TWI744561B - Guide bar drive of a warp-knitting machine, and guide bar assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

Specified is a guide bar drive (6) of a warp-knitting machine, having a motor assembly (8) which has a rotatingly driven drive output element (12) which has a rotation axis and interacts with a drive tappet (5). The intention is to be able to individually actuate a guide bar in an offset direction by way of little complexity. To this end, it is provided that an operative connection between the drive output element (12) and the drive tappet (5) is disposed so as to be eccentric to the rotation axis.

Description

Warp knitting machine guide rod driver and guide rod assembly

The present invention relates to a guide rod driving member of a warp knitting machine, which has a motor assembly with a rotationally driven drive output element, the drive output element has a rotation axis and interacts with the drive tappet.

In addition, the present invention relates to a guide rod assembly having at least one guide rod and this type of driving element.

In the operation of the warp knitting machine, the guide needles of the thread of the thread group must be respectively guided relative to the operative needle or the knitting needle, so that the threads of the thread group can form a loop. For this purpose, the guide rod must be moved in a so-called offset direction, thus parallel to the longitudinal extent of the guide rod. The offset movement is caused by the guide rod drive.

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend toward situations where the guide rod is directly driven by a motor assembly with an electric motor. The electric motor drives the threaded mandrel on which the ball screw nut is installed in this article. The threaded mandrel extends parallel to the longitudinal extent of the guide rod. When the threaded spindle rotates, the ball screw nut on the threaded spindle moves in the offset direction, so it is parallel to the longitudinal extent of the guide rod. The driving tappet is moved toward the guide rod by the ball screw nut, and because of this, the guide rod is also repositioned. The return movement of the guide rod is performed by the return spring assembly.

The movement of the guide rod can in fact be controlled extremely accurately by this type of guide rod driver. The modification of the movement pattern of the guide rod can be implemented equally easily. However, the mechanical complexity in the case of a transmission device with a threaded spindle and a ball screw nut is relatively high.

The invention is based on the goal of being able to individually actuate the guide rods in the offset direction with minimal complexity.

This goal is achieved in the case of a guide rod drive of the type mentioned at the beginning because the operative connection between the drive output element and the drive tappet is positioned so as to be eccentric to the axis of rotation.

In this example, the guide rod is effective as a connecting rod, which converts the rotational movement of the drive output element of the motor assembly into the translational movement of the guide rod. The translation ratio of the movement of the driving tappet can then be transmitted to the guide rod. The conversion from rotational movement to translational movement can be achieved with relatively small complexity. The motor assembly preferably has an electric motor that can be actuated with high precision, such as a stepping motor or a brushless DC motor. Precise control of the movement of the guide rod is therefore possible.

The operative connection preferably has a pin which is arranged so as to be eccentric on the drive output element and to engage in a boss on the drive tappet. The following situation is also possible: the configuration is reversed, and the pin will be placed on the drive tappet and the boss will be placed on the drive output element. A form-fitting connection between the drive output element and the drive tappet is thus produced. With this form-fitting connection piece, the translational movement of the drive tappet in two directions is caused by the rotational movement of the drive output element.

The cylindrical bearing is preferably arranged between the pin and the boss. The cylindrical bearing is a roller bearing with a convex assembly of roller elements. The cylindrical bearing can equalize the alignment error between the axis of rotation and the axis of the pin. The pin and the axis of rotation therefore no longer have to be positioned so as to be exactly parallel to each other, which facilitates the assembly and adjustment of the guide rod drive.

The axis of rotation is preferably aligned so as to be perpendicular to the direction of movement of the drive tappet. The load on the operative connection between the drive output element and the drive tappet is thus minimized. In addition, the motor assembly can be positioned so as to be perpendicular to the offset direction, where sufficient installation space is usually available here.

The drive output element preferably has a movement restriction device that restricts the rotation of the drive output element to a range of motion of ±30° relative to the neutral position. The drive output element associated with the neutral position therefore rotates up to 30° in both directions. In this small order of rotation angle, the geometric structure including the driving tappet changes only to an acceptable range, that is, only the moving components in the offset direction lead to actual items. Any moving component transverse to the offset direction is negligible. The movement restriction device can be configured to be mechanical. However, it is advantageous for the movement restriction device to be included in the controller of the motor assembly.

The drive output element is preferably guided through the bearing housing, the motor assembly is fastened to one end of the bearing housing, and the bearing for the drive output element is arranged on the other end of the bearing housing. The load used for the motor bearing, that is, the bearing used for the drive output element in the motor, is minimized due to this. The performance of the oscillation can be minimized by the corresponding design embodiment of the bearing shell.

In an advantageous design embodiment, it is provided that the drive tappet has an anti-rotation protection. The anti-rotation protector ensures that the drive tappet cannot rotate about its longitudinal axis, and the alignment of the drive tappet with respect to the drive output element is thus maintained. The load applied to the bearing is thus minimized.

The drive tappet advantageously has a flexible spring portion. The flexible spring part may be formed, for example, by a part related to the remaining part of the drive tappet, which part has a reduced size in the direction in which the deflection is to be permitted. The movement of the drive output element is carried out by means of connecting rods, as explained above. Therefore, there is no pure translational movement under the condition of driving the tappet, and instead, the movement still includes a small proportion of movement in the lateral direction. This movement in the lateral direction can be absorbed in the flexible spring part. The flexible spring portion allows the required elasticity in the lateral direction.

The present invention is also achieved by a guide rod assembly having at least one guide rod, and the at least one guide rod has a guide rod driving member such as the guide rod driving member described above.

With this type of guide rod driver, the movement of the guide rod in the offset direction can be controlled extremely accurately without requiring excessive mechanical complexity.

The guide rod and the drive output element are preferably interconnected in a manner so as to transmit tension and compression forces. The drive output element therefore not only ensures that the guide rod in the offset direction is pushed in one direction. The drive output element can also ensure that the guide rod is pulled in the opposite direction. The return spring assembly can therefore be dispensed with.

The length adjustment device is preferably provided between the guide rod and the drive output element. With this type of length adjustment device, the zero or neutral position of the guide rod can be adjusted to the zero or neutral position of the motor assembly.

The length adjustment device is preferably arranged on the end of the drive tappet adjacent to the guide rod. The length adjustment device can also be directly arranged on the guide rod here, so that the length adjustment device can be held on the guide rod when the driving tappet is being detached.

In a preferred design embodiment, the length adjustment device has an eccentric bushing. When the eccentric bushing rotates, the length adjustment device can change the length of the operative connection between the drive output element and the rod. For example, the eccentric bushing can be gripped in a clamped manner, so that post-adjustment changes are only possible when the clamp is released.

A plurality of guide rods are preferably provided, wherein each guide rod has a guide rod driving member and the rotation axes of at least two guide rod driving members have different alignments. This allows the best use of installation space.

The guide rod assembly 1 has a plurality of guide rods 2, and the guide rods 2 will move in a reciprocating manner in the offset direction illustrated by the double arrow 3. Each guide rod 2 supports several thread guides 4, and the thread guides 4 can be assembled, for example, as a guide needle or a convex hub needle.

Each guide rod is connected to the guide rod driving member 6 by a driving tappet 5. The driving tappet 5 in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 has a length adjusting device 7. With the length adjusting device 7, the length of the driving tappet 5 can be adjusted to be between the guide rod 2 and the guide rod driving member 6 within the limit. The spacing is in the neutral position of the two elements in each case.

However, it is advantageous for the length adjustment device 7 to be arranged in the area of the guide rod 2 and preferably connected to the guide rod 2. In principle, the length adjustment device 7 only has to be adapted to intervene at any point in the connection between the guide rod driver 6 and the guide rod 2, so that the length can be adjusted as required.

The length adjustment device can also be subdivided into two or more parts, one of which is used for coarse adjustment, and the other is used for fine adjustment. The configuration with two possibilities of length adjustment will be further explained in Figure 4 below.

The driving tappet 5 is connected to the guide rod 2 and to the guide rod driving member 6 so that the driving tappet 5 can transmit tension and compression force from the guide rod driving member 6 to the guide rod 2. The guide rod 2 is therefore not only pushed away from the guide rod driving member 6, but also pulled again by the guide rod driving member 6 for movement in the opposite direction.

The guide rod driving member 6 is explained in more detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. The guide rod driving member has a motor assembly 8, and the motor assembly 8 has an electric motor 9 and a controller 10. For example, the controller 10 converts the control signal sent from the controller of the warp knitting machine into a driving command for the electric motor 9 so as to control the movement of the guide rod according to the type. The electric motor 9 can be assembled as a stepping motor or a brushless DC motor, for example.

The motor assembly 8 is fastened to the end side of the bearing shell 11. The motor assembly has a drive output element 12 in the form of a shaft. For example, the shaft can be the rotor shaft of the motor 9. However, it is also possible that the drive output element 12 is connected to the rotor shaft through the clutch 13. In any situation, the drive output element 12 can be driven in a rotational manner.

However, the rotation angle that the drive output element 12 can rotate is limited to a relatively small angle range. The angle range is ± 30° around the neutral position. The movement restriction device provided for this purpose is preferably a part of the control device 10.

The drive output element 12 is mounted on the bearing housing 11, especially in the bearing 14 arranged in the end side 15 of the bearing housing 11 facing away from the motor assembly 8. The drive output element 12 may protrude through the bearing 14.

The drive output element 12 has an eccentrically mounted pin 16 on its side directed to the outside of the bearing housing 11, and the pin 16 engages in a boss 17 on the drive tappet 5. The inclination between the boss 17 and the pin 16 is permitted within certain limits. In other words, a cylindrical bearing 18 that can be used to equalize alignment errors is placed between the pin 16 and the boss 17.

When the motor assembly 8 is placed in operation and the output element 12 is rotated in a reciprocating manner, the transmission mechanism formed by the pin 16 and the boss 17 converts the rotational movement of the drive output element 12 into the translational movement of the drive tappet 5 . Due to the relatively small rotation angle of the drive output element 12, the drive tappet 5 maintains its alignment as it has been assumed in the neutral position. This alignment extends so as to be substantially parallel to the offset direction 3. However, relatively small changes in the angle of the drive tappet 5 are inevitable. However, this angle change is so small that it actually has no adverse effect on the movement of the guide rod 2 in the offset direction.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the guide rod assembly 1 may also have a plurality of guide rods 2, wherein each guide rod 2 is assigned a dedicated guide rod driver 6. As can be seen in Figure 1, the individual guide rods 2 have different spatial alignments. For example, the guide rod driving member 6 may therefore have a rotation axis extending in the direction of gravity, and the second guide rod driving member 6 may have a rotation axis extending at an angle of 45° with respect to the direction of gravity, and the third The guide rod driving member 6 may have a rotation axis extending perpendicular to the direction of gravity. Because of this, it is possible that the available installation space is relatively well used.

In the case of a larger number of guide rods, the individual guide rod driving members 6 may also be arranged so as to be mutually offset in the offset direction. In this situation, only drive tappets 5 of different lengths are needed.

Figure 4 shows a modified design embodiment of the drive tappet 5. The drive tappet 5 has a clamping bushing 19 here, and the clamping bushing 19 has two clamping areas 20 and 21. The clamping bushing 19 is fastened to the driving tappet 5 by the clamping area 20, and the clamping bushing 19 is fastened to the boss 17 by the clamping area 21, and the boss 17 has an attachment 22 for this purpose.

The clamping bush 19 has a groove 23 extending axially. The attached body 22 may have a corresponding movable key, so that the groove 23 is combined with the movable key to form an anti-rotation protection member. With the anti-rotation protection member, it is ensured that the driving tappet 5 associated with the boss 17 cannot surround the driving tappet. The longitudinal axis of 5 rotates.

In addition, the driving tappet 5 has, for example, a flexible spring portion 24 on the end of the driving tappet 5 adjacent to the guide rod 2. Because the movement of the driving tappet 5 by means of the "connecting rod driving member" by the boss 17 is not a pure translational movement, but has a small component transverse to the longitudinal extent of the driving tappet 5, the flexible spring portion 24 can be used In order to generate elasticity in the transverse direction. This elasticity prevents relatively large forces from being generated. The flexible spring portion 24 can be formed in a simple manner because the drive tappet 5 is flat in this area.

Figure 5 also shows an embodiment of fine adjustment.

The guide rod 2 has a slot 25 on its end facing the driving tappet 5, and the flexible spring portion 24 enters the slot 25. The flexible spring portion 24 has an opening 26 open to one side. The pin 27 assembled on the eccentric piece 28 enters the opening 26, and the eccentric piece 28 is rotatably installed in the corresponding bore 29 of the guide rod 2. By rotating the eccentric 28, the pin 27 can be repositioned in the longitudinal range of the drive tappet 5 within certain limits, so that the effective length between the drive output element 12 and the guide rod 2 can be changed. The locking screw 30 is provided so that the angular alignment of the eccentric 28 is maintained once the adjustment has been performed. The rotation of the eccentric 28 is only possible after the locking screw 30 is released.

The guide rod also has a through hole 31. The flexible spring portion 24 has a corresponding bore 32, but the bore 32 has a larger diameter. Once the adjustment has been performed, the locking screw can then be guided through the through holes 31, 32 to additionally fix the flexible spring portion 24 to the rod 2 by clamping.

1‧‧‧Guide rod assembly 2‧‧‧Guide rod 3‧‧‧Double arrow/offset direction 4‧‧‧Wire guide 5‧‧‧Drive tappet 6‧‧‧Guide rod drive 7‧‧‧Length adjustment device 8‧‧‧Motor assembly 9‧‧‧Electric motor 10‧‧‧Controller/control device 11‧‧‧Bearing shell 12‧‧‧Drive output components 13‧‧‧Clutch 14‧‧‧Bearing 15‧‧‧end side 16‧‧‧Eccentrically installed pin 17‧‧‧Protrusion Hub 18‧‧‧Cylinder Bearing 19‧‧‧Clamping bushing 20、21‧‧‧Clamping area 22‧‧‧ Possession 23‧‧‧Axial extending groove 24‧‧‧Flexible spring part 25‧‧‧Slot 26‧‧‧Open 27‧‧‧pin 28‧‧‧Eccentric piece 29‧‧‧Drilling 30‧‧‧Locking screw 31, 32‧‧‧Through hole

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through preferred exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic illustration of the components of the guide rod assembly of the warp knitting machine; FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the guide rod driving member of the guide rod assembly according to FIG. 1; Fig. 3 shows an enlarged illustration of the components of the guide rod driving member according to Fig. 2; Figure 4 shows a detailed view of the drive tappet with the guide rod drive and the parts of the guide rod; and Figure 5 shows an enlarged description for explaining the adjustment device.

6‧‧‧Guide rod drive

8‧‧‧Motor assembly

9‧‧‧Electric motor

10‧‧‧Controller/control device

11‧‧‧Bearing shell

12‧‧‧Drive output components

13‧‧‧Clutch

Claims (12)

A guide rod driving member of a warp knitting machine has a motor assembly with a drive output element that is rotatably driven. The drive output element has a rotation axis and interacts with a drive tappet. The guide rod drive is characterized in that an operative connection between the drive output element and the drive tappet is arranged so as to be eccentric to the axis of rotation, the operative connection has a pin, and the pin is arranged so as to The drive output element is eccentric and engages in a boss on the drive tappet, and a cylindrical bearing is arranged between the pin and the boss. Such as the guide rod driving member of claim 1, wherein the rotation axis is aligned so as to be perpendicular to the moving direction of the driving tappet. For example, the guide rod driver of claim 1 or 2, wherein the drive output element has a movement restriction device that restricts the rotational movement of one of the drive output elements to a movement of ±30° relative to a neutral position Scope. Such as the guide rod driver of claim 1 or 2, wherein the drive output element is guided through a bearing housing, the motor assembly is fastened to an end of the bearing housing, and is used for a bearing placement of the drive output element On the other end of the bearing shell. Such as the guide rod driving member of claim 1 or 2, wherein the driving tappet has an anti-rotation protection member. Such as the guide rod driving member of claim 1 or 2, wherein the driving tappet has a flexible spring portion. A guide rod assembly is provided with at least one guide rod, and the at least one guide rod has a guide rod driving member according to any one of claims 1 to 6. Such as the guide rod assembly of claim 7, wherein the guide rod and the drive output element are interconnected in a way that can transmit tension and compression. For example, the guide rod assembly of claim 7 or 8, wherein a length adjustment device is provided between the guide rod and the drive output element. Such as the guide rod assembly of claim 9, wherein the length adjusting device is arranged on an end of the driving tappet adjacent to the guide rod. Such as the guide rod assembly of claim 9, wherein the length adjusting device has an eccentric bushing. Such as the guide rod assembly of claim 7 or 8, wherein a plurality of guide rods are provided, wherein each guide rod has a guide rod driving member and the rotation axes of at least two guide rod driving members have different alignments.

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