JP3481891B2 - Bearing cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bearing cleaning device, and more particularly to a bearing cleaning device in which dirty grease is filled after it has been used for a certain period of time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Bearings that have been used for a certain period of time with grease filled are seized in the grease or carbon, iron powder, dust, etc. are mixed in the grease, and it may occur between the outer ring and the inner ring (bearing race) of the bearing or balls. , A technology that cleans the rust preventive oil that is surface-treated in the bearing manufacturing process because dirt has entered the gap between rolling elements such as rollers, for example, ultrasonic cleaning using a cleaning liquid, rocking cleaning, shower A cleaning system such as cleaning cannot be sufficiently cleaned.

In order to improve this point, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-57.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 685, the cleaning liquid is sprayed at a high temperature and a high pressure by spray nozzles arranged close to the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing and opposed to each other to soften the grease filled in the bearing and burn it. There are things that try to remove the grease.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-141685, the inner and outer bearing races are held from above and below, and the holding mechanism is configured to rotate relatively in the opposite direction, and the holding mechanism is provided with hot water. There is a device in which a jet injection mechanism is provided to apply a jet to a predetermined portion of the bearing while rotating the inner and outer bearing races to remove grease.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-290130, a roller rotating means for rotating the bearing by rotating the bearing on its turntable while revolving the bearing with a large number of rollers exposed to the outside. And a high pressure nozzle that injects cleaning liquid to specific positions inside and outside the bearing, and attempts to remove grease by revolving orbiting the roller.

[0006]

However, while the inner and outer bearing races are relatively rotated, hot water is jet-jetted to a predetermined portion of the bearing, or the bearing with a large number of exposed rollers is revolved and the rollers are rotated. However, it is not possible to sufficiently remove grease and dirt only by spraying the cleaning liquid onto a predetermined portion of the bearing with a high pressure nozzle. In particular, the grease and dirt entering the gap between the rollers cannot be removed only by injecting the cleaning liquid from the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing with the spray nozzle at high pressure and high temperature.

Further, a mechanism for holding the bearing from above and below for rotating the inner and outer rings of the bearing, a rotating mechanism for relatively rotating the inner and outer bearing races, and a mechanism for rotating the roller while revolving the bearing are provided. There is a problem in that it is difficult to cope with changes in the size of the bearing because the structure is complicated and the mechanisms are fixed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a bearing cleaning device capable of efficiently removing grease and dirt from a bearing with a simple mechanism.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a bearing cleaning device which has a simple mechanism and can cope with changes in the size of the bearing and can efficiently remove grease and dirt from the bearing.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems The features of the bearing cleaning device of the present invention that achieves the above-mentioned object are that means for fixing either one of the outer ring and the inner ring of the bearing,
At least one of the front surface and the back surface of the bearing is provided with a brush that contacts the outer ring and the inner ring and moves in the circumferential direction.

According to a feature of the present invention, the bristles of the brush make contact with the outer ring and the inner ring on at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the bearing and move in the circumferential direction, so that the other of the outer ring and the inner ring of the bearing is not fixed. The friction between the rolling element and the holding element (retainer) causes the other element and the holding element to rotate together. At this time, the rolling elements of the bearing also rotate, and the grease inside is also guided to the front or back of the bearing with the brush.

According to the feature of the present invention, when the brush rotates the bearing, there is a relative speed difference between the brush and the bearing, and the bristles of the brush rub against the bearing, so that seizure or sticking to the rolling element occurs. Shave off the grease that is being used.

Another feature of the present invention is that the brush used is one in which bristles are planted vertically on the substrate, and the substrate is rotated about a central axis perpendicular to the plane so that the bristles are planted over the entire outer and inner rings of the bearing. It is good to contact and rotate at the same time.

As a further feature of the present invention, a cleaning liquid supply means is provided for the brush to remove the dirty grease scraped off by the brush with the cleaning liquid.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the bearing cleaning apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Figure 1
FIG. 1 is an overall sectional view of a bearing cleaning device according to an embodiment of the bearing cleaning device of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows A of FIG.
-A sectional view taken along the cutting line A, Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the brush cleaning unit taken along the line B-B in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the brush cleaning unit shown in Fig. 3 during cleaning. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the finish cleaning unit taken along the line CC of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a casing 2 installed on the floor 1 is provided with a carry-in port 4 for a ball bearing (hereinafter abbreviated as a bearing) 10 on the left side and a discharge port 5 for the bearing on the right side. Has been. A carry-in conveyor 6 is installed at the carry-in port 4 from the outside of the left side surface of the casing 2 toward the inside so that it can be driven by a rotating shaft 7. Similarly, a discharge conveyor 8 is installed at the discharge port 5 from the inside of the casing 2 toward the outside of the right side surface so that it can be driven by a rotating shaft 9.

A brush cleaning section 11 for cleaning the bearing 10 and a finish cleaning section 12 are arranged between the carry-in conveyor 6 and the discharge conveyor 8. The bearing 10 is carried in from the carry-in port 4 and the brush cleaning section 11, Finishing cleaning section 12
After that, it is washed and moved to the discharge port 5.

The brush cleaning section 11 is, as shown in FIG.
A bearing guide rail 13 is provided at a position where the bearing 10 carried in from the carry-in conveyor 6 can be received. The bearing guide rails 13 are rails each having an L-shaped cross section, and two rails are installed in parallel with the moving direction of the bearing 10 so as to be axially symmetrical and arranged to guide the outer ring of the bearing 10. In other words, the bearing guide rail 13 supports the bearing so that the entire upper surface of the carried bearing and the outer ring except for a part of the outer ring of the bearing are released (as if carrying the luggage with both hands of four fingers excluding the thumb). Lift from both sides). An upper surface cleaning brush 14 is installed above the bearing guide rail 13 so as to be rotatable about the axis of the bearing by a motor 15.

Here, the upper surface or the lower surface of the bearing 10 refers to the surface which is up or down while being supported by the bearing guide rail 13, and not the front surface or the back surface of the bearing. That is, the front or back may face upwards or downwards.

The upper surface cleaning brush 14 and the motor 15 are connected to a vertical drive unit 17 via a support arm 16, and the vertical drive unit 17 drives a vertical drive rail 19 mounted on the drain tank 18. Has a structure that moves up and down relative to the bearing. The bearing guide rail 13 is provided below the bearing guide rail 13.
The lower surface cleaning brush 2 is symmetrical with the upper surface cleaning brush 14 with the pinch in between.
0 is rotatably installed by a motor 21, is connected to a vertical drive device 24 via a support arm 22, and moves up and down with respect to the bearing 10 when the vertical drive device 24 drives on a drive rail 23. It is structured.

The upper and lower cleaning brushes 14, 20 are
As shown in FIG. 4, a disk-shaped brush base (substrate) 25 parallel to the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing 10 is provided, and the brush bristles 26 have a certain width on the outer periphery of the brush base 25 and are perpendicular to the plane of the brush base 25. The hair is planted in the direction. Inside the brush bristles 26 of the upper surface cleaning brush 14, there is a brush shaft 27 extending vertically from the lower surface of the brush base 25,
Brush bristles 28 for cleaning the inner ring of the bearing 10 are radially implanted around the brush shaft 27 toward the outer periphery.

Further, the brush cleaning unit 11 is provided with a jet nozzle 29 for injecting a cleaning liquid to predetermined portions on the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing, and the cleaning liquid ejected from the jet nozzle 29 and the cleaning are provided below the brush cleaning unit 11. A drain tank 18 for receiving grease and dirt dropped by the brushes 14 by brushing is installed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the finish cleaning section 12 has a
A finish cleaning table 30 having a wire mesh structure is installed at a position where the bearing 10 sent from the bearing guide rail 13 of the brush cleaning unit 11 can be received. A finishing cleaning tank 31 is provided below the finishing cleaning table 30.
Is provided, the interior thereof is filled with the cleaning liquid 32, and the bottom of the finish cleaning tank 31 has a bubble generator 33 for bubbling cleaning and a cleaning liquid heater 34. The finish cleaning table 30 is connected to a vertical drive device 37 via a support arm 36, and the vertical drive device 37 moves on a drive rail 38 provided in the finish cleaning tank 31 in the vertical direction, so that the dashed-dotted line As shown by, the finish cleaning table 30 mounts the bearing 10 and moves up and down in the upper surface of the cleaning liquid 32 in the final cleaning tank 31 and in the liquid.

The cleaning liquid for the drain tank 18 is filtered by the filtering device 4
It is filtered through 4 and returned to the finish cleaning tank 31 and is also sent to the jet nozzle 29 by the pump 43. The cleaning liquid overflowing from the finishing cleaning tank 31 is drain tank 1
Accepted at 8. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bearing transport rail 39 extends parallel to the bearing guide rail 13 from the drain tank 18 to the finish cleaning tank 31.
Is installed, and a transfer arm 42 is attached to the transfer rail 39 via a lateral drive device 40 and a vertical drive device 41. The transfer arm 42 is composed of three arms, and each arm is arranged on the carry-in conveyor 6, the brush cleaning section 11, and the finish cleaning section 12, and the lateral drive unit 4 is provided.
0, by driving the vertical drive device 41, it is movable in the vertical and horizontal directions.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the device of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. First, the bearing 10, which is the object to be cleaned, is placed on the carry-in conveyor 6. Rotating shaft 7
Drives the carry-in conveyor 6 to carry the bearing 10 into the casing 2 of the cleaning device and conveys it to a predetermined position immediately before the bearing guide rail 13. Bearing 10
The method of arranging the bearings at a predetermined position is not limited to the conveyor, and may be a method of setting the bearings on a stocker or the like and sequentially sending the bearings.

At this time, the transfer arm 42 is located closest to the carry-in port 4 and at a height that does not hinder the carrying-in of the bearing 10. This position is the initial position. Next, the vertical drive device 41 is operated downward to lower the transfer arm 42 to a predetermined height on the side surface of the bearing 10. When the lateral drive device 40 is operated to the discharge port 5 side in this state, the carry-in side arms of the three transfer arms 42 move on the bearing guide rails 13 while pushing the side surface of the bearing 10, and the brush cleaning unit 11 It is conveyed to the upper surface cleaning brush 14. The transport arm 42 that has completed the transport is moved to the initial position by the vertical drive device 41 and the horizontal drive device 40 again. In FIG. 1, the transfer arm 42 is of a so-called mouth-shaped type and intermittently moves counterclockwise. When the brush cleaning is completed, the vertical drive device 41 descends, and the horizontal drive device 40 moves toward the discharge port 5, so that the central transfer arm 42 is moved.
Conveys the bearing 10 in the brush cleaning unit 11 to the next finish cleaning unit 12. Further, the transfer arm 42 on the discharge port 5 side transfers the bearing in the finish cleaning unit 12 to the discharge conveyor 8.

Next, brush cleaning will be described. In FIG. 3, by driving the motor 15 and moving the vertical drive unit 17 downward, the upper surface cleaning brush 14 is rotated and lowered toward the bearing 10 to a position where brush cleaning is possible. At this time, the brush bristles 26 planted on the brush shaft 27 are inserted into the inner ring of the bearing 10 while rotating, so that the bearing 10 is positioned at the axial center of the cleaning brush 14, and at the same time drives the motor 21. By moving the vertical drive device 24 upward, the lower surface cleaning brush 20 is rotated and is raised toward the bearing 10 to a position where brush cleaning is possible.

As shown in FIG. 4, the upper and lower cleaning brushes 14,
When the brush bristles 26 of 20 contact from the outer ring 45 to the inner ring 47 of the bearing 10 and the brush bristles 28 of the brush shaft 27 come into contact with the bearing surface of the inner ring 47 and rotate, the dirt and grease adhering to the surface are washed with a brush. To do. At this time, the cleaning brushes 14 and 20 rotate in the same direction with respect to the bearing 10, and due to contact friction, the balls 46 of the bearing 10, the inner ring 47, and the holder of the balls 46 (not shown) are rotated (rotated) in a fixed direction. Generate force. On the other hand, the outer ring 45 of the bearing 10 is in contact with the bearing guide rail 13, and rotation is suppressed by the contact resistance (the outer ring 45
May be mechanically fixed using the bearing guide rails 13). By this action, the inner ring 47 is
Rotate relative to each other, and the rotation causes grease and the like that has entered between the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing 10 and between the outer ring 45 and the inner ring 47 to be exposed on the upper and lower surfaces and scraped off by the brush bristles 26. Further, the jet nozzle 2 arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the bearing 10.
A cleaning liquid is sprayed from 9 to wash away grease and the like adhering to the brush bristles 26 and 28.

The bearing 10 after brush cleaning is transferred to the finish cleaning table 30 by the transfer arm 42 at the center. The cleaning liquid 32 in the finish cleaning tank 31 is heated to 60 to 70 ° C. by the cleaning liquid heater 34, and the bubbles are filled by the bubble generator 33.

As the vertical drive unit 37 descends on the drive rail 38, the finish cleaning table 30 sinks into the cleaning liquid 32 together with the bearing 10 through the support arm 36 as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. After that, it moves up and down in the cleaning liquid 32 with a constant amplitude. By these shaking and bubbling cleaning, it is possible to completely remove the grease separated and separated in the brush cleaning step, stain the small gap, and finish cleaning for degreasing. In addition, if the cleaning solution has a rust preventive effect, it can also prevent rust at the same time.

The bearing 10 which has been subjected to the final cleaning is
It rises up again together with the finish cleaning table 30, and is sent out to the discharge conveyor 8 by the right transfer arm 42.

A physical external force is applied by a shower of a cleaning liquid and a rotating cleaning brush to forcibly remove dirt, and the cleaning brush is brought into rotating contact with the shaft center of the bearing as a center, and the inner ring of the bearing is rotated by the contact friction of the cleaning brush. By doing so, it is possible to efficiently clean the dirt that has entered the gaps between the inner and outer races and the balls and rollers, and then perform the swing bubbling cleaning to remove the dirt separated by the brush cleaning and the dirt in the small clearance. The oil and fat can be completely removed.

Since the brush scrapes off (scraps off) the grease while rotating the inner ring or the like, a separate drive means for rotating the inner ring or the like is not required, and the device construction is simple.

Even if the size of the bearing is changed, the brush is planted with a certain width on the brush base.
I can handle it enough.

The present invention is not limited to the ball bearings described above, and various types of bearings can be cleaned, and a sealed type bearing can be cleaned by removing at least one side of the shield plate or the seal.

With respect to the thrust bearing, one of the rotating wheel and the fixed wheel is fixed, and a brush is provided on at least one of the inner circumference and the outer circumference from the rotating wheel to the fixed ring to rotate in the circumferential direction. Can rotate around to remove grease and dirt.

The bearing cleaning apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be implemented in the following modes. 1. A chuck that holds the inner ring of the bearing is provided, and the outer ring is rotated with a brush. 2. Thrust bearings are cleaned with radial (radial) bristles. 3. An outer ring cleaning brush is provided instead of the inner ring cleaning brush. 4. Rotation of the brush is reciprocal reversal type. 5. A distance measuring sensor and a distance control device for the brush base and the bearing are provided so that the tips of the brush bristles are made to stand on the surface of the bearing.

6. In order to deal with bearings that have grease adhered so that they do not rotate with the rotation of the brush or the inside is dirty, the forced rotation cleaning unit is installed between the brush cleaning unit and the finish cleaning unit in Fig. 1. To provide.
The forced rotation cleaning unit is composed of, for example, a cap-shaped rubber rotating body that engages with an inner ring to rotate and a spray nozzle that sprays a cleaning liquid onto at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the bearing. The grease on the front surface and the back surface of the bearing is removed by the brush cleaning section without the need for rotation. Subsequently, the internal grease exposed on the surface by being forcedly rotated by the forced rotation cleaning unit is removed by the cleaning liquid sprayed from the spray nozzle.

A forced rotation cleaning unit may be installed on the upstream side of the brush cleaning unit so that the bearing can be rotated along with the brush cleaning unit.

[0040]

As described above, according to the bearing cleaning device of the present invention, grease and dirt on the bearing can be removed efficiently with a simple mechanism. Further, according to the bearing cleaning device of the present invention, it is possible to cope with changes in the size of the bearing and to efficiently remove grease and dirt from the bearing with a simple mechanism.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall sectional view of a bearing cleaning device according to an embodiment of the bearing cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the brush cleaning unit taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the brush cleaning unit shown in FIG. 3 during cleaning.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the finish cleaning unit taken along the line C-C in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

6 ... Carry-in conveyor 8 ... Discharge conveyor 10 ... Bearing 11 ... Brush cleaning section 12 ... Finishing cleaning section 13 ... Bearing guide rail 14 ... Top cleaning brush 15, 21 ... Motor 18 ... Drain tank 20 ... Bottom cleaning brush 25 ... Brush base 26, 28 ... Brush hair 27 ... Brush shaft 29 ... Jet nozzle

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Masataka Tanji Masataka Tanji 2-4-4 Jinritsu Higashi, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Nitrate Techno Engineering Co., Ltd. Tsuchiura Works (72) Inventor Yasushi Shimizu 5 Kawaguchi, Kazo, Saitama Prefecture 3-chome, Katakura Industrial Co., Ltd., in the Kazo factory (72) Inventor Eita Shiina 5-chome, Kawaguchi, Kazo, Saitama Prefecture 3-chome, Katakura Industrial Co., Ltd., in the Kazo factory (72) Yoshio Noguchi Sanzocho, Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture 2nd, 2nd, Hitachi Engineering Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Yuji Okumura, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, Saiwaicho, Hitachi, Hitachi, Ibaraki (56) Reference, Hitachi Engineering Service Co., Ltd. (56) Reference: JP-A-63-232886 A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B08B 1/04

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bearing cleaning device for removing grease filled in a bearing, wherein a means for fixing one of an outer ring and an inner ring of the bearing is contacted with an outer ring and an inner ring on at least one of a front surface and a back surface of the bearing to form a circle. A bearing cleaning device having a brush that moves in the circumferential direction. 2. The bearing cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the brush is one in which bristles are vertically implanted on the substrate, and the substrate is rotated about a central axis perpendicular to the plane thereof so that the entire outer ring and inner ring of the bearing are covered. A bearing cleaning device comprising a driving means for simultaneously contacting and rotating flocked hairs around the circumference. 3. In a bearing cleaning device for removing grease filled in a bearing, a means for fixing either one of a rotating ring and a fixed ring of the bearing, and a rotating ring on at least one of an inner peripheral side and an outer peripheral side of the bearing. A bearing cleaning device comprising a brush that comes into contact with a fixed wheel and moves in a circumferential direction. 4. The bearing cleaning device according to claim 1 or 3, wherein cleaning liquid supply means is provided for the brush. 5. The bearing cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cleaning section for bubbles next to the cleaning section for brushes, and a drive device for swinging the bearing in the cleaning section for bubbles. Bearing cleaning equipment.