JPH0546309B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an improvement in a braided structure covering the outer periphery of an elastic contractile body. (Prior technology) Manipulators (magic hands), which were developed in recent years for the purpose of protection from dangerous work, have been used in a wide range of applications, including the replacement of manual work, with the subsequent development of robot technology and the idea of energy saving and high productivity. As is well known, it is currently being expanded. It is no exaggeration to say that an important point in the development of such robot technology is how to obtain an excellent actuator as an operating part of a manipulator or the like. In fact, various actuators for manipulators have been proposed and put into practical use, but each of them has some problems. Therefore, the applicant has previously developed an elastic contractile body, which is a new air bag type pneumatic actuator that improves these problems, and has filed a patent application. [Patent application 1984-71404, patent application 1987-160544]. This air bag type pneumatic actuator consists of a tubular body made of rubber or a rubber-like elastic material, and a braided structure that covers the outer periphery of this tubular body. It has a structure that contracts in the axial direction as it expands in the radial direction due to pantograph movement, and the contraction force generated at this time moves a member or device (such as a robot joint) connected to the actuator. It is becoming. In this case, the braided structure and the tubular body are not connected to each other in order to prevent resistance to changes in the diameter of the inner cylinder. Such an elastic contractile body is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, 1 is a tubular body made of rubber or a rubber-like elastic body, 2 is a braided structure provided on its outer periphery, 3 is a closing member at both ends, and 4 is a caulking cap. The closing member 3 is tightly attached to both end openings of the tubular body 1.
It consists of a nipple 5 for sealing and bonding, which can preferably use an adhesive, a flange 6 for positioning, and an eye or clevis end 7 with a connecting pin hole. A tubular protrusion 8 for preventing slipping off is provided which forms a gentle taper in the direction of , together with a steep taper in the opposite direction. One of the closure members 3 is connected at least on one side to the internal cavity 1 of the tubular body 1 via a hole 9 formed in the lengthwise direction of the nipple 5.
A connecting hole 11 communicating with 0 is made and a fitting 12 is attached thereto. The caulking cap 4 engages with the flange 6 and covers the outer periphery of the end of the tubular body 1, and is made of a cylindrical metal piece with a flare 13 formed on the edge, and is locally pressed in the radial direction toward the nipple 5 to close it. Part 3
is sealed and bonded to the tubular body 1. By connecting an air compressor as an external operating pressure source to the elastic contracting body having such a structure through a conduit including a three-way valve, and applying a control pressure within the internal cavity 10 of the tubular body 1, Braided structure 2
The expansion of the braid angle θ _p to θ _x , that is, the expansion diameter of the tubular body 1 due to the pantograph movement, and the resulting contraction in the axial direction, that is, the distance between the connecting pin holes of the closing member 3 is reduced. (Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in such conventional elastic contracting bodies, the cord of the braided structure is made of a multifilament twisted cord in order to prevent the braided structure from becoming loose. Since unevenness is formed on the surface, it is less likely that the intersection points of the cords will be misaligned, but if the yarn that makes up the cord is made of chemical fiber, the yarn itself has a smooth surface, so it can be twisted only. It is difficult to completely prevent the movement of the intersection points of the cords, and some knitting misalignment occurs due to the movement of the intersection points of the cords.If such knitting misalignment occurs when the elastic contractile body is inflated, the contractile force of the elastic contractile body decreases. There was a problem with that. (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has been made to solve the problems with the conventional elastic contractile bodies, and the elastic contracture bodies of the present invention are made of rubber or rubber-like elastic bodies. An elastic shrinkable body having a braided structure covering the outer periphery of a tubular body, and an end closing member sealing both ends of the tubular body and the braided structure, wherein the braided structure is impregnated with a resin and cured to form a multifilament strand. It is characterized by being created using code. (Function) According to this configuration, since the resin adheres to the surface of the thread, the surface of the thread becomes uneven, and the threads of the multifilament cord are bonded together, so the circular cross section of the cord is maintained, and the rigidity of the cord is improved. This makes it less likely that the intersections of comrades will be misaligned. (Example) The elastic contractile body of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 21 is a tubular body made of rubber or a rubber-like elastic body, 22 is a braided structure provided on its outer periphery, 23 is a closing member at both ends, and 24 is a caulking cap. The braided structure 22 is made of a multifilament twisted cord, impregnated with resin by dipping treatment, and then thermally cured. Examples of resin liquids used in this dipping treatment include acrylic esters, melamine resins, and resorcinol formaldehyde latex. The impregnated cord is taken out and placed at a temperature of 100 to 200°C for heat treatment.
The closing member 23 has nipples 25 for sealing tightly at both end openings of the tubular body 21, preferably using an adhesive, and a flange 2 for positioning.
6, and an eye or clevis end 27 with a connecting pin hole, and on the outer periphery of the nipple 25,
Tubular protrusion 2 for preventing slipping, forming a gentle taper toward the tip with a steep taper in the opposite direction.
8 will be provided. One of the closing members 23 is bored on at least one side with a connecting hole 31 which communicates with the internal cavity 30 of the tubular body 21 through a hole 29 formed in the lengthwise direction of the nipple 25, in which a fitting 32 is mounted. The caulking cap 24 engages with the flange 26 and covers the outer periphery of the end of the tubular body 21, and is made of a cylindrical metal piece with a flare 33 formed at the end edge.
The closure member 23 is sealingly bonded to the tubular body 21 by applying local pressure in the radial direction towards the nipple 25 . The operation of this elastic contracting body is performed by connecting an air compressor as an external operating pressure source through a conduit including a three-way valve, and applying control pressure to the internal cavity 30 of the tubular body 21, as in the conventional example described above. By this, the braid angle θ _p of the braided structure 22 is expanded to θ _x , that is,
The pantograph movement causes the expanded diameter of the tubular body 21 and the resulting contraction in the axial direction, that is, the distance between the connecting pin holes of the closing member 23, and this contraction force drives a predetermined member. During this contraction operation, the cord is impregnated with resin and cured in this elastic contracting body, which increases the frictional force on the surface of the cord, and the threads of the multifilament cord are bonded together, so the circular cross section of the cord is maintained. The rigidity is improved, the intersection points of the cords are less likely to shift, and the knitting is less likely to occur, so there is no output loss due to the knitting of the elastic contractile body, and the output is increased. Next, FIG. 2 and Tables 1 to 3 show comparative examples of the elastic contracting body of the present invention and conventional elastic contracting bodies. The elastic contractile body used in the experiment had a diameter of 14 mm and a length of
For a 200 mm model, Figure 2 and Table 1 show the contraction force obtained by applying an internal pressure of 4 Kg/cm ² to the elastic contract body and holding it at every 5% until the elastic contract body has contracted by ~20% over its entire length. It shows. Table 2 shows the change in pitch length during one round of one cord of the braided structure, and Table 3 shows the change in the outer diameter of the elastic contraction body.

【table】

【table】

[Table] As described above, although the pitch and change in outer diameter during deformation are almost the same between the present invention and the conventional example, there is a marked difference in shrinkage force. This indicates that the contractile force decreases when the intersection points of the pantographs of the braided structure shift or when the cords of the braided structure slip on the surface of the tubular body. (Effects) As detailed above, since the elastic contractile body of the present invention has a structure in which the braided structure is made of multifilament twisted cords impregnated with resin and hardened, the shift of the intersection points of the cords of the braided structure and the braided structure It is possible to prevent the body from slipping on the surface of the tubular body, reduce output loss during deformation of the elastic contractile body, and increase contractile force.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of an embodiment of the elastic contracting body of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram comparing the contractile forces of the elastic contracting body of the present invention and a conventional elastic contracting body, and FIG. 3 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of an example of a conventional elastic contractile body. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tubular body, 2... Braided structure, 3... Closing member, 4... Caulking cap, 5... Nipple,
6... Flange, 7... Clevis end, 8... Annular protrusion, 9... Hole, 10... Internal cavity, 11... Connection hole, 12... Fitting, 13... Flare, 21... Tubular body , 22...braided structure, 23
...Closing member, 24...Clinching cap, 25...
... Nipple, 26 ... Flange, 27 ... Clevis end, 28 ... Annular protrusion, 29 ... Hole, 30 ...
Internal cavity, 31... Connection hole, 32... Fitting, 33... Flare.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an elastic contractile body having a tubular body made of rubber or a rubber-like elastic body, a braided structure covering the outer periphery of the tubular body, and an end closing member closing both ends of the tubular body and the braided structure, the braided An elastic contractile body characterized in that the structure is made of a multifilament twisted cord impregnated with a resin and cured.