JP5281432B2 - Rotary joint - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rotary joint that can prevent sparks from occurring when handling high power, and to achieve a long life. <P>SOLUTION: The rotary joint 50 includes: a first connection member 52; and a second connection member 54. Conduction between an inside conductor 56 of the first connection member and an inside conductor 70 of the second connection member is implemented by the slide contact with the curved concave of the inside conductor of the first connection member and with the curved convex at the end of a spring contact 86 inserted in a cylindrical body having a bottom being the inside conductor of the second connection member. In addition, conduction between an outside conductor 58 of the first connection member and an outside conductor 72 of the second connection member is implemented by a conductive ring receiver 68, a conductive spring receiver 94, and two conductive rings 96 and 98 provided between the conductive ring receiver and the conductive spring receiver. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotary joint that performs electrical connection between a rotating body and a fixed body, and more particularly to a rotary joint that is suitable for use when a parabolic antenna for satellite communication is mounted on a rotating body.

  Conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, this type of rotary joint is shown in FIG. 1 as a coaxial rotary joint. In FIG. 1, the rotary joint 10 includes a first joining member 12 attached to one of the rotating body / fixed body and a second joining member 14 attached to the other of the rotating body / fixed body.

  The first joining member 12 includes a coaxial inner conductor 16 and an outer conductor 18, and the inner conductor and the outer conductor are insulated by a cylindrical insulator 20. Similarly, the second joining member 14 includes a coaxial inner conductor 22 and an outer conductor 24, and the inner conductor and the outer conductor are insulated by a cylindrical insulator 26. Each outer conductor 18, 24 constitutes a housing of each joining member 12, 14.

  The outer conductor 18 and the outer conductor 24 are rotatably combined through a ball bearing 28. The ball bearing 28 is attached to the outer conductors 18 and 24 by stop plates 30 and 32 formed of two inner and outer annular bodies. When the axial distance d between the surfaces where the outer conductor 18 and the outer conductor 24 face each other is set to a sufficiently small dimension, these facing surfaces serve as a capacitor and can pass high-frequency power.

  A contact needle 34 having a conical tip and a compression coil spring 36 are disposed between the inner conductor 16 and the inner conductor 22 as shown in FIG. The spring 36 is in contact with the inner conductor 22 and urges the contact needle 34 upward to bring into contact with a conical recess 38 provided in the inner conductor 16.

  A screw portion 40 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the end portion of the outer conductor 18, and a screw portion 42 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the end portion of the outer conductor 24. Coaxial cable connectors (not shown) are screwed into the screw portions 40 and 42, respectively.

Japanese Patent No. 3147014

  In the conventional rotary joint described above, when there is a gap (distance d) between the inner conductor 16 of the first joining member 12 and the inner conductor 22 of the second joining member 14, when handling high power Sparks easily. In addition, since the tip of the contact needle is sharp, the wear of the receiving portion due to the tip of the contact needle is intense, and sparks are likely to occur when wear powder accumulates. The occurrence of such a spark adversely affects the RF signal for transmission / reception, and also has a problem that the life of the rotary joint is shortened.

  The objective of this invention is providing the rotary joint which can prevent generation | occurrence | production of a spark when handling high electric power and can aim at lifetime improvement.

  The rotary joint of the present invention includes a first connecting member having a first inner conductor and a first outer conductor provided coaxially with an insulator interposed therebetween. One end of the first inner conductor forms a curved recess. Furthermore, a second connecting member having a second inner conductor and a second outer conductor provided coaxially with an insulator interposed therebetween is provided. The second inner conductor is composed of a bottomed cylindrical body, and a contact with spring is inserted into the bottomed cylindrical body. The tip of the contact with spring forms a curved convex portion that contacts the curved concave portion of the first inner conductor.

  The rotary joint further includes an annular conductive ring receiver fixed to the first outer conductor, a coil spring inserted into the outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor, an outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor, and a coil spring. Between the conductive spring receiver, which is fitted to the outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor and contacts one end of the coil spring, and between the conductive ring receiver and the conductive spring receiver, And two first and second conductive rings inserted in the outer peripheral portion of the outer conductor.

  Each of the first and second conductive rings is flat and parallel on both sides. The surface of the conductive ring receiver that contacts the first conductive ring is flat, and the surface of the conductive spring receiver that contacts the second conductive ring is flat. The conductive spring receiver is biased toward the second conductive ring by a coil spring.

The curved concave portion at one end of the first inner conductor and the curved convex portion at the tip of the contact with the spring are formed so as not to generate a gap when in contact with each other.

  The contact portion of the spring contact is preferably made of silver carbon. The conductive ring receiver and the two conductive rings are preferably made of stainless steel plated with gold.

  The conductive spring receiver has a cylindrical portion and an annular protruding portion that extends from the cylindrical portion and extends from the cylindrical portion, and one surface of the protruding portion contacts the second conductive ring, and the other surface of the protruding portion Is preferably in contact with the coil spring.

  It is preferable that the end of the cylindrical portion of the conductive spring receiver on the side opposite to the projecting portion is provided with a plurality of cuts to form a plurality of elastic pieces.

  According to the rotary joint of the present invention, in joining the first connecting member and the second connecting member, the conduction between the two internal conductors is caused by the sliding contact between the curved concave portion and the curved convex portion. Since it is performed, it has excellent wear resistance and the contact is made of silver carbon, so that no spark is generated.

  In addition, since conduction between the two outer conductors is performed through two conductive rings that are in sliding contact, there is no gap forming the capacitor as in the prior art. For this reason, no spark occurs.

  Thus, since the rotary joint of the present invention has a structure in which no spark is generated, a rotary joint having a long life can be realized.

It is sectional drawing of the conventional rotary joint. It is sectional drawing of the internal conductor part of the conventional rotary joint. It is sectional drawing of the rotary joint of one Example of this invention. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the rotary joint of FIG. 3. It is sectional drawing of a contactor with a spring. It is a front view which shows the antenna which rotates. It is a side view which shows the antenna which rotates. It is an exploded sectional view showing signs that a rotary joint is attached to an antenna. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which attached the rotary joint to the antenna. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a sliding bearing is used instead of a ball bearing in the configuration of FIG. 9.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The rotary joint 50 includes a first connecting member 52 attached to one of the rotating body / fixed body and a second connecting member 54 attached to the other of the rotating body / fixed body.

  The first connecting member 52 includes an internal conductor 56, an external conductor 58 that coaxially surrounds the internal conductor 56, and an insulator 60 that insulates the internal conductor 56 from the external conductor 58. The insulator 60 is cylindrical, but the lower end portion extends in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction so as to cover the lower end portion of the external conductor 58. The external conductor 58 constitutes a casing of the first connection member.

  The inner conductor 56 is made of phosphor bronze so as to have elasticity (spring property), and is formed so that the lower end is a curved concave portion. The outer conductor 58 is made of brass, and includes a screw portion 62 (which constitutes a connector) provided on the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical end portion, and a flange 64 connected to the screw portion 62. The flange 64 is provided with a fixing hole 66.

  An annular conductive ring receiver 68 is fitted and fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical lower end portion of the outer conductor 58. The conductive ring receiver 68 has an upper surface and a lower surface that are flat and parallel, and the upper surface is in contact with the lower surface of the flange 64. Such a conductive ring receiver 68 is made of stainless steel plated with gold in order to reduce friction with a conductive ring described later.

  The second connection member 54 includes an inner conductor 70 and an outer conductor 72 that surrounds the inner conductor 70 coaxially. The inner conductor 70 is a bottomed cylindrical body having a base portion, and a space 74 is formed between the cylindrical portion 71 and the outer conductor 72. The inner conductor 70 is made of phosphor bronze in order to have elasticity (spring property). The outer conductor 72 constitutes the housing of the second connection member 54 and is made of brass.

  The base 76 of the bottomed cylindrical body constituting the inner conductor 70 and the outer conductor 72 are insulated by an insulator 78. The insulator 78 has a cylindrical shape, but its upper end extends in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction so as to cover the inner peripheral bottom surface 80 of the outer conductor 72. The outer conductor 72 has a flange 82 for locking a coil spring described later. In addition, a screw portion 73 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the outer conductor 72 to constitute a connector.

  A contactor 86 with a spring in which a spring 84 made of a spring material is bonded by a conductive adhesive is inserted into the cylindrical portion 71 of the inner conductor 70. At this time, the lower end of the spring 84 comes into contact with the bottom of the cylindrical portion 71. As shown in FIG. 5, the contact 86 is formed so that the upper end is a curved convex portion. The curved convex portion 88 prevents a spark from being generated when high power is passed when contacting the curved concave portion 90 of the inner conductor 56 of the first connecting member 52. It is formed. Furthermore, in order to prevent generation | occurrence | production of a spark, a contactor shall be made from silver carbon.

  The first connecting member 52 and the second connecting member 54 are joined together with a coil spring 92, a conductive spring receiver 94, and two first and second conductive rings 96, 98 interposed therebetween. In an actual usage pattern, for example, the first connection member 52 is provided on the rotating body, and the second connection member 54 is provided on the fixed body and assembled.

  The coil spring 92 is made of a spring material and is inserted into the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion 75 of the outer conductor 72, and the lower end of the coil spring 92 abuts on the flange 82 of the outer conductor.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the spring receiver 94 includes a cylindrical part 100, an annular projecting part 102 that extends from the cylindrical part and projects from the cylindrical part, and an annular side part 104 that continues to the outer peripheral part of the projecting part. The The annular projecting portion 102 and the annular side portion 104 constitute a ring housing portion. The upper surface and the lower surface of the annular projecting portion 102 are formed flat and parallel. The inner diameter of the cylindrical portion 100 of the spring receiver 94 is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 75 of the outer conductor 72 so that such a spring receiver 94 can be fitted to the outer peripheral portion of the outer conductor 72. The The spring receiver 94 is made of phosphor bronze to provide elasticity (spring property). A plurality of cuts 106 are provided in the axial direction at the lower end of the cylindrical portion of the spring receiver, and an elastic piece 108 that applies a pressing force in the inner direction is formed.

  Each conductive ring 96, 98 has a flat upper surface and a lower surface, and is made of stainless steel plated with gold in order to reduce wear. These two conductive rings 96 and 98 are mounted between the conductive ring receiver 68 and the conductive spring receiver 94.

  The assembly of the rotary joint 50 is performed as follows. First, the first connection member 52 is attached to a rotating body (not shown), and the second connection member 54 is attached to a fixed body (not shown). Next, the contactor 86 with the spring is inserted into the cylindrical portion 71 of the inner conductor 70 of the second connection member 54 with the spring 84 facing downward.

  Subsequently, the coil spring 92 is fitted into the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 75 of the outer conductor 72 of the second connection member 54.

  Subsequently, the spring receiver 94 is inserted between the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 75 of the outer conductor 72 of the second connection member 54 and the coil spring 92. At this time, the elastic piece 108 of the spring receiver 94 presses and contacts the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 75 of the outer conductor 72, and the spring receiver slides in the axial direction but is held so as not to rotate. Further, the lower surface of the annular projecting portion 102 of the spring receiver 94 comes into contact with the upper end of the coil spring 92. For this reason, the spring receiver 94 is pressed toward the rings 96 and 98.

  Subsequently, two conductive rings 96 and 98 are mounted in a space surrounded by the upper surface of the overhanging portion 102 of the spring receiver 94 and the inner surface of the annular side portion 104.

  Finally, the first connecting member 52 is attached so that the lower surface of the ring receiver 68 is in contact with the upper surface of the first ring 96.

  FIG. 3 shows a state where the rotary joint 50 is assembled. In this state, the spring 84 presses the curved convex portion 88 of the contact 86 against the curved concave portion 90 of the inner conductor 56 of the first connecting member 52. The coil spring 92 pushes up the spring receiver 94 from below and presses the two conductive rings 96 and 98 against the ring receiver 68.

  When the rotating body to which the first connection member 52 is attached rotates, the curved concave portion 90 of the inner conductor 56 slides and rotates with respect to the curved convex portion 88 of the contactor 86 while maintaining electrical continuity. . The ring receiver 68 is slidably rotated while maintaining electrical continuity with respect to the first ring 96. On the other hand, the spring receiver 94 slides and rotates while maintaining electrical continuity with the second ring 98. At this time, even if the first ring 96 rotates as the ring receiver 68 rotates, the first ring 96 slides while maintaining electrical conduction with respect to the second ring 98. In this way, the ring receiver 68 and the first ring 96 are slid in contact with each other, and the first ring 96 and the second ring 98 are slid in contact with each other. To do. Therefore, there is an advantage that the wear of the sliding contact surface is small.

  According to the rotary joint 50 configured as described above, the first path from the inner conductor 56 of the first connecting member 52 to the base 76 of the inner conductor 70 of the second connecting member 54 through the contact 86. Current flows from the inner conductor 56 of the first connecting member 52 through two paths, the second path from the inner conductor 70 of the second connecting member 54 to the base 76 through the cylindrical portion 71 of the inner conductor 70. A large current can flow. Further, although the contact area between the curved concave portion 90 of the inner conductor 56 of the first connecting member 52 and the curved convex portion 88 of the contactor 86 is small, no spark is generated when high power is passed.

  When the rotary joint 50 of the present embodiment is used, for example, between an antenna for tracking a satellite and a fixed gantry, both the power supply and the RF signal are transmitted. An example in which the second connecting member 54 is fixed to the gantry will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The antenna 110 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 rotates up and down and left and right to track the satellite. The antenna 110 is attached to an antenna attachment 112, and the antenna attachment 112 is supported on the arm 116 by a rotation shaft 114. The arm 116 is fixed to the turntable 118. The first connection member 52 is fixed to the rotation center of the turntable 118 by inserting a bolt into the hole 66 of the flange 64. A second connection member 54 is fixed to the gantry 120 in accordance with the central axis of the first connection member 52.

  The cable 121 drawn from the antenna 110 is connected to the connector of the first connection member 52 of the rotary joint 50.

  With reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the assembly of the turntable 118 and the gantry 120 will be described.

  A rotating plate 124 constituting a rotating table 118 is rotatably attached to the gantry 120 via a ball bearing 122. An opening 126 is provided at the center of rotation of the rotating plate 124. The upper portion of the gantry 120 is exposed at the opening 126. A recessed portion 128 is provided in the pedestal portion corresponding to the opening 126, and the second connecting member 54 is fixed to a hole formed in the bottom of the recessed portion 128. At this time, the screw portion 73 of the second connection member 54 is exposed in the recess 130 provided in the lower portion of the gantry 120.

  On the other hand, when fixing the mounting plate 132 to which the first connecting member 52 is fixed by the bolt 131 to the rotating plate 124, first, the coil spring 92 is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the external conductor 72 of the second connecting member 54. Next, the spring receiver 94 is inserted between the outer conductor 72 and the coil spring 92. Subsequently, the spring contactor 86 is inserted into the cylindrical portion 71 of the inner conductor 70 which is a bottomed cylindrical body. Subsequently, the two rings 96 and 98 are fitted into the upper part of the spring receiver 94.

  In the state as described above, the mounting plate 132 is fixed to the rotating plate 124 with the bolt 134 so that the central axis of the first connecting member 52 coincides with the central axis of the second connecting member 54. The mounting plate 132 and the rotating plate 124 constitute a rotating table 118. FIG. 9 shows the fixed state.

  In the above example, the turntable 118 is supported by the pedestal 120 by two ball bearings 122, but may be one ball bearing.

  Further, a sliding bearing can be used instead of the ball bearing. FIG. 10 shows an example using a sliding bearing 136. For the sliding bearing 136, a material called a sintered oil-impregnated metal containing a lubricating oil in a porous material is used.

  In the above example, the first connecting member 52 is attached to the rotating body, and the second connecting member 54 is attached to the fixed body. However, the first connecting member 52 is the fixed body, and the second connecting member 54 is the rotating body. You may attach to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 50 Rotary joint 52 1st connection member 54 2nd connection member 56 Inner conductor 58 Outer conductor 60 Insulator 62 Screw part 64 Flange 66 Hole 68 Conductive ring receptacle 70 Inner conductor 71 Cylindrical part 72 External conductor 73 Screw part 74 Space 75 cylindrical portion 76 base portion 78 insulator 80 inner peripheral bottom surface 82 flange 84 spring 86 contactor 88 curved convex portion 90 curved concave portion 92 coil spring 96 first conductive ring 98 second conductive ring 100 cylindrical portion 102 annular Overhanging portion 104 Annular side portion 108 Elastic piece 110 Antenna 112 Antenna mounting tool 114 Rotating shaft 116 Arm 118 Rotating base 120 Mounting base 121 Cable 122 Ball bearing 124 Rotating plate 126 Opening 128 Recessing portion 130 Recessing portion 130 Recessing portion 131 4 bolt 136 sliding bearings

Claims (6)

A first connecting member having a first inner conductor and a first outer conductor provided coaxially with an insulator interposed therebetween, wherein one end of the first inner conductor forms a curved recess;
A second connecting member having a second inner conductor and a second outer conductor provided coaxially with an insulator interposed therebetween, wherein the second inner conductor is formed of a bottomed cylindrical body;
A contact with a spring inserted in the inside of the bottomed cylindrical body, the tip of the contact with the spring forms a curved convex portion that comes into contact with the curved concave portion of the first internal conductor;
An annular conductive ring receiver fixed to the first outer conductor;
A coil spring inserted in the outer periphery of the second outer conductor;
Between the outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor and the coil spring, a conductive spring receiver is fitted to the outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor and one end of the coil spring abuts.
Two first and second conductive rings interposed between the conductive ring receiver and the conductive spring receiver and inserted in the outer peripheral portion of the second outer conductor, the first and second Each of the conductive rings is flat and parallel on both sides,
The surface of the conductive ring receiver in contact with the first conductive ring is flat;
The surface of the conductive spring receiver in contact with the second conductive ring is flat;
The rotary joint, wherein the conductive spring receiver is biased toward the second conductive ring by the coil spring. 2. The rotary according to claim 1, wherein the curved concave portion of the first inner conductor and the curved convex portion at the tip of the contact with spring are formed so as not to generate a gap when in contact with each other. Joint.   The rotary joint according to claim 2, wherein a contact portion of the spring contact is made of silver carbon.   The rotary joint according to claim 3, wherein the conductive ring receiver and the two conductive rings are each made of gold-plated stainless steel.   The conductive spring receiver has a cylindrical portion and an annular protruding portion that extends from the cylindrical portion and extends from the cylindrical portion, and one surface of the protruding portion contacts a second conductive ring, and the protruding portion The rotary joint in any one of Claims 1-4 with which the other surface contacts the said coil spring.   6. The rotary joint according to claim 5, wherein an end portion of the cylindrical portion of the conductive spring receiver opposite to the overhang portion is provided with a plurality of cuts to form a plurality of elastic pieces.

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