JP3348362B2 - Clamp mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clamp mechanism, and more particularly to a clamp mechanism in which a clamp is moved in a radial direction to grip a workpiece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional clamp mechanism has a structure as shown in FIG. The work 2 is placed on the receiving table 1 and is moved toward the center in the radial direction. For example, the work 2 is gripped by three clamp claws 3. Then, an actuator 4 is used to move the clamp claw 3.

Another conventional clamping mechanism is constructed as shown in FIG. 7, for example, and has a chuck 8 which slides in a circular hole 7 passing through the center of a fixing ring 6. When the chuck 4 is lowered by the actuator 4, the chuck ring 8 is closed toward the center in the radial direction by the fixing ring 6, and the work 2 is clamped.

[0004]

According to the chuck mechanism having the structure as shown in FIG. 6, the clamp claw 3 must be moved by the actuator 4 in a plurality of directions, for example, from three directions with a large stroke. There is a problem that the same number of actuators 4 are required, which increases the cost. Although the structure shown in FIG. 7 allows the chuck claw 8 to be moved by the single actuator 4, there is a disadvantage that the opening amount of the chuck claw 8 is small and only a minute opening can be formed.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and a clamp which can be driven by a single drive source and can have a large stroke for opening and closing a clamp claw. It is intended to provide a mechanism.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of clamp claws which move toward a center in a radial direction to grip a work, and a slide which slides in an axial direction on a receiving table on which the work is placed. A moving element, a plurality of cams attached to the slider, and moving in the sliding direction of the slider to move the plurality of clamp claws in the clamping direction, and a state in which the clamp claws grip the work; And a fixing means for fixing the movement of the plurality of clamp claws, wherein the fixing means is operated in synchronization with the sliding operation of the slider. is there.

Further, a second invention relates to the clamp mechanism according to the first invention, wherein the slider is constituted by a direct-acting slide unit.

In a third aspect based on the first aspect, the slider is constituted by a movable cylinder, and is configured to slide with respect to a fixed piston provided on the receiving table. The present invention relates to a clamp mechanism characterized in that:

In a fourth aspect based on the third aspect, the fixing means comprises an axially extending cam provided on an outer peripheral surface of the movable cylinder, and the fixing means for fixing the plurality of clamp claws. The present invention relates to a clamp mechanism for fixing a plate via a rod.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the slider is moved in the axial direction along the pedestal, the cam moves in the sliding direction of the slider. The pawl moves toward the center in the radial direction, which is the clamping direction, and grips the work to perform the clamping operation. After the clamp is performed by the clamp claws, the clamp claws are fixed by the fixing means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the slider composed of a direct-acting slide unit moves on the pedestal in the axial direction, and accordingly the cam moves in the same direction to move the clamp pawl in the radial direction. The workpiece moves to the center side and is gripped.

According to the third aspect, when the fluid is supplied into the movable cylinder, the movable cylinder is moved with respect to the fixed piston, and accordingly, the cam moves to move the clamp claw in the clamp direction, Perform the work clamping operation.

According to the fourth aspect, when the movable cylinder slides with respect to the receiving table, an axially extending cam provided on the outer peripheral surface of the movable cylinder fixes the fixed plate via the rod, The plurality of clamp claws are fixed by the fixing plate.

[0014]

1 and 2 schematically show a clamp mechanism according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The clamp mechanism has a receiving base 16. A ball bush 17 is slidably supported on the outer peripheral side of the receiving table 16. The ball bush 17 is connected to the rod 19 of the actuator 18 at an arbitrary point on the lower end side. The ball bush 17 has a cam plate 2 on its outer periphery.
2 is provided. In the drawing, only one cam plate 2 is provided for convenience.
Although two are not drawn, three are actually mounted on the outer periphery of the ball bush 17 at intervals of, for example, 120 degrees.

A cam groove 23 is formed in the cam plate 22, and a cam follower 24 moves along the cam groove 23. The cam follower 24 is mounted on a moving base 25. The moving base 25 is provided with an arm 26 extending upward, and a clamp claw 27 is attached to a tip end of the arm 26.

In the above configuration, when clamping the work 30 on the pedestal 16, the rod 19 of the actuator 18 is retracted and the ball bush 17 is moved along the pedestal 16 in the axial direction as shown in FIG. Move down. Then, the cam groove 23 of the cam plate 22 provided on the ball bush 17 moves the cam follower 24 in the lateral direction and toward the center of the ball bush 17. Therefore, the clamp claw 27 moves toward the center in the radial direction by such a movement, and the work 30 is clamped.

To release the work 30, the rod 19 of the actuator 18 is pushed out as shown in FIG. Then, the ball bush 17 moves on the pedestal 16 upward in the axial direction, whereby the cam plate 22 also rises. The cam follower 24 engaging with the cam groove 23 is pushed by the movement of the cam plate 22, and the moving base 25 is pushed out from the center side of the ball bush 17 to the radially outer peripheral side via the cam follower 24. Therefore, this moving base 25
The clamp claw 27 supported by the arm 26 via the arm 26 moves to the radially outer peripheral side to release the work 30.

As described above, the clamp mechanism of this embodiment is constituted by the single drive source 18, the cam 22, and the clamp claw 27. When the ball bush 17 to which the cam 22 is attached moves up and down by the actuator 18, the cam follower 24 moves through the cam 22 to move the moving base 25 back and forth. Therefore, at this time, the clamp claws 27 on the moving base 25 move back and forth simultaneously,
The clamp operation or the release operation is performed.

According to such a structure, since the movement of the clamp claw 27 is determined by the cam groove 23 of the cam plate 22, it is easy to adjust the speed and the clamp pressure.
Further, with such a structure, it is possible to realize a precise clamping mechanism that opens and closes greatly.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, such a clamping mechanism is also used for a work 30 whose diameter is initially large in the loading direction of the work 30 and then reduced in diameter. Can be used.
That is, the opening and closing of the clamp claw 27 with a large stroke can be performed by a single drive source.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a lower portion of the pedestal 16 supporting the work 30 is constituted by a cylindrical body 33. The cylindrical body 33 is integrally provided with a flange-shaped fixed piston 34 so as to protrude to the outer peripheral side at a substantially middle position in the height direction. A cylinder 35 is provided slidably with respect to the piston 34. The cylinder 35 includes an upper port 36 and a lower port 37. When air is supplied from the upper port 36, the cylinder 35 rises, and when compressed air is supplied from the lower port 37, the cylinder 35 descends. It has become.

A cam plate 40 is mounted on the cylinder 35. The cam plate 40 has a cam groove 41, and a cam follower 42 is engaged with the cam groove 41. The cam follower 42 is supported on the moving base 43. The moving base 43 has an arm 44 projecting upward.
And a clamp claw 45 is attached to the upper end of the arm 44. Note that the clamp claw 45 is rotatable about a support shaft 46 at the upper end of the arm 44.

This device has a fixing plate 48, and a cam hole 49 is formed at the upper end of the fixing plate 48. The left end side of the cam hole 49 is provided with a step portion 50 which is lowered, and a cam follower 51 which falls into the step portion 50 is supported by the base end side of the clamp claw 45.

The clamp pawl 45 has a lifting rod 53,
It is slidably supported by the clamp claws 45. The lifting rod 53 is supported by a ball bush 54 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction.
3 penetrates the slit 55. A cam follower 56 for opening and closing the slit 55 is provided. The cam follower 56 is pushed by the fixing cam 60 to open and close the slit 55. The lifting rod 53 is pressed downward by a compression coil spring 57 via a spring receiver 58 on the lower end side.

In the above configuration, when performing a clamping operation, compressed air is supplied into the cylinder 35 from the lower port 37 of the cylinder 35. Then cradle 16
Since the pressure in the lower chamber of the fixed piston 34 of the lower cylindrical body 33 is increased, the cylinder 35 is moved downward. Thereby, the cam plate 40 is moved downward together.

When the cam plate 40 is moved downward, the cam groove 41 pushes the cam follower 42 to move the moving base 43 toward the center in the radial direction. Accordingly, the clamp claw 45 moves toward the center in the radial direction via the arm 44, and clamps the work 30.

The movement of the clamp claw 45 toward the center causes the cam follower 51 provided on the clamp claw 45 to drop into the step portion 50 of the cam hole 49 of the fixing plate 48, whereby the cam follower 51 is mounted. The clamp claw 45 rotates counterclockwise about the support shaft 46 and presses the clamp portion of the work 30 downward.

In addition, the lowering operation of the cylinder 35 causes the fixing cam 60 to press the slit 55 via the cam follower 56, and the slit 55 tightens the lifting rod 53. Therefore, the vertical movement of the lifting rod 53 is restricted. This means that the clamping operation is performed to fix the clamp claw 45 holding the work 30 downward. That is, the clamp claw 45 is fixed while holding the work 30.

The apparatus of this embodiment is used, for example, for fixing a work 30 composed of a magnetic drum for magnetic recording and reproduction, by removing the gap between the thin parts of the drum 30
This is suitable for clamping a specific place of the above by the clamp claw 45. Further, in this device, since the cam plate 40 is directly moved up and down by the air cylinder 35 provided on the lower cylindrical body 33 of the receiving base 16, the driving source can be made compact. Become.

[0030]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of clamp claws which move toward the center in the radial direction to grip a work, a slider which slides in an axial direction on a receiving table on which the work is placed, and a slide. A plurality of cams that are attached to the moving element and move in the sliding direction of the slider to move the plurality of clamp claws in the clamp direction, and fix the movement of the plurality of clamp claws while the clamp claws grip the work. And the fixing means is operated in synchronization with the sliding operation of the slider.

Therefore, the workpiece can be clamped by moving the slider in the axial direction on the receiving base and moving the clamp claw to the center in the radial direction via the cam, thereby achieving a large stroke with a single drive source. The clamp claw can be opened and closed, and clamping at an accurate position becomes possible. Moreover, with the work clamped by the clamp claws,
Clamping claws can be fixed by the fixing means to reliably maintain the clamped state, and the reliability of the clamping operation of the work can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the slider is constituted by a direct-acting slide unit. Therefore, the clamping operation is performed by sliding such a slider on the receiving table, and the clamping can be performed by moving the slider in the axial direction by a single drive source. become.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the slider is constituted by a movable cylinder, and is slid with respect to a fixed piston provided on a receiving table. Therefore, the clamp claw is opened and closed by moving the movable cylinder on the receiving table in the axial direction, so that the drive source can be compactly incorporated into the clamp mechanism.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the fixing means comprises an axially extending cam provided on the outer peripheral surface of the movable cylinder, and a fixing plate for fixing a plurality of clamp claws is fixed via a rod. Things. Therefore, following the clamp operation of the clamp claw by sliding of the movable cylinder, the fixed plate is fixed via the rod by the cam of the movable cylinder,
This makes it possible to press the work and fix the clamp claws.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a clamp mechanism according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where a clamp claw is opened.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a relationship between supply of a work and opening and closing of a clamp claw.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a relationship between supply of a work and opening and closing of a clamp claw.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a clamp mechanism according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a conventional clamp mechanism.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of a conventional clamp mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 Receiving stand 17 Ball bush 18 Actuator 19 Rod 22 Cam plate 23 Cam groove 24 Cam follower 25 Moving base 26 Arm 27 Clamp claw 30 Work 33 Cylindrical body 34 Fixed piston 35 Cylinder 36 Port (upper) 37 Port (lower) 40 Cam plate 41 Cam groove 42 cam follower 43 moving base 44 arm 45 clamp claw 46 support shaft 48 fixing plate 49 cam hole 50 stepped portion 51 cam follower 53 elevating rod 54 ball bush 55 slot 56 cam follower 57 compression coil spring 58 spring receiver 60 fixing cam

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B23Q 3/06

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of clamp claws that move toward the center in the radial direction to grip a work, a slider that slides in an axial direction on a receiving table on which the work is placed, and an attachment to the slide. A plurality of cams that move in the sliding direction of the slider to move the plurality of clamp claws in the clamp direction, and fix the movement of the plurality of clamp claws while the clamp claws grip the work. And a fixing unit that operates the fixing unit in synchronization with a sliding operation of the slider. 2. The clamp mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the slider is constituted by a linear slide unit. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said slider is constituted by a movable cylinder, and is configured to slide with respect to a fixed piston provided on said pedestal.
2. The clamp mechanism according to 1. 4. The fixing means comprises an axially extending cam provided on an outer peripheral surface of the movable cylinder,
The clamp mechanism according to claim 3, wherein a fixing plate for fixing the plurality of clamp claws is fixed via a rod.