JPH05238547A - Air slide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform sanitary conveyance in a clean room and in a spot of avoiding a stain of oil and to attain manufacture at a low cost with a simple structure by guiding and driving a slider perfectly in noncontact. CONSTITUTION:An air slide device is constituted of a guide member 1, slider 2 and an internal mover 3. In the guide member 1, a guide wall 1b consisting of magnetic material is mounted on a one side surface of an angular pipe material and protruded to an upper surface. A rail 10 is provided in the inside of the guide member 1 to set up the internal mover 3 drivably to advance and reverse. Magnets 4, 5 attracting each other are provided in the internal mover 3 and the slider 2, and also to provide a magnet 24, which attracts the guide wall 1b, in a side surface of the slider 2. Air blow ports 6, 7 are provided in a lower surface and a side surface of the slider 2. The slider 2 is supported to hold a bearing space by balancing a static pressure by jetted air with magnetic attraction force and moved by the magnetic attraction force according to movement of the internal mover 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air slide device used for transportation in a clean room, equipment for which oil stain is not desired, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a part is transported in a clean room or when food, chemicals, etc. are sanitarily transported, a non-contact air slide device, a magnetic levitation slide device, or a belt conveyor or a ball screw is contacted. Type transport devices are mainly used. Although the contact type transfer device has a simple structure and is inexpensive, dust generation is unavoidable and there is a problem of contamination by lubricating oil. Therefore, a non-contact type transfer device is preferable in the above-mentioned use place. A general air slide device used as a non-contact transfer device is provided with a rectangular tube-shaped slider surrounding a rail-shaped guide member and ejects compressed air into a bearing gap between the slider and the guide member. Then, the load capacity is obtained by static pressure.

However, the air slide device of the above type is
Since the slider is a rectangular tube that surrounds the guide member,
In addition to the complicated structure, if the bearing clearance is reduced to increase the support rigidity by air pressure, the slider may come into contact with the guide member due to slight bending of the guide member, and extremely high accuracy is required. .. Therefore, it becomes expensive and it is difficult to increase the stroke.

As an air slide device which solves such a problem, conventionally, a magnet is provided on a slider and a guide member to generate a suction force, and the suction force and air pressure are balanced to support the slider in a floating manner. Is proposed.
In the case of this configuration, since the slider is prevented from coming off due to the magnetic attraction force, the slider only needs to have a shape facing the two surfaces of the guide member, the structure is simple, and requirements for accuracy are eased. The slider is driven by a ball screw or the like that is screwed into the slider.

Further, conventionally, as a magnetic levitation type conveying device for surely preventing pollution, an internal moving body is provided in a pipe-shaped guide member, and a magnetic field is provided between a slider and an internal moving body arranged outside the guide member. It has been proposed to provide a body and an electromagnet so that the slider moves while the slider moves while the internal moving body moves. In this structure, the drive means is entirely inside the guide member and is isolated from the slider arrangement space, and the slider is supported in a non-contact manner, so that reliable contamination prevention can be performed.

[0006]

In the above-described magnetic air slide device, since the drive transmission system is located outside the guide member and is in contact with the slider, it is possible to reliably prevent the generation of dust. Is not satisfactory.

Further, the magnetic levitation type conveying device in which the driving part is arranged in the pipe has an excellent effect that the driving means can be surely isolated, but the levitation and the drive transmission are performed only by the magnetic attraction force. Therefore, a large electromagnet is required for the magnet of the internal moving body, which is not satisfactory in terms of structure.

An object of the present invention is to provide an air slide device which does not have a problem that dust is generated in the vicinity of a slider installation portion and has a simple structure and can be manufactured at low cost.

[0009]

An air slide device of the present invention comprises a hollow guide member having a guide wall on one side edge of an upper surface thereof, a slider arranged on the upper surface of the guide member along the guide wall, and It is composed of an internal moving body that is driven to move back and forth inside the guide member. The slider and the internal moving body are provided with magnets or magnetic bodies that attract each other, and air outlets are provided on the lower surface of the slider and the side surface facing the guide wall.

[0010]

The slider is floated and supported by the guide member by balancing the static pressure of the air ejected from the air outlet on the lower surface with the magnetic attraction force acting between the slider and the internal moving body. In addition, the static pressure of the air ejected from the blow-out port on the side surface of the slider toward the guide wall prevents the slider from swinging to the left and right and prevents contact with the guide wall. When the internal moving body is moved, the slider moves along with the movement of the internal moving body due to the magnetic attraction force. In this way, the slider is supported in a non-contact manner, and the slider can be driven back and forth in a non-contact manner by the internal moving body that moves in the guide member, so that the slider can be completely isolated from the dust generation location.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 4, this air slide device includes a guide member 1 in which a guide wall 1b is provided on one side edge of an upper surface of a hollow guide member main body 1a, and a slider arranged on the guide member 1 along the guide wall 1b. 2 and. The guide member main body 1a is made by cutting a nonmagnetic square pipe material such as aluminum into a required length. The guide wall 1b is formed by cutting a plate material of a magnetic material into the same length as the guide member main body 1a and fixing it to the side surface of the guide member main body 1a with a bolt or the like.

A rail 10 is attached to the center of the bottom surface of the inside of the guide member 1 via a drive portion attachment plate 23, and an internal moving body 3 is moved thereon by a linear bearing 11 of a rolling type as shown in FIG. It is installed freely. A magnet 4 is attached to the upper surface of the internal moving body 3, and a magnet 5 that attracts the magnet 4 and a magnet 24 that attracts the guide wall 1b are provided on the lower surface and the side surface of the slider 2. Further, the slider 2 is provided with air outlets 6 and 7 which are opened on the lower surface and the side surface on the guide wall 1b side. Each of the air outlets 6 and 7 is provided with a throttle such as a self-made throttle in order to increase the support rigidity of the slider 2 by the air pressure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the slider 2. A large number of air outlets 6 on the lower surface of the slider 2 are provided one by one in a row in the traveling direction with the magnet 5 interposed therebetween, and the air outlets 7 on the side surface are arranged in one row. The air outlets 6 and 7 of each row are provided with two air supply holes 1 formed in the slider 2.
2, and both air supply holes 12 are connected to each other at one end by a connecting tube 13. The air inlet 12a provided in one of the intake holes 12 is provided with an air supply tube 14 (FIG. 4).
Connected to a source of compressed air.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 5, a plurality of magnets 4 and 5 of the internal moving body 3 and the slider 2 are attached to yokes 8 and 9 made of a magnetic material. These magnets 4 and 5 are arranged at a predetermined interval in the traveling direction and face each other, whereby rigidity of the slider 2 in the traveling direction is obtained. Magnet 24 on the side of slider 2 (FIG. 1)
Are provided at appropriate intervals in the traveling direction of the slider 2 or are formed as one long magnet and are directly fixed to the slider 2.

In FIG. 3, the internal moving body 3 is connected to the timing belt 15 by connecting pieces 16, and the timing belts 15 are motors 17 arranged at both ends of the guide member 1, respectively.
And toothed pulleys 19a, 19b of the pulley support 18
It is hung in between. A pulse motor or the like is used for the motor 17. Both ends of the guide member 1 are closed by a motor-side sealing box 20 and a support base-side sealing box 21, respectively, and the entire drive unit 22 including the motor 17, the timing belt 15, and the internal moving body 3 is a guide member. 1 is sealed inside.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. Slider 2
Are floated from the guide member 1 and supported by the static pressure of the compressed air ejected from the air outlet 6 on the lower surface. The flying height is determined by the static pressure of the jetted air and the suction force acting between the magnets 4 and 5. Further, the static pressure of the compressed air ejected from the air outlet 7 on the side surface of the slider 2 toward the guide wall 1b and the suction force acting between the magnet 24 and the guide wall 1b determine the bearing gap on the side surface. The runout and contact are prevented.

When the internal moving body 3 is moved by driving the timing belt 15 while the slider 2 is thus levitated, the slider is moved due to the magnetic attraction force acting between the internal moving body 3 and the slider 2. 2 moves in conjunction with the internal moving body 3.

In this air slide device, the slider 2 is thus completely supported in a non-contact manner, and the internal moving body 3 is also provided.
The drive unit 22 including the timing belt 15, the motor 17 and the like is sealed in the guide member 1, so that the slider 2
It is possible to completely isolate the vicinity of the installation portion from the place where dust is generated, such as the drive unit 22. Therefore, it can be used in a clean room where a high degree of cleanliness is required, or in a place where oil stains are unfavorable, such as a food or chemical transfer device. If clean air is used for the air ejected from the air supply nozzles 6 and 7,
It can be used even in a clean environment.

Further, since the slider 2 is levitationally supported by the balance between the air pressure and the magnetic attraction force, unlike the conventional levitationally supported by only the magnetic force, the magnet 4 of the internal moving body 3 can be small. .. The slider 2 requires the air outlets 6 and 7, but it is only necessary to perform hole processing or the like, which simplifies the overall structure and enables inexpensive manufacturing. Moreover, since the slider 2 is levitationally supported by the balance between the air pressure and the magnetic attraction force, high rigidity guidance can be achieved even though the structure is such that the slider 2 is guided only by the upper surface of the guide member 1 and the guide wall 1b. .. Further, since the slider 2 is guided only by two surfaces in this manner, unlike the conventional guide member that surrounds the outer circumference, the entire air slide device can be easily assembled and does not require precise adjustment. Therefore, the extruded or drawn aluminum material can be used for the guide member 1 as in this embodiment, and the cost can be further reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the accuracy can be further improved by the following processing method. That is, before mounting the guide wall 1b, the guide member main body 1a and the slider 2 are attached.
Are fixed to each other with a vise or the like, and these guide member main bodies 1
a and the side surface of the slider 2 on the side of the guide wall 1b are machined at the same time. After that, the guide wall 1b is attached. By processing in this way, the variation in the squareness between the slider 2 and the guide member main body 1a is corrected, the bearing gap between the slider 2 and the guide wall 1b can be obtained with a constant accuracy, and the flow rate increases due to the variation in the squareness. Is prevented.

In the above embodiment, the magnet 24 is provided on the side surface of the slider 2, but the magnet 24 on the side surface is not necessarily provided. Even in this case, the magnetic attraction force acting between the internal moving body 3 and the magnets 4 and 5 of the slider 2 prevents the slider 2 from moving in the direction away from the guide wall 1b. Further, although the magnets 4 and 5 are provided on both the slider 2 and the internal moving body 3 in the above embodiment, only one of the slider 2 and the internal moving body 3 may be provided with a magnet, and the other may be provided with a magnetic body. .. The magnetic body does not necessarily have to be provided as a separate component to the slider 2 and the internal moving body 3, and the slider 2 or the internal moving body 3 may be the entire magnetic body.

Further, although the air outlets 6 and 7 of the slider 2 are small holes in the above embodiment, they may be formed in a slit shape. In addition, the air outlet 6 of the slider 2
An annular exhaust groove (not shown) may be provided around 7 to forcibly recover the jetted air, which makes it possible to use it in a clean room or the like even when normal air is used for jetting. The means for guiding and driving the internal moving body 3 is not limited to the one using the linear bearing 11 and the timing belt 15, and a feed screw and various other structures can be used. Further, both ends of the guide member 1 do not necessarily have to be sealed, and for example, the guide member 1 may be provided by penetrating a clean room in which the slider 2 is arranged, and both ends thereof may be opened to the outside.

[0023]

In the air slide device of the present invention, the slider is supported by air pressure, and the slider is moved by magnetic attraction by the internal moving body that moves in the hollow guide member. It can be supported by contact and the drive unit can be completely isolated from the slider installation space. Therefore, no dust is generated around the installation portion of the slider, and the slider can be used in a clean room where a high degree of cleanliness is required or a place where oil stains are not desired.
Further, the guide member has a guide wall at one side edge, and the slider is arranged along this guide wall, and air is blown into the gap, so that the slider can be moved in a stable manner in the left-right direction without swinging. .. Moreover, the internal moving body only needs to be provided with the magnet or the magnetic body, and the slider need only be provided with the magnet or the magnetic body and the air outlet, so that the structure is simple and the manufacturing cost is low.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an air slide device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the slider.

FIG. 3A is a reduced cutaway side view of the air slide device, and FIG. 3B is a reduced cutaway plan view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the outer appearance of the air slide device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the arrangement state of the magnets.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Guide member, 1b ... Guide wall, 2 ... Slider, 3 ...
Internal moving body, 4, 5 ... Magnet, 6, 7 ... Air outlet, 1
0 ... Rail, 15 ... Timing belt, 17 ... Motor,
22 ... Drive unit, 24 ... Magnet

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hollow guide member, a slider arranged on the outer surface of the hollow guide member, an internal moving body that is driven to move back and forth inside the guide member, and a magnet or magnetism provided to the slider and the internal moving body so as to be attracted to each other. A body and an air outlet provided on the guide member facing surface of the slider, wherein the guide member is provided with a guide wall protruding to one side edge of the upper surface,
An air slide device in which the slider is disposed on the upper surface of the guide member along the guide wall and has the air outlets on the side surface and the lower surface facing the guide wall.