JP7807223B2 - Guide Mechanism - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a guide roller and guide mechanism used when connecting pipe materials using threaded joints.

Rods, pipes, and other tubular materials that are connected with threaded joints are generally used at construction sites and other locations by adding the required number of pieces one by one.

Connecting pipes using such threaded joints requires rotating the pipes. Lightweight pipes can be easily connected by manually supporting and rotating them, but it is difficult to support and rotate heavy pipes manually. Therefore, connections are made by, for example, using equipment to lift the pipes and then rotating them (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-319776

When connecting pipes, the pipes must be rotated while their axes are aligned. For lightweight or flexible pipes, even if the axes are slightly misaligned, the axes can be naturally aligned by screwing the ends of the pipes together. However, for heavy pipes, it is difficult to align the axes using this method, and the connections must be made with the axes precisely aligned.

However, lifting pipes and rotating them while aligning their axes, as has been done in the past, is a difficult task as the pipes are prone to shaking, tilting, and misalignment, and this task is particularly difficult when using heavy pipes. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a mechanism that makes it easy to connect pipes by aligning the axes of pipes using threaded joints and rotating the pipes.

The present invention aims to solve these problems by providing a guide roller and a guide mechanism equipped with such a guide roller that allows pipes to be easily connected by aligning their axes and rotating them.

The present invention is a guide mechanism comprising: a main body; a rotating roller provided on the upper part of the main body, on which a pipe material can be placed in a first direction and which can rotate circumferentially; and a moving roller provided on the lower part of the main body , which allows the main body to move in the first direction; and a rail member that houses the guide roller and allows the guide roller to move in the first direction while restricting movement in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the rail member comprises a long, plate-shaped web that extends in the first direction and supports the moving roller from below, and a pair of flanges that extend upward from both edges of the web in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the moving roller is positioned inside the main body relative to a pair of outer surfaces of the lower part in the direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the main body is housed between the pair of flanges so that the flanges face the outer surface.

In the above invention, it is preferable that the main body has a mounting recess with an arc-shaped cross section, and the rotation roller is provided so as to protrude into the mounting recess.

In the above invention, the rail member is preferably an H-section steel including a portion where the flange is erected downward from the web .

The guide rollers and guide mechanism of the present invention make it easy to align and rotate the axes of pipes, making it easy to connect pipes together.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a guide roller according to the embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the guide roller shown in FIG. 1 taken along line AA. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a guide mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a side view showing a state in which a tubular material is placed on a guide mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a side view showing how pipes are connected by a guide mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of a guide roller according to the present invention and a guide mechanism using the same will be described.

Figure 1 is a front view showing a guide roller 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the guide roller 1 shown in Figure 1 taken along line A-A.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the guide roller 1 is an auxiliary tool used to assist in connecting primarily cylindrical tubular materials, such as rods and pipes that are connected using threaded joints. It comprises a main body 2, a rotation roller 3 attached to the top of the main body 2 (upper part of the paper in Figures 1 and 2), and a movement roller 4 attached to the bottom of the main body 2.

The main body 2 is a metal member with a roughly rectangular outer shape. The upper part of the main body 2 is formed with a mounting recess 21, the inner surface of which is an arc-shaped groove. Furthermore, the main body 2 is appropriately formed with cutouts 22 to reduce weight, but to the extent that the strength of the main body 2 is not compromised.

The rotating rollers 3 are cylindrical roller members made of metal, and in this embodiment, a pair of rotating rollers 3 are provided protruding from opposite positions on the inner circumferential surface of the mounting recess 21. The rotating rollers 3 have a rotating shaft 31, which is inserted into and rotatably supported in a hole 23 formed in the main body 2, thereby rotatably attaching the rotating rollers 3 to the main body 2. A tubular material can be placed on the rotating rollers 3 facing in a first direction (the left-right direction on the paper in Figure 2), and the tubular material can be rotated in its circumferential direction.

Here, the rotating roller 3 is located within a mounting recess 21, the inner surface of which is an arc-shaped groove, allowing the tube material to be stably placed on the rotating roller 3.

The transfer rollers 4 are disk-shaped wheel members made of metal, and in this embodiment, four transfer rollers 4 are provided at the bottom of the main body 2 (below the paper surface of Figures 1 and 2). The transfer rollers 4 have a rotation shaft 41, which is inserted into and rotatably supported in a hole 24 formed in the main body 2, thereby rotatably attaching the transfer rollers 4 to the main body 2. The transfer rollers 4 are movable along the first direction, i.e., the extension direction of the tubular material placed on the guide roller 1, within the main body 2.

By using two or more guide rollers 1 with the above-described configuration per pipe, the pipes can be easily brought close to each other and rotated, making it easy to connect pipes using threaded joints.

However, when using only guide rollers 1, it is necessary to position multiple guide rollers 1 so that they are on the same line of movement in order to align the axes of the pipes. Therefore, it is preferable to use a positioning mechanism to facilitate this positioning. Next, we will explain the guide rollers 1 and the guide mechanism equipped with rail members that position the guide rollers 1.

Figure 3 is a front view showing the guide mechanism 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 3, the guide mechanism 10 includes the above-mentioned guide roller 1 and a rail member 5 that accommodates the guide roller 1 so that it can move in the front-to-rear direction (direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in Figure 3).

The rail member 5 is a member that allows movement of the guide roller 1 in a first direction while restricting movement in a direction perpendicular to the first direction. In this embodiment, it is formed from an H-shaped steel beam having a long plate-shaped web 51 and flanges 52 extending up and down (up and down on the plane of the paper in Figure 3) from opposing edges along the longitudinal direction of the web 51.

The distance between the flanges 52 of the rail member 5 is a distance that allows the guide rollers 1 to be accommodated so that they can move along the web 51 in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, the height of the flanges 52 rising from the web 51 is such that at least a portion of the rotation roller 3 of the guide roller 1 accommodated inside the rail member 5 is exposed to the outside from the flanges 52.

By using this rail member 5, the guide rollers 1 housed inside can be allowed to move in a first direction while movement in a direction perpendicular to the first direction is restricted by the flange 52, allowing multiple guide rollers 1 to be positioned on their movement lines and aligned in a row.

Next, we will explain how to connect pipe materials using the above-mentioned guide mechanism 10. Figure 4 is a side view showing a state in which pipe materials are placed on the guide mechanism 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a side view showing how pipe materials 7 are connected using the guide mechanism 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the guide mechanism 10 is composed of a rail member 5 and multiple guide rollers 1 on the rail member 5 (in the example shown in Figures 4 and 5, there are two guide rollers 1 per pipe 7, for a total of four guide rollers 1). Note that, in this example, legs 6 are attached to the rail member 5 to make it easier for workers to work, but these legs 6 are not a required component of the present invention.

Two pipes 7 are placed on this guide mechanism 10. One end of the pipes 7 has a nipple joint 71, which is a male thread, and the other end has a socket joint 72, which is a female thread.

The worker moves one of the two pipes 7 closer to the other. This movement of the pipes 7 can be easily performed by the guide rollers 1 moving on the rail members 5.

Then, after the state shown in Figure 4 changes to the state shown in Figure 5, i.e., when the ends of the pipes 7 are in contact with each other, the pipes 7 are rotated on the guide rollers 1 to thread the nipple fitting 71 of one pipe 7 into the socket fitting 72 of the other pipe. This rotation of the pipes 7 can be easily accomplished by the presence of the rotating rollers 3. Then, once the nipple fitting 71 and socket fitting 72 are threaded together, the connection of the two pipes 7 is complete.

The guide roller 1 and guide mechanism 10 according to the embodiment described above make it easy to align and rotate the axes of pipes, making it easy to connect pipes together.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be adopted.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, two rotation rollers 3 are provided for one guide roller 1, but in the present invention, any number of rotation rollers 3 can be provided as long as the tube material 7 can be placed on them.

Furthermore, while four movement rollers 4 are provided for one guide roller 1, in the present invention any number of movement rollers 4 can be provided as long as the main body 2 is movable.

1: Guide roller 2: Main body 3: Rotation roller 4: Movement roller 5: Rail member 6: Leg 7: Pipe material 71: Nipple joint 72: Socket joint

Claims (3)

a main body;
a rotating roller that is provided on an upper portion of the main body, on which a tube material can be placed facing a first direction, and that can rotate in a circumferential direction;
a movement roller provided at a lower portion of the main body portion to enable the main body portion to move in the first direction;
a guide roller comprising :
a rail member that houses the guide roller and allows the guide roller to move in the first direction while restricting movement of the guide roller in a direction perpendicular to the first direction;
Equipped with
the rail member includes a long plate-shaped web extending in the first direction and receiving the transfer roller from below, and a pair of flanges erected upward from both edge portions of the web in a direction perpendicular to the first direction,
the movement rollers are disposed inside the main body portion with respect to a pair of outer surfaces of the lower portion in a direction perpendicular to the first direction,
The guide mechanism is characterized in that the main body portion is housed between a pair of the flanges so that the flanges face the outer surface . 2. The guide mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the main body has a mounting recess whose inner circumferential surface is an arc-shaped groove, and the rotation roller is provided so as to protrude into the mounting recess. 2. The guide mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein the rail member is an H-beam including a portion where the flange is erected downward from the web .