FIG. 6 and the middle part of FIG. Explanation of symbols, 1... Track base, 2... Sliding base, 3
...Guidance mechanism, 4...Stator, 5...Movable element, 6
... Teeth, 7 ... Excitation part, 8 ... Top plate (flexible member).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A track base, a sliding base guided along the longitudinal direction of the way base, and a sliding base interposed between the track base and the sliding base to absorb the load of the sliding base. a guide mechanism that guides the sliding base while under load; a stator having a large number of teeth extending in the width direction attached to the upper surface of the track base along its longitudinal direction; a linear motor mechanism configured with a movable element having a plurality of excitation parts installed while maintaining a predetermined clearance between the stator and the stator, and driving the sliding table, wherein the movable element of the linear motor mechanism is A linear guide device, characterized in that it is attached to the sliding table via a flexible member. 2. The linear guide device according to claim 1, wherein the guide mechanism is a linear guide ball bearing having a large number of balls. 3. The linear guide device according to claim 1, wherein the guide mechanism is a linear guide roller bearing having a large number of rollers.