LINEAR BEARING

Abstract: The straight sliding bearing is provided with both a ball-and-roller bearing mechanism and a plain bearing mechanism and capable of the frictional resistance of a (1) with respect to a track base (2) by adjusting a clearance between the track base (2) and slide block (1) by a clearance adjusting means (6), whereby the contact pressure between the two surfaces constituting the plain bearing mechanism is regulated. Therefore, it is possible to give a rigidity in the axial direction as well of the track base (2) and improve the machining accuracy of a workpiece when this straight sliding bearing is used in a mechanical apparatus, such as a machine tool.

Description: The present invention relates to a linear bearing for linearly guiding a moving member to be slid in a machine tool such as a NC machine or a slide of an industrial robot. When a workpiece is to be machined by a machine tool, for example, loads accompanying the machining in various directions are generally exerted between the machine tool and the workpiece, depending upon the kind of machining, such as cutting or polishing, the material of the workpiece or the machining conditions. The loads act as reaction forces upon the machine tool and the workpiece. If the machine tool and the workpiece are completely fixed at the instant of machining, the machining can be ideally accomplished with a drastically improved precision. In the case of the machining of a workpiece using such a machine tool, one of the machine tool or the workpiece is fixed whereas the other is moved by means of a mechanism such as a linear bearing. Known from the prior art is FR-A-2546995, figure 14, which discloses the preamble of claim 1. Incidentally, the rigidity of the feeding drive system is determined, if the system is the feeder of screw and nut type, by the rigidity of the feed screw or nut itself, the rigidity of the support of the feed screw or nut, and the rigidity of the servo-motor for applying a rotating force to the feed screw. In order to increase the rigidity of the feeding drive system, it is necessary to enlarge the size of the feed screw or nut or to raise the driving force of the servo-motor. Thus, the increase in rigidity of the feeding drive system is intrinsically limited by the problems which are caused by increasing the size of the apparatus or by raising the cost for the feeding drive system. As various products are required to be the more precisely accurate in the industry of recent years, a machine apparatus such as the machine tool for machining the products is required to have its machining precision improved. Thus, a linear sliding bearing taking a leading role for the machining precision of the various machine apparatus is needed to improve the machining precision. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a linear bearing which can have not only the rigidities of four directions, i.e., the radial, inversely radial, rightward and leftward directions but also a predetermined rigidity in the axial direction of the track base. Another object of the present invention is to provide a linear bearing which can apply the rigidity in the axial direction of the track base, if necessary, and adjust the level of the rigidity. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a linear bearing which is equipped with a lock mechanism capable of fixing the bed in a target position when the bed is moved along the track base to that position. A further object of the present invention is to provide a linear bearing which facilitates high precision machining. Accordingly the present invention is characterised in that there is formed, between each of the leading ends of the inner sides of the skirts of the bed and each of the two sides of the track base facing the former, a sliding bearing mechanism which includes projecting and recessed portions having upper and lower sloping surfaces shaped to be fitted in a wedged manner; whereby the pressure of contact between the upper and lower sloping surfaces of the bed and the upper and lower sloping surfaces of the track base is adjustable by adjusting the spacing between the bed and the track base by the adjusting means. Thus, in the linear sliding bearing according to the present invention, a rolling bearing mechanism having a low sliding resistance is constituted by the load races of the bed, the races of the track base, and the rolling members rolling between these races, and a sliding bearing mechanism is constituted by the projecting and recessed portions in the lower portions of the bed and the track base and facing each other. By adjusting the spacing between the bed and the track base by the adjusting means, the pressure of contact between the surfaces of the projecting and recessed portions of the bed and the track base can be adjusted to give and adjust a rigidity to the rolling bearing mechanism and to adjust the sliding resistance of the sliding bearing mechanism thereby to give and adjust the rigidity in the axial direction of the track base. If necessary, moreover, the sliding bearing mechanism can act as a lock mechanism. In the present invention, the rolling members for rolling between the bed and the track base while bearing the loads may be exemplified by balls or rollers, but the former balls are preferable from the standpoint of smoothening the gap adjustment. In the sliding bearing mechanism to be formed between the leading ends of the inner sides of the skirts of the sliding bed and the two sides of the track base, moreover, the projecting portions or the recessed portions may be formed in either of the bed and the track base. From the standpoint of better smoothening the spacing adjustment, it is preferable that the leading ends of the inner sides of the skirts of the bed are formed with projecting portions of a generally trapezoidal section, whereas the two sides of the track base are formed with corresponding recessed portions. Still moreover, the adjusting means for adjusting the spacing between the bed and the track base may be the suspension or pressure mechanism which can apply a suspension or pressure and accordingly an elastic deformation to the central portion of the sliding bed to adjust the spacing between the sliding bed and the track base. The suspension or pressure mechanism may be specifically exemplified by forming a pair of mounting faces on the upper surface of the horizontal portion of the bed over and longitudinally of the two skirts of the bed, by mounting a table on the paired mounting faces by a plurality of fastening bolts to leave a predetermined gap between the upper surface of the horizontal portion and the lower side of the table and between the mounting faces, by equipping the table with adjusting bolts for applying suspending or pressing forces to the horizontal portion through the table at an intermediate position of the paired mounting faces, and by turning the adjusting bolts to elastically deform the horizontal portion of the bed thereby to adjust the spacing between the bed and the track base according to the elastic deformation. The adjusting bolts may be a suspending bolt to be fastened in a adjusting screw hole formed in an intermediate position of the horizontal portion of the bed, pressing bolts extending downward to abut against the intermediate position of the horizontal portion of the bed, or a combination of plural suspending and pressing bolts of which the suspending bolt is arranged between a pair of the pressing bolts along the intermediate position of the horizontal portion of the bed. An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 is a front elevation showing an embodiment of a linear bearing according to the present invention; Figs. 2 and 3 are a side elevation and a top plan view of the linear bearing of the embodiment of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a cut-away perspective view showing the linear bearing according to the embodiment; Fig. 5 is a section showing the state in which the linear bearing according to the embodiment is used; Fig. 6 is a section showing the bed of the linear bearing according to the embodiment; Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the track base of the linear bearing according to the embodiment; Fig. 8 is a section showing a portion in the state in which the projecting portion at the bed of the sliding bearing mechanism of the linear bearing according to the embodiment has no pressure of contact with the recessed portion of the track base; and Fig. 9 is a section showing a portion in the state in which the projecting portion at the bed of the sliding bearing mechanism of the linear bearing according to the embodiment has pressure of contact with the recessed portion of the track base. A linear sliding bearing B according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 9. This bearing B is constructed to comprise: a bed 1 of a generally inverted U-shaped section including a horizontal portion 1a and a pair of skirts 1b depending downward from the two ends of the horizontal portion 1a to leave a recess at the lower side; a track base 2 having its upper portion fitted in the recess of the bed 1 with a predetermined spacing inbetween; a pair of covers 3 attached to the front and rear end faces of the bed 1; and a number of balls 4 rolling between the bed 1 and the track base 2 while bearing the loads. The bed 1 is formed with an arcuately-curved load race 11, which is extended longitudinally along the root of the inner side of each of the skirts 1b, and a no-load ball hole 12 constituting a no-load track corresponding to the load race 11. On the other hand, the track base 2 is formed at its two shoulders with races 21 which correspond to the load races 11 of the bed 1. Moreover, each of the covers 3 is formed in its inner side with a guide groove for providing the communicating connections between the load races 11 of the bed 1 and the end portions of the no-load ball holes 12 to form an endless track. The aforementioned numerous balls 4 are circulated to roll in each of the endless tracks thereby to bear the loads between the load races 11 of the bed 1 and the races 21 of the track base 2. On the other hand, the inner side of each of the skirts 1b of the bed 1 is formed at its leading end with an inwardly projecting portion having a generally trapezoidal section composed of upper and lower surfaces 13, 14 sloping toward each other. Moreover, the track base 2 is formed at each of its two sides with a corresponding recess portion which is composed of upper and lower surfaces 22,23 matching the aforementioned trapezoidal portion. These portions are fitted in such a wedged manner to constitute a sliding bearing mechanism with their upper and lower sloping surfaces facing each other. As shown in Fig. 5, moreover, there is interposed, between the bed 1 and the table T to be mounted on the upper surface of the bed 1, spacing adjusting means for elastically deforming the horizontal portion 1a of the bed 1. Since the spacing between the sliding bed 1 and the track base 2 is adjusted by that means, the pressure of contact between the upper and lower surfaces 13 and 14 of the bed 1 and the corresponding surfaces 22 and 23 of the track base 2 can be accordingly adjusted. In this embodiment, the spacing adjusting means is constructed by forming a pair of mounting faces 15 on the upper surface of the horizontal portion 1a of the bed 1 in the longitudinal direction over the two skirts 1b, by mounting the table T to the mounting faces 15 by means of fastening bolts 5 while leaving a predetermined gap between the upper surface of the horizontal portion 1a and the lower side of the table T, by equipping the table T with an adjusting bolt or the suspending bolt 6 which is extended through the table T and fitted in an adjusting screw hole 16 formed in an intermediate position between the paired mounting faces 15, and by turning the suspending bolt 6 to apply the suspending force to the horizontal portion 1a of the bed 1 thereby to deform the horizontal portion 1a elastically so that the spacing between the bed 1 and the track base 2 may be adjusted according to the elastic deformation. Thus, according to the linear bearing B of the present embodiment, the pressure of contact between the upper and lower surfaces 13 and 14 of the bed 1 and the corresponding surfaces 22 and 23 of the track base 2 can be adjusted by turning the suspending bolt 6 which is fastened in the adjusting screw hole 16 of the bed 1, while the bed 1 is being assembled with the table T, as shown in Fig. 5. If, at this time, the suspending bolt 6 is loosened, the pressure of contact between the surfaces of the track base 2 and the bed 1 is dropped until it disappears, so that the bed 1 can slide on the track base 2 with a slight sliding resistance (as shown in Fig. 8). If, on the contrary, the suspending bolt 6 is fastened, the pressure of contact between the taper surfaces of the track base 2 and the bed 1 is raised to increase the frictional forces between the surfaces 13 and 14 of the bed 1 and the surfaces 22 and 23 of the track base 2 so that a high sliding resistance is exerted when the bed 1 moves on the track base 2 (as shown in Fig. 9). Thus, in the linear bearing B according to the present embodiment, the resistance of the bed 1 can be increased by fastening the gap adjusting bolt 6, to apply the rigidity of the axial direction of the track base 2 to the linear bearing B. In the linear bearing B of the present embodiment, moreover, the degree of fastening the adjusting bolt 6 can be suitably adjusted to apply the rigidity of the axial direction of the track base 2, if necessary, and to adjust the level of the rigidity at will. As has been described hereinbefore, according to the linear bearing of the present invention, the resistance when the bed moves on the track base can be adjusted to apply or adjust the rigidity of the axial direction of the track base, if necessary. Since, moreover, the sliding bearing mechanism is constructed of the projecting and recessed portions fitted in the wedged manner, the loads to be exerted in the radial or inversely radial direction upon the sliding bed can be auxiliarily borne. Especially when the impacting load of the radial direction is exerted upon the bed, the rolling members can be prevented from being broken while protecting the load races of the bed and the races of the track base. If necessary, a high pressure of contact can be applied between the surfaces of the bed and the surfaces of the track base by the adjusting means to exert an excessive resistance to the bed so that the bed can be continuously fixed in a portion on the track base, whereby the bearing mechanism can act as a lock mechanism.

Claims: A linear bearing comprising: a bed (1) having a section of generally inverted U-shape and including a horizontal portion (1a) and a pair of skirts (1b) depending downward from the two ends of the horizontal portion (1a) to form a recess at its lower side and formed in its inner sides with a pair of load races (11) extending longitudinally thereof and with relief rolling element tracks (12) corresponding to the load races (11); a track base (2) having its upper portion fitted in the recess of said bed (1), while maintaining a predetermined spacing between the upper portion of said track base (2) and the horizontal portion (1a) of said bed (1), and formed with rolling races (21) corresponding to said load races (11); there being interposed, between said bed (11) and a table (T) mounted on the upper surface of said bed, means (6) for adjusting said predetermined spacing which includes a suspension or pressure mechanism for elastically deforming the horizontal portion (1a) of said bed (1); a pair of covers (3) attached to the front and rear end faces of said bed (1) and formed in their inner sides with guide grooves for providing the communicating connections between the end portions of the load races (11) and the relief rolling element tracks (12) of said bed (1) to form endless rolling element tracks; and a multiplicity of rolling elements (4) circulating in said endless tracks to bear the loads between the load races (11) of said bed (1) and the rolling races (21) of said track base (2), wherein the load races (11) of said bed (1) are formed at the inner sides and at the roots of said skirts (1b); and the races (21) of said track base (2) corresponding to the load races (11) of said bed (1) are formed at the shoulders of said track base (2); characterised in that there is formed, between each of the leading ends of the inner sides of the skirts (1b) of said bed (1) and each of the two sides of the track base (2) facing the former, a sliding bearing mechanism which includes projecting and recessed portions having upper (13,22) and lower (14,23) sloping surfaces shaped to be fitted in a wedged manner; whereby the pressure of contact between the upper (13) and lower (14) sloping surfaces of said bed (1) and the upper (22) and the lower (23) sloping surfaces of said track base (2) is adjustable by adjusting the spacing between said bed (1) and said track base (2) by said adjusting means (6). A linear bearing as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bed (1) includes a projecting portion of a generally trapezoidal section having an upper sloping surface (13) and a lower sloping surface (14) at the leading end of the inner side of each of the skirts (1b) thereof, and wherein said track base (2) includes a recessed portion shaped to correspond to said projecting portion and to have corresponding sloping surfaces (22, 23) at each of the two sides thereof.

Inventors: TERAMACHI HIROSHI, TERAMACHI, HIROSHI
Applicants: THK CO LTD, THK CO. LTD.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: F16C29
IPC codes: F16C29