JPH0829511B2 - Straight-moving robot - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a linear motion robot having a slider whose movement in a linear direction is arbitrarily controlled. The linear motion robot can be configured as a linear motion transfer robot by attaching a manipulator to a portion exposed to the outside of the slider, for example. Also, by combining a pair of linear motion robots, an XY direction motion robot can be constructed.

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional linear motion robot. In this conventional example, an outer case a is composed of a frame b and an outer cover c, and a slider d is axially movably driven by a ball screw e. The main body i of the slider d is inside the exterior case a and is guided by the guide rails f, f, and the head g of the slider d is exposed to the outside through the gaps h provided in the exterior cover c. A manipulator is attached to the head g, or the head of another rectilinear motion robot is attached.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the above-mentioned conventional example, since the frame b of the outer case a is made of an extruded member having a cross-sectional shape and both upper end portions thereof are in a free state, rigidity and strength are improved. There is a problem of shortage. In order to solve this problem, a reinforcing member having rigidity and strength may be attached to both ends of the frame b in the axial direction, but the structure becomes complicated. Moreover, since the outer case a requires the outer cover c in addition to the frame b, there is a problem in that the structure becomes complicated also from this point. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example, there is a problem that it is difficult to make a compact structure because it is necessary to make the cross-sectional area wide in order to improve the rigidity and strength of the frame b.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an outer case formed by hollowing an axial long hole in a metal cylinder that is the same at any position in the axial direction of a cross section. A motor which is attached to one end opening of the outer case and whose rotational position is controlled; an end cap fitted and fixed to the other end opening of the outer case; A guide rail that extends in the axial direction, a slider that has a main body in an outer case and is guided by the guide rail so as to be movable in the axial direction, has a nut, and has a head exposed to the outside through the elongated hole. A linear motion robot is configured so that it has a screw shaft that is driven by the motor and has a tip end hindered by a bearing portion of the end cap and that is screwed into a nut portion of the slider. It is characterized by that.

Effect According to the present invention, the exterior case is formed as an integrally molded product that also serves as a frame and an exterior cover, and can be manufactured by extrusion molding at low cost. Further, the outer case is formed by hollowing a long hole in a metal cylinder, and both ends thereof maintain the cylindrical shape, so that rigidity and strength can be secured even though it can be formed in a compact shape.

Then, the motor and the end cap are attached to the end of the outer case, and the guide rail is provided inside the outer case,
A screw shaft driven by the motor and supported by a bearing portion of an end cap is screwed into a nut portion of a slider whose head is exposed to the outside through the elongated hole, and the slider is guided to the guide rail. Thus, it is possible to construct a compact straight-moving robot having a simple structure, ensuring rigidity and strength.

EXAMPLE The illustrated example of the present invention relates to an outer case 1 having a substantially circular cross-section outer diameter, and a metal cylinder 2 obtained by extruding the outer case 1 with an aluminum alloy.
In addition, the long hole 3 in the axial direction is hollowed out.

The outer case 1 has the same cross section at any position in the axial direction except for the elongated hole 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the internal space 4 is formed to have a substantially rectangular cross section, and the main body 6 of the slider 5 is accommodated in the internal space 4 so as to be axially movable. As described above, the outer shape of the outer case 1 is formed so as to have a substantially circular cross section, but at the portions located at the vertices of the four corners of the square, the fastening grooves 7a extending in the axial direction,
7b, 7c and 7d are integrally formed. The first fastening groove 7a and the second fastening groove 7b are located on both sides of the elongated hole 3, and the third fastening groove 7c and the fourth fastening groove 7d are respectively the second fastening groove 7b and the first fastening groove 7b. Is located below the fastening groove 7a. Further, concave grooves 8 are integrally formed on both side surfaces of the outer case 1 so as to extend in the axial direction, and one of the concave grooves 8 is provided with position detection sensors 9, 9 ... And a wiring (not shown) thereof. The both recessed grooves 8 and 8 are covered with the resin covers 11 and 11, but the locking groove 12 that locks the resin covers 11 and 11 has the outer case 1.
Is formed integrally with the.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a motor 17 having an engoder and having a controlled rotational position is attached to one end opening 13 of the outer case 1, and an output shaft 14 thereof is connected to a screw shaft 15. . The outer cover 16 of the motor 17 is formed to have an outer diameter substantially the same as that of the outer case 1, and covers the motor 17. The output shaft 14 of the motor 17 and the bases of the screw shafts 15 are rotatably supported by a bearing member 18 fitted and fixed to the one end opening 13 of the outer case 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an end cap 20 is fitted and fixed in the other end opening 19 of the outer case 1, and a bearing portion 21 provided in the end cap 20 serves to fix the screw shaft 15 The tip is rotatably supported.

A guide rail 22 extending in the axial direction is attached to the center of the inner bottom surface of the outer case 1. This guide rail 22
It is also possible to form it integrally with the outer case 1. On the other hand, the elongated hole 3 is located at the center of the top of the outer case 1, and the elongated hole 3 is sealed by a flexible seal 23. The flexible seal 23 is composed of a magnetic steel strip, and a pair of strip-shaped magnets 24, 24 (fifth magnet) embedded in the upper surfaces of both sides of the elongated hole 3 of the outer case 1 are used.
(Fig.), And the long hole 3 is sealed.

The main body portion 6 of the slider 5 is housed in the outer case 1, and the nut portion 25 of the main body portion 6 is screwed into the screw shaft 15 and
The bottom surface recess 26 is slidably fitted in the guide rail 22. As shown in FIG. 5, a circulating ball 27 is arranged in the threaded portion between the nut portion 25 and the screw shaft 15 to form a ball screw unit. Head of slider 5
28 is a T-shaped block with a cross section 29 and a cross-shaped block
And the lower portion 31 of the T-shaped block 29 is fixed to the main body portion 6, and the shaped block 30 is a T-shaped block 29.
It is fixed to the T-shaped block 29 so as to cover the upper part 32 of the. The lower part 31 of the T-shaped block 29 penetrates the elongated hole 3, and resin plates 33, 33 are fixed to both sides of the lower part 31 to reduce the sliding contact resistance with the elongated hole 3. A gap is formed between the upper surface of the upper portion 32 of the T-shaped block 29 and the corresponding surface of the shaped block 30 to form the seal insertion passage 10. This seal insertion passage 10 is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
The vertical cross section is formed in an arc shape, and this seal insertion passage 10
The flexible seal 23 that is inserted through is configured so that the deformed position can be smoothly moved as the slider 5 moves. The shaped block 30 is provided with screw holes 34, 34 for mounting a manipulator (not shown) or other linear motion robot.

The outer case 1 is usually shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
It is fixed by a pair of front and rear supports 35, 35. The support 35 includes a pair of fastening claws 36a, 36b that engage with the fastening grooves 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, and a fixed side fastening claw 36a is integrally formed on the support base 37, while a movable side fastening is performed. Support base 37
It is configured to be fastened using a bolt 38. FIG. 3 shows that the fixed-side fastening claw 36a is engaged with the fourth fastening groove 7d and the movable-side fastening claw 36b is engaged with the third fastening groove 7c so that the head portion 28 of the slider 5 faces upward. The outer case 1 is fixed on the support members 35, 35.

Since each fastening groove 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d is formed so as to be located at each vertex of a square on the cross section of the outer case, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to fix the outer case 1 on the supporting members 35, 35 so as to face it in the same manner as in the case shown in FIG. In this way, the mounting postures of the outer case 1 can be set to any one of the three postures in which the head 28 of the slider 5 faces upward, leftward, and rightward.
Can be arbitrarily used.

FIG. 7 shows a case where two linear motion robots A and B having the above configuration are combined to form an XY direction motion robot. The first straight-moving robot A is fixed as in the case shown in FIG. 4, and its slider 5 is controlled to move in the X direction. The second straight-moving robot B has a slider 5
Is set so that its head 28 faces downward, and this head 28 and the slider head 28 of the first rectilinear movement robot B are connected via a cross-shaped connecting plate 39. Therefore, the outer case 1 of the second rectilinear motion robot B moves in the Y direction with respect to the slider 5, and the movement is controlled. Therefore, for example, by attaching a manipulator to the end cap 20 of the second rectilinear motion robot B, an XY direction motion transfer robot or the like can be configured.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show examples in which the combination of the first rectilinear motion robot A and the second rectilinear motion robot B is different from that in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 8, a support tool 35 shown in FIG. 3 is attached to the slider head 28 of the first rectilinear motion robot A, and the support tool 35 is used for the second movement.
The outer case 1 of the straight-moving robot B is fixed, and in this case, the slider head 28 of the second straight-moving robot B faces upward. The example shown in FIG. 9 is different from the example shown in FIG. 8 in that the slider head 28 of the second rectilinear motion robot B faces sideways, but is the same as the others.

Next, the operation of the linear motion robot shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In FIG. 1, 40 is an operation board, a CPU, a memory,
A control box equipped with a motor driver and the like is connected to the motor 17 and the position detection sensors 9, 9 ... Then, the rotation of the motor 17 is controlled according to the NC data input to the control box 40. The rotation of the motor 17 is converted into the axial movement of the slider 5, and the position and speed of the slider 5 are controlled. .. perform overrun detection and origin position detection, and these detection signals are input to the control box 40. In addition, actually, control of the manipulator and the like is performed in parallel with the control of the slider 5, but the description thereof is omitted.

The flexible seal 23 that seals the elongated hole 3 of the outer case 1 is inserted into the seal insertion passage 10 of the slider 5 and is deformed into an arc shape at this portion. With the movement of the slider 5,
This arc-shaped deforming portion moves. The other portion of the flexible seal 23 is attracted to the pair of strip magnets 24, 24 to seal the elongated hole.

The present invention can be configured in various modes other than those shown in the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the outer case is configured by using a metal cylinder having a substantially circular cross-sectional outer shape, but the outer case may be configured by using a metal tube having a substantially square cross-sectional outer shape or a substantially rectangular shape. It is possible.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a compact linear motion robot that has a simple structure, rigidity and strength, and is incorporated into the outer case of the screw shaft through an end cap that supports the screw shaft. The effect that the centering can be performed easily and accurately with a little labor for fitting and fixing the end cap to the outer case is achieved.

It is also effective that the end cap also serves as a cover for the opening end of the outer case.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 9 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a partial vertical perspective view, FIG. 2 is a vertical side view, FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view, and FIG. 4 is an external perspective view. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part,
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the outer case is fixed to the support in a posture different from that of FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a pair of linear motion robots are used in combination, 8
FIG. 9 and FIG. 9 are partially cross-sectional side views showing a state in which a pair of straight-moving robots are used in combination, and FIG. 10 is a transverse sectional view of a conventional example. 1 …… Exterior case 2 …… Metal cylinder 3 …… Long hole 5 …… Slider 6 …… Main body 8 …… Concave groove 9 …… Position detection sensor 13 …… One end opening 15 …… Screw shaft 17 …… Motor 19 …… Opening on the other end 20 …… End cap 22 …… Guide rail 25 …… Nut 28… Head 40 …… Control box.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An outer case formed by hollowing out a long hole in the axial direction in a metal cylinder whose cross section is the same at any position in the axial direction, and attached to an opening at one end of the outer case so that the rotational position can be changed. The motor to be controlled, the end cap fitted and fixed to the other end opening of the outer case and provided with the bearing, the guide rail disposed inside the outer case and extending in the axial direction, and the main body being the outer case. And has a nut portion that is guided inside the guide rail so as to be movable in the axial direction,
A slider whose head is exposed to the outside through the elongated hole,
A linear motion robot which is driven by the motor and has a tip end supported by a bearing portion of an end cap, and a screw shaft screwed into a nut portion of the slider. 2. The rectilinear motion robot according to claim 1, wherein a groove is formed on a side surface of the outer case, and the position detection sensor and its wiring are housed in the groove.