JPH0227210Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a control cable with a sensor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a control cable with a sensor that can detect relative displacement between an inner cable and an outer casing.

[Conventional technology]

A control cable generally consists of an inner cable and an outer casing for slidably or rotatably guiding the inner cable.

The inner cable is composed of a single metal wire or a twisted wire made of metal, synthetic resin, or the like. Also used are toothed cables in which spiral teeth are provided around the core wire.

As the outer casing, flexible materials such as metal spiral tubes whose inner and outer peripheries are coated with synthetic resin or synthetic resin laminated tubes are used, but rigid metal tubes may also be used. be.

The control cable configured in this manner transmits the operation to the other end by pulling, pushing, pulling, or rotating one end of the inner cable. Operation can be divided into two types: those that transmit force accurately and those that primarily transmit an amount of operation accurately, but are usually used when obtaining an appropriate amount of operation with a certain range of force. Ru.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

By the way, since the inner cable and the outer casing are made of metal wires as described above, elastic elongation or permanent elongation occurs. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately control the amount of operation in the operation. In other words, even if a certain amount of operation (for example, a pulling operation of Lmm) is applied to one end of the inner cable, there is no guarantee that the same amount of movement (pulling Lmm into the outer casing) will occur at the other end, and there is usually some Contains errors.

For this reason, conventional control cables can only provide accurate operating amounts in certain cases, such as when the driven member is stopped by a stopper.
There is a problem in that the scope of its use is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a control cable that can accurately transmit a desired operation amount to a driven device in order to expand the scope of application of the conventional control cable.

[Means for solving problems]

The control cable with sensor of this invention is
an inner cable, an outer casing for slidably guiding the inner cable, a case connected to the driven side of the outer casing, and a case provided within the case so as to move in the axial direction together with the inner cable. A linear motion member, a rotary member rotatably provided in the case so as to engage with the linear motion member, and a sensor for detecting a rotation angle of the rotary member. It is a feature.

The above-mentioned engagement refers to a cooperative relationship in which the linear motion of a linearly moving member can be transmitted to the rotational motion of a rotating member without slipping, and includes sliding contact based on frictional force and meshing of teeth. This is a concept that includes everything such as tooth alignment. Furthermore, connection is a concept that includes not only direct connection but also indirect connection.

Furthermore, the term "outer casing" as used in the claims of the utility model registration includes not only the outer casing in the embodiments but also a guide pipe connected to one end of the outer casing.

[Effect]

In the present invention, when the inner cable moves, the linear motion member moves accordingly, causing the rotary member to rotate. By detecting the rotation angle of the rotating member with a sensor, the operated amount of the driven member can be accurately detected.

Further, since the rotating member is rotated by the linearly moving member on the driven side, the movement on the driven side can be detected without introducing any error, so the detection accuracy of the operated amount of the driven member is extremely high. Therefore, the operation of the driven member can be accurately controlled.

〔Example〕

Next, the sensor-equipped control cable (hereinafter simply referred to as cable) of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of main parts showing one embodiment of the cable of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X-X of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a main part showing another embodiment of the cable of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Y-Y in Fig. 3;
7 and 6 are cross-sectional views showing other embodiments of the rod according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are partially cutaway side views showing other embodiments of the cable according to the present invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a flexible inner cable, and the inner cable 1 is slidably inserted into flexible outer casings 2 and 3. The inner cable 1 and the outer casings 2, 3 may be any cable used in conventionally known push-pull control cables or pull-control cables.

A case 4 is coupled to the driven side of the outer casing 2, and the inner cable 1 passes through the case 4.

Although the case 4 is usually rigid, it may be flexible to some extent as long as it can connect the outer casing 2 reliably.

A pulley 6 whose shaft 5 is rotatably supported by the case 4 is provided inside the case 4 . The shaft 5 is connected to a sensor 7 attached to the case 4 for detecting a rotation angle, such as a detection shaft of a potentiometer or a rotary encoder. Note that the detection axis of the sensor 7 may be used as is as the axis 5.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a part of the flexible inner cable 1 constitutes a linear motion member, and a pulley 6 constitutes a rotating member, and the inner cable 1 is connected to a recess formed on the outer periphery of the pulley 6. Groove 8
is engaged with. Therefore, they work together so that the linear motion of the inner cable 1 is converted into the rotational motion of the pulley 6. Note that the inner cable 1 may be wound around the outer circumference of the pulley 6 about 1 to 3 times.

Furthermore, in the embodiment of the cable shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a biasing pulley 9 is rotatably provided on the opposite side of the inner cable 1 from the pulley 6. The biasing pulley 9 has a shaft 10 supported by the case 4 via a spring 11, and is always biased toward the inner cable 1.

Therefore, the inner cable 1 and the pulley 6 are always engaged with each other with appropriate contact pressure, thereby preventing the occurrence of slippage.

In a cable constructed as described above,
When the inner cable 1 is operated in the directions of arrows A and B, the pulley 6 rotates in the directions of arrows C and D, and the sensor 7 finally detects the amount of operation on the driven side of the inner cable 1.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, since the inner cable 1 directly constitutes a linear motion member, there is a remarkable advantage that the amount of operation of the inner cable 1 is not particularly limited as long as it is within the detection range of the sensor 7. . Moreover, it has the advantage of having a small number of parts and being lightweight.

In addition, the inner cable 1 is inserted into the concave groove 8 of the pulley 6.
When forming unevenness that matches the twist of the inner cable 1, the movement of the inner cable 1 can be transmitted to the sensor 7 more accurately. Note that when the inner cable 1 has spiral teeth (not shown), it is preferable that the pulley 6 has a tooth profile that can mesh with the spiral teeth.

In the cable embodiment shown in Figures 3-4, a rigid rod 12 is employed as the linear motion member. The rod 12 is connected on the driven side of the inner cable.

The rod 12 is inserted into linear bearings 13 and 14 provided in the case 4, and is provided to be slidable in the axial direction with respect to the case 4. The rod 12 engages with the outer periphery of a pulley 6 rotatably provided in the case 4.

Stoppers 15 are provided at both ends of the rod 12, respectively.
16 are provided. The stoppers 15 and 16 are for stopping the rod 12 from coming off the linear bearings 13 and 14. Note that a bushing or the like may be used instead of a straight bearing.

The pulley 6 and sensor 7 can be the same as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Alternatively, the rod 12 may be formed with rack teeth, and the pulley 6 may be formed with teeth that mesh with the rack teeth. In that case, in order to prevent rotation of the rod 12, the rod 12 is formed into a cross-sectional shape having a slit 17 as shown in FIG. It may also be provided on the outer periphery of 6. Further, a spline 18 as shown in FIG. 6 may be formed on the surface of the rod 12, and a member may be provided on the case 4 to be slidably engaged with the spline in the axial direction.

FIG. 7 shows the entire embodiment of the cable of the present invention. In FIG. 7, a case 4 having a sensor 7 and the like is fixed to the driven side of the outer casing 2. As shown in FIG. Cable ends 19 and 20 are fixed to both ends of the inner cable 1, respectively, for locking to a mating member.

In the present invention, since the sensor 7 and the driven member 22 are close to each other, the sensor 7 is not easily affected by the elastic expansion of the inner cable 1 and the outer casing 2, and can almost detect the movement of only the driven member 22. Therefore, there is an advantage that the driven member 22 can be controlled accurately.

In the embodiment of the cable of the present invention shown in FIG. 8, one end of the outer casing 2 is fixed to a hub 23, and the case 4 is connected to the hub 23 so as to be swingable. Such a configuration includes, for example, a spherical head 25 formed at the tip of the guide pipe 24 and a spherical recess 2 formed at one end of the hub 23.
6 and the case 4 is fixed to the guide pipe 24.

This has the advantage that even when the driven member 22 engaged with one end of the rod 12 makes a rocking motion, the movement of the driven member 22 can be accurately transmitted to the sensor 7. Note that the hub 23 is locked to a fixing member or the like, and securely holds one end of the outer casing 2.

The control cable with sensor of this invention is
It can be used as a means for transmitting operating force in almost the same way as conventional control cables, and can also accurately measure the amount of operation. Therefore, it is possible to operate the driven member while checking the amount of operation of the driven member using, for example, a voltmeter or a display panel.

Such control cables with sensors can be applied to various industrial machines, such as remote control devices inside nuclear reactors, optical axis adjustment devices for lights, shutter and valve opening/closing devices, and blind adjustment devices. Sensors for detecting the rotation angle in the present invention include a potentiometer that converts a change in resistance based on the rotation angle into voltage, a rotary differential transformer that converts into induced electromotive force according to the rotation angle, Optical encoders that convert into digital signals such as pulse signals according to rotation angle, magnetic encoders that detect rotation angle using variable magnetic resistance changes, analog synchronizers and resolvers that use electromagnetic induction phenomena, etc. However, various types can be adopted depending on the operating speed and amount of operation of the inner cable.

Furthermore, by combining the sensor-equipped control cable of the present invention with a drive element (especially an electric drive element) such as a servo motor, the manipulated variable measured by the sensor can be fed back to the drive element either directly or via an appropriate nonlinear compensation circuit. By doing so, a servo mechanism can also be constructed.

Such a servo mechanism can be applied to, for example, a drive transmission mechanism for a robot, a shutter or valve adjustment mechanism, and the like.

[Effect of idea]

As mentioned above, the sensor-equipped control cable of the present invention can be operated while accurately detecting the amount of movement of the inner cable and the amount of operation of the driven member, and has various advantages such as being able to obtain accurate operation amounts. Therefore, its practical value is extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of main parts showing one embodiment of the cable of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X-X of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a main part showing another embodiment of the cable of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Y-Y in Fig. 3;
7 and 6 are cross-sectional views showing other embodiments of the rod according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are partially cutaway side views showing other embodiments of the cable according to the present invention. Main symbols in the drawing: 1: Inner cable, 2:
Outer casing, 4: case, 6: pulley,
7: Sensor, 8: Concave groove, 9: Biasing pulley, 12:
Rod.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. An inner cable, an outer casing for slidably guiding the inner cable, a case connected to the driven side of the outer casing, and a case containing the inner cable together with the inner cable. a linear motion member provided to move in the axial direction; a rotation member rotatably provided in the case so as to engage with the linear motion member; and a rotation member for detecting a rotation angle of the rotation member. A control cable with a sensor. 2 Utility model registration claim 1, wherein the linear motion member is a part of an inner cable, and the rotating member is a pulley with a groove formed on the outer periphery.
Control cable with sensor described in section. 3. The control cable with a sensor according to claim 1, wherein the linear motion member is a rod connected to an inner cable at both ends thereof, and the rotating member is a pulley that engages with the rod. 4. The control cable with a sensor according to claim 3, wherein the rod is restricted from rotating around its axis.