JP6923372B2 - Actuator and actuator unit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an actuator and an actuator unit.

Patent Document 1 below discloses an industrial machine that drives a moving mechanism by utilizing the air pressure of air supplied from an air supply unit as one of the actuators. This industrial machine is a three-dimensional measuring machine that analyzes the shape of a work, and has a probe for measuring the work, a moving mechanism for moving the probe, and an air supply unit for supplying air to the moving mechanism. Has. The air supply unit has an air regulator set that sends air to the air bearings of each drive mechanism of the moving mechanism, and controls the air flow by opening and closing the solenoid valve provided in the air regulator set.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-68039

The industrial machine described above is an actuator in which an air regulator set (pneumatic device) that controls pneumatic pressure is incorporated in the main body of the device. Pneumatic equipment includes solenoid valves, air filters, etc., which are consumables and need to be replaced regularly. In the past, when replacing consumables, it was necessary to remove the pneumatic equipment incorporated in the main body of the device. In addition, after the replacement of consumables, it is necessary to install the removed pneumatic equipment, which takes time for maintenance and leads to a decrease in the operating rate of the equipment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an actuator and an actuator unit which can easily and quickly perform regular maintenance work of a pneumatic device and have a high operating rate of the device.

In order to solve the above problems, the actuator of the present invention includes an actuator main body provided with a drive unit for driving the shaft, and a pneumatic device for controlling the pneumatic pressure of the hollow hole provided in the shaft. However, the pneumatic device adopts a configuration in which the pneumatic device is housed in a cartridge portion that is detachably provided with respect to the actuator main body.

Further, in the actuator unit of the present invention, a plurality of the actuators described above are stacked in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft, and the cartridge portion is in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft and the stacking direction of the actuator. In the above, a configuration is adopted in which the actuator body is detachably provided.

According to the present invention, the periodic maintenance work of the pneumatic device can be easily and quickly completed, and the operating rate of the device is increased.

It is external perspective view of the actuator unit in embodiment of this invention. It is an internal block diagram of the actuator included in the actuator unit shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing along the axial direction of the shaft housing in embodiment of this invention. It is an external perspective view which shows the state when the cartridge part is attached to the actuator main body in embodiment of this invention. It is an internal block diagram of the cartridge part in embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments shown below are described by way of example in order to better understand the gist of the invention, and are not limited to the present invention unless otherwise specified. Further, in the drawings used in the following description, in order to make the features of the present invention easy to understand, the main parts may be enlarged for convenience, and the dimensional ratios of the respective components are the same as the actual ones. Not necessarily. In addition, in order to make the features of the present invention easy to understand, some parts have been omitted for convenience.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the actuator unit 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the actuator 1 included in the actuator unit 100 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the actuator unit 100 is configured by stacking a plurality of actuators 1. The actuator 1 has an actuator main body 2 for moving the shaft 10 and a cartridge unit 3 for supplying air to the shaft 10.

In the following description, the XYZ Cartesian coordinate system may be set, and the positional relationship of each member may be described with reference to the XYZ Cartesian coordinate system. The axial direction in which the shaft 10 extends is the Z-axis direction, the stacking direction of the actuator 1 orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft 10 is the Y-axis direction, and the axial direction of the shaft 10 and the direction orthogonal to the stacking direction of the actuator 1 are the X-axis directions. do.

As shown in FIG. 2, the actuator main body 2 includes a shaft 10, a rotary motor 20 (driving unit) that rotates the shaft 10 around its axis O, and an axial direction (X-axis direction) along the axis O of the shaft 10. The shaft 10 is connected to the linear motion motor 30 (drive unit), the drive unit housing 40 accommodating the rotary motor 20 and the linear motion motor 30, and the lower end surface 40a of the drive unit housing 40 in the Z-axis direction. It has a shaft housing 50 that is slidably inserted.

The shaft 10 extends in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction), and is linearly moved in the vertical direction by the rotary motor 20 and the linear motion motor 30, and is rotated around the axis O extending in the vertical direction. A hollow hole 11 is provided in the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10. An application device (not shown) such as a tool or a suction pad is attached to the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10. In the present embodiment, a suction pad (not shown) is attached to the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10, and a so-called pick-and-place operation of picking up the work W and placing it in a predetermined place is performed.

The base end portion 10B side opposite to the tip end portion 10A of the shaft 10 is housed in the drive unit housing 40. For example, a spline groove (not shown) extending in the axial direction is provided on the base end portion 10B side of the shaft 10 housed in the drive portion housing 40. The rotary motor 20 has a spline nut (rotor) (not shown) that engages with the spline groove and a stator that rotates the spline nut. The stator of the rotary motor 20 is fixed to the drive unit housing 40, and by rotating a spline nut (rotor) engaged with the spline shaft of the shaft 10, the shaft 10 is allowed to move in the axial direction. 10 is rotated around the axis O.

The linear motor 30 has a stator 31 fixed to the drive unit housing 40 and a mover 32 that is moved in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) by the stator 31. For example, the stator 31 is provided with a plurality of coils (not shown), and the mover 32 is provided with a plurality of permanent magnets (not shown). The coils are arranged at a predetermined pitch along the vertical direction, and a plurality of sets of three U, V, and W phase coils are provided as one set. In the present embodiment, a moving field that moves linearly is generated by passing a three-phase armature current through these U, V, and W phase coils, and the mover 32 moves linearly with respect to the stator 31. It is designed to let you.

The linear motion motor 30 and the shaft 10 are connected via a linear motion table 33. The linear motion table 33 is guided in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) by a plurality of linear motion guide devices 34. The linear motion guide device 34 has a track rail 34a fixed to the drive unit housing 40 and a slider block 34b assembled to the track rail 34a. The track rail 34a extends in the vertical direction, and the slider block 34b is movable in the vertical direction along the track rail 34a.

The linear motion table 33 is fixed to the slider block 34b and is movable in the vertical direction together with the slider block 34b. The linear motion table 33 is connected to the mover 32 of the linear motion motor 30 via a connecting arm 35. Further, the linear motion table 33 is connected to the shaft 10 via a connecting arm 36. The connecting arm 36 is provided with a bearing (not shown) that rotatably supports the shaft 10, and the base end portion 10B of the shaft 10 is provided with a retaining 37 for preventing the shaft 10 from falling.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drive unit housing 40 has a plate-shaped rectangular parallelepiped shape extending in the vertical direction. Specifically, the drive unit housing 40 has a dimension in the Z-axis direction longer than the dimension in the X-axis direction and a dimension in the X-axis direction longer than the dimension in the Y-axis direction. That is, the drive unit housing 40 has the smallest dimensions in the stacking direction (Y-axis direction) of the actuator 1. A connector 41 including a power supply, a signal line, and the like for driving the rotary motor 20 and the linear motor 30 is connected to the upper end surface 40c of the drive unit housing 40 in the Z-axis direction. Further, the cartridge housing 60 of the cartridge unit 3 is detachably fixed to the side end surface 40b of the drive unit housing 40 in the X-axis direction.

The cartridge housing 60 has a plate-shaped rectangular parallelepiped shape extending in the vertical direction, similarly to the drive unit housing 40. The cartridge housing 60 has a dimension in the Z-axis direction shorter than the dimension in the Z-axis direction of the drive unit housing 40, but like the drive unit housing 40, the dimension in the Z-axis direction is longer than the dimension in the X-axis direction. The axial dimension is longer than the Y-axis dimension. That is, the cartridge housing 60 has the smallest dimensions in the stacking direction (Y-axis direction) of the actuator 1. The dimension of the cartridge housing 60 in the Y-axis direction is equal to or less than the dimension of the drive unit housing 40 in the Y-axis direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pneumatic device 61 is housed inside the cartridge housing 60. The pneumatic device 61 has a plurality of solenoid valves (described later) (not shown), and sucks air from the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 through the hollow hole 11 and discharges air for attaching / detaching the work W. It is designed to control vacuum breakage and the like. The pneumatic device 61 is connected to the air connector 62 provided on the upper end surface 60c of the cartridge housing 60 in the Z-axis direction, and the air tube connector 63 provided on the lower end surface 60a of the cartridge housing 60 in the Z-axis direction. Is connected to. The air connector 62 is connected to a pump (not shown) that sucks air, and the air tube connector 63 is connected to an air tube connection hole 51 provided in the shaft housing 50 via the air tube 64.

In the pneumatic device 61 having the above configuration, at least a part of the pneumatic device 61 overlaps the power transmission region A in which the drive unit (rotary motor 20 and the linear motor 30) transmits power to the shaft 10 in the axial direction of the shaft 10. It is placed in position. The power transmission region A is a region on the axis O of the shaft 10 in which power is transmitted from the drive unit (rotary motor 20 and the linear motor 30) to the shaft 10, and specifically, the rotary motor. It refers to the area A1 in which the spline nut (rotor) of 20 is arranged and the areas A2 and A3 in which the connecting arm 36 is connected to the shaft 10. The pneumatic device 61 of the present embodiment is arranged in parallel with the rotary motor 20 and the linear motion motor 30 in the axial direction of the shaft 10, and the distance from the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 is the power transmission region A1 of the rotary motor 20. It is almost the same as the distance to.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the shaft housing 50 according to the embodiment of the present invention along the axial direction.
As shown in FIG. 3, the shaft 10 is slidably inserted into the shaft housing 50. The shaft housing 50 is provided with an air tube connection hole 51 and an internal space 52 that communicates with the air tube connection hole 51 and surrounds the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10.

The shaft housing 50 includes a housing body 53, a pair of lids 54, a seal 55, and a sliding ring 56. The housing body 53 is a tubular body provided with a through hole 53a. An air tube connection hole 51 communicates with the through hole 53a in the radial direction thereof. The air tube connection hole 51 is provided in the central portion of the housing body 53 in the longitudinal direction (Z-axis direction), and communicates the inside and outside of the housing body 53.

The pair of lids 54 close the openings at both ends of the housing body 53 to form an internal space 52. The openings at both ends of the housing body 53 are provided with an annular stepped groove 53b having a diameter larger than that of the through hole 53a. On the other hand, the lid 54 is provided with an annular fitting projection 54b that fits into the stepped groove 53b. A through hole 54a through which the shaft 10 is inserted is provided in the central portion of the lid 54 so as to penetrate the fitting projection 54b. The pair of lids 54 are fitted to the openings at both ends of the housing body 53 by fitting protrusions 54b, and are fixed to the housing body 53 by bolts or the like (not shown).

The seal body 55 is interposed between the housing body 53 and the pair of lids 54, and airtightly seals the gap between the two. The seal body 55 of the present embodiment is an annular O-ring, is arranged in the stepped groove 53b of the housing body 53, and is crushed in the axial direction (Z-axis direction) by the fitting projection 54b of the lid body 54. A sliding ring 56 is provided on the inner diameter side of the seal body 55. The sliding ring 56 slidably supports the shaft 10, and when the seal body 55 is crushed in the axial direction, the sliding ring 56 is pressed against the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10. As a result, air leakage from the gap between the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10 and the sliding ring 56 is suppressed.

A communication hole 12 that communicates with the hollow hole 11 is provided on the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10 surrounded by the internal space 52 of the shaft housing 50. The communication holes 12 penetrate the shaft 10 in a cross direction in the radial direction, and have four openings on the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10. The number of communication holes 12 may be one. The hollow hole 11 does not penetrate the shaft 10 in the axial direction, and extends axially from the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 to the position where the communication hole 12 is provided. As a result, the hollow hole 11 communicates with the internal space 52 via the communication hole 12, and further communicates with the air tube connection hole 51 via the internal space 52.

The internal space 52 of the shaft housing 50 is a cylindrical space that is one size larger than the outer diameter of the shaft 10. That is, in the internal space 52 of the housing body 53, a gap is formed between the through hole 53a of the housing body 53 and the outer peripheral surface 10a of the shaft 10. The internal space 52 has a length L equal to or greater than the stroke S of the shaft 10 by the linear motor 30 (see FIG. 2) in the axial direction of the shaft 10. That is, the communication hole 12 and the internal space 52 communicate with each other in the entire range of the stroke S of the shaft 10. The stroke S of the shaft 10 can be set by a stopper (not shown) provided inside the drive unit housing 40.

According to this configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, even if the shaft 10 moves in the axial direction, the communication state between the internal space 52 and the communication hole 12 is maintained, so that the shaft 10 is provided at the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10. A negative pressure can be generated in the hollow hole 11. Further, according to this configuration, even if the shaft 10 rotates around the axis O, the communication state between the internal space 52 and the communication hole 12 is maintained, so that the hollow hole 11 provided in the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 is maintained. A negative pressure is generated in the work W, whereby the work W can be picked up.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing a state when the cartridge portion 3 is mounted on the actuator main body 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an internal configuration diagram of the cartridge unit 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 4, the cartridge portion 3 can be attached to and detached from the actuator main body 2 in the X-axis direction orthogonal to the axial direction (Z-axis direction) of the shaft 10 and the stacking direction (Y-axis direction) of the actuator 1. It is provided.

A wiring jack 70 is provided on the side end surface 40b of the drive unit housing 40 in the X-axis direction. The wiring plug 71 (connector) of the cartridge unit 3 shown in FIG. 5 is connected to the wiring jack 70. The wiring plug 71 is provided on the side end surface 60b of the cartridge housing 60 facing the side end surface 40b of the drive unit housing 40. As shown in FIG. 5, the wiring plug 71 is electrically connected to a plurality of solenoid valves 65 constituting the pneumatic device 61.

The plurality of solenoid valves 65 are operated by the electric power and the control signal supplied from the actuator main body 2. That is, the plurality of solenoid valves 65 are operated by a driver that drives the rotary motor 20 and the linear motor 30. The plurality of solenoid valves 65 may be configured to be operated by a higher-level control device and a power supply (not shown) connected to the connector 41 (see FIG. 4).

As shown in FIG. 5, the plurality of solenoid valves 65 are connected to the manifold 67. A plurality of flow paths are connected to the manifold 67, and when the solenoid valve 65a is opened, the air connector 62 communicates with the air tube 64 via the air filter 68. As a result, the air in the air tube 64 is pulled, and a negative pressure is generated. The solenoid valve 65a is for suction control.

When the solenoid valve 65b connected to the manifold 67 is opened, air outside the pneumatic system flows into the manifold 67, destroying the vacuum inside the air tube 64. The solenoid valve 65b is for vacuum breaking.
In order to increase the tact of the pick-and-place operation, another air connector 62 for pushing air may be connected to the manifold 67 and opened / closed controlled by a vacuum breaking solenoid valve 65b. Further, when considering the high tact of the pick and place operation, the air connector 62 may be one and the solenoid valve 65 may be one for suction control.

The air filter 68 is detachably connected to the manifold 67. The air filter 68 is housed inside the cartridge housing 60 together with the solenoid valve 65 and the manifold 67. Even if the cartridge housing 60 contains a regulator for setting pressure, an ejector for generating a vacuum, a silencer for preventing noise when discharging air, and various other sensors for control such as a pressure sensor and a flow rate sensor. good.

As shown in FIG. 4, since the cartridge housing 60 is attached to the side end surface 40b of the drive unit housing 40, a fixing portion (for example, snap fit, bolt, etc.) (for example, snap fit, bolt, etc.) for fixing the cartridge portion 3 to the actuator main body 2 is used. The portion to be fixed) is preferably arranged so as not to protrude in the stacking direction (Y-axis direction) of the actuator 1. For example, the fixed portion is extended from the lower end surface 60a of the cartridge housing 60 to the lower end surface 40a of the drive unit housing 40 and bolted, and the fixed portion is extended upward from the upper end of the side end surface 60b of the cartridge housing 60 to form the drive unit housing 40. It may be bolted to the side end surface 40b.

According to the actuator 1 having the above configuration, the pneumatic device 61 for controlling the pneumatic pressure of the hollow hole 11 provided in the shaft 10 is detachably provided with respect to the actuator main body 2 as shown in FIG. It is housed in part 3. According to this configuration, the pneumatic device 61 including consumables such as the solenoid valve 65 and the air filter 68 can be easily separated from the actuator main body 2 without removing the drive unit (rotary motor 20 or linear motor 30) or the like. , Can be replaced. By collectively forming the pneumatic device 61 into a cartridge in this way, the periodic maintenance work of the pneumatic device 61 can be easily and quickly completed. Therefore, the time for stopping the actuator 1 and the actuator unit 100 is shortened, and the operating rate of the device is increased.

Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a power transmission region A in which the drive unit transmits power to the shaft 10 is provided on the axis O of the shaft 10, and the pneumatic device 61 is provided with the pneumatic device 61. , Is arranged at a position overlapping with at least a part of the power transmission region A in the axial direction along the axis O of the shaft 10. According to this configuration, the path from the pneumatic device 61 (specifically, the solenoid valve 65) to the hollow hole 11 of the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 can be shortened, and the volume of air in the path can be reduced. , The time from the opening of the solenoid valve 65 to the generation of negative pressure can be shortened, and high tact of the pick-and-place operation can be realized.

If the pneumatic device 61 is incorporated in the actuator main body 2, the pneumatic device 61 must be arranged on the axis O of the shaft 10 or in the vicinity of the shaft 10 due to the limitation of the installation space. In this case, it becomes difficult to arrange the pneumatic device 61 so as to overlap a part of the power transmission area A, and the distance of the shaft 10 from the tip portion 10A differs between the pneumatic device 61 and the power transmission area A. It will be (before and after). For example, when the pneumatic device 61 is arranged behind (far) from the power transmission region A3 with respect to the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10, the air path from the tip portion 10A to the solenoid valve 65 becomes long, as described above. High tact becomes difficult. On the other hand, when the power transmission region A2 is arranged behind (far) from the pneumatic device 61 with respect to the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10, the distance from the tip portion 10A to the power transmission region A2 becomes longer, and the shaft 10 Axial straightness and runout accuracy deteriorate. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the distances to the pneumatic device 61 and the power transmission region A with respect to the tip portion 10A of the shaft 10 are substantially the same, so that the tact is increased and the shaft 10 is increased. It is possible to improve both the axial straightness and the runout accuracy.

Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, since the cartridge unit 3 is provided with the wiring plug 71 for electrically connecting the solenoid valve 65 and the actuator main body 2, wiring can be saved. The installation work of the pneumatic device 61 can be performed easily and in a short time.
Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the cartridge portion 3 is the actuator main body in the X-axis direction orthogonal to the axial direction (Z-axis direction) of the shaft 10 and the stacking direction (Y-axis direction) of the actuator 1. Since the actuators 1 are detachably provided with respect to 2, the pneumatic device 61 can be mounted without removing the other actuator 1 from the fixed surface (not shown) of the actuator unit 100 even in the form of stacking the actuators 1. It can be replaced.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the actuator main body 2 provided with the drive unit (rotary motor 20 and the linear motor 30) for driving the shaft 10 and the hollow hole 11 provided in the shaft 10 are emptied. By adopting a configuration in which the pneumatic device 61 has a pneumatic device 61 for controlling the pressure, and the pneumatic device 61 is housed in a cartridge unit 3 detachably provided with respect to the actuator main body 2, the pneumatic device 61 is emptied. It is possible to obtain the actuator 1 and the actuator unit 100 in which the periodic maintenance work of the pressure device 61 can be easily and quickly completed and the operating rate of the device is high.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The various shapes and combinations of the constituent members shown in the above-described embodiment are examples, and can be variously changed based on design requirements and the like within a range that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the configuration in which the actuator 1 has the rotary motor 20 and the linear motion motor 30 has been illustrated, but the actuator 1 may have only the rotary motor 20 or the actuator 1 may have the linear motion motor 30. It may be a configuration having only.

Further, in the above embodiment, the configuration in which the rotary motor 20 rotates the shaft 10 via the spline nut is illustrated, but for example, the rotary motor 20 may be configured to rotate the shaft 10 via the belt and the pulley. .. In this case, the pulley fixed to the shaft 10 becomes the power transmission region A.

Further, for example, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the actuator 1 that picks and places the work W, but for example, the present invention can be applied to other pneumatic actuators.

1 ... Actuator, 2 ... Actuator body, 3 ... Cartridge part, 10 ... Shaft, 11 ... Hollow hole, 20 ... Rotating motor (drive part), 30 ... Linear motor (drive part), 40 ... Drive part housing, 60 ... Cartridge housing, 61 ... Pneumatic equipment, 65 ... Solenoid valve, 67 ... Manifold, 68 ... Air filter, 71 ... Wiring plug (connector), 100 ... Actuator unit, A ... Power transmission area, O ... Axis

Claims (4)

The actuator body provided with the drive unit that drives the shaft, and
It has a pneumatic device that controls the pneumatic pressure of the hollow hole provided in the shaft.
The pneumatic device is housed in a cartridge portion that is detachably provided with respect to the actuator body .
A power transmission region in which the drive unit transmits power to the shaft is provided on the axis of the shaft.
An actuator characterized in that the pneumatic device is arranged at a position overlapping with at least a part of the power transmission region in an axial direction along an axis of the shaft . The pneumatic device includes a solenoid valve.
The actuator according to claim 1 , wherein the cartridge portion is provided with a connector for electrically connecting the solenoid valve and the actuator main body. The actuator according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the pneumatic device includes at least one of a solenoid valve and an air filter. A plurality of actuators according to any one of claims 1 to 3 are stacked in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft.
An actuator unit characterized in that the cartridge portion is detachably provided with respect to the actuator main body in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft and the stacking direction of the actuator.

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