JP2001182714A - Clamp cylinder and rod cover thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To decrease variety kinds of rod covers for manufacturing clamp cylinders of various types of operation and piping. SOLUTION: A guide member retaining member 7, interposed between a cylinder tube 1 and a rod cover 13, has a guide member retaining shaft part 10 which holds a steel ball 54. A guide groove for rotation 50, provided on a periphery of a piston rod 40, engages with the ball 54 with the piston rod 40 turning, while moving axially due to an axial movement of the piston 43. The rod cover 13 has side faces and end face piping ports 21a, 21b, 23a, 23b, and piping type corresponding to those parts can be selected. The rod cover 13, when it has the same cylinder bore and the same piston rod diameter, used for the clamp cylinder of such type that its piston rod turns, without moving axially is identical with the rod cover used for the clamp cylinder of such a type that its piston rod moves axially without turning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rod cover for closing one end of a cylinder tube of a clamp cylinder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional clamp cylinder, a front end of a cylinder tube is closed by a rod cover, and a guide member is attached to a shaft portion of the rod cover fitted into the cylinder tube, and the guide member and the piston rod are provided. When the piston is moved in the axial direction by engaging with the turning guide groove, the piston rod moves while moving in the axial direction (FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-5739), or It is known that the piston and the piston rod are relatively rotatable and relatively movable in the axial direction, and the piston rod does not move in the axial direction when the piston rod turns (see FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-5739). I have. These are provided with a clamp arm at the tip of a piston rod. On the other hand, there is also known a clamp cylinder in which a piston rod simply protrudes and retracts, and a user appropriately attaches a clamp member to the piston rod. Generally, a clamp cylinder maker manufactures all of these operation types of clamp cylinders in order to meet a user's request.

[0003]

In the above, due to structural differences such as different swivel structures and no swivel structure, conventionally, the same cylinder hole diameter and the same piston rod diameter have conventionally been used. However, the shapes of the rod covers are different from each other. In addition, in the conventional type, the position of the piping port for fluid supply to the cylinder chamber is different in the clamp cylinder of each operation type, particularly when the back surface of the rod cover is used as a mounting surface for mounting the fixed side member. That is, different types of rod covers have been manufactured depending on whether a port is provided on the side surface of the rod cover or on the rear surface of the rod cover. In some cases, a piping port is provided on the head cover. At this time, a rod cover having no piping port is used because a piping port is not required on the rod side. Therefore, there are as many rod cover shapes as the number of combinations of the piping type and the operation type, and there is a problem unfavorable in terms of parts management and processing efficiency. An object of the present invention is to apply a rod cover commonly to the above clamp cylinders,
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the number of types of parts and to manufacture the clamp cylinder at a low cost when manufacturing each of the clamp cylinders as a form in which the piping type can be easily selected. Another object of the present invention is to provide a head-side piping type clamp cylinder using such a rod cover and having parts common to other piping type clamp cylinders.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a rod cover for a clamp cylinder according to the present invention includes a clamp cylinder of a type that involves an axial movement when a piston rod is turned by an axial movement of a piston; A clamp cylinder in which the piston rod does not move in the axial direction when the piston rod turns due to the axial movement of the piston, and a clamp cylinder in which the piston rod moves only in the axial direction without the turning operation due to the axial movement of the piston. A rod cover for closing one end of the cylinder tube of each type of clamp cylinder, and the same cylinder bore diameter for each type of clamp cylinder;
It has the same shape for the same piston rod diameter, and has, on its side and back, a side piping port for supplying and discharging pressurized fluid to and from the cylinder chamber, and an end surface piping port communicating with the side piping port. (Claim 1). This rod cover can be applied to any of the above operation types of clamp cylinders as long as the cylinder hole inner diameter and piston rod diameter are the same, and since the side piping port and the end face piping port are provided, the rod cover is required. The rod cover, which used to be different for each pipe type for each operation type, has been unified to one type, which is advantageous in terms of parts management, and different pipe types. Even when a clamp cylinder of a type or an operation type is made, only one kind of rod cover is required, so that the production efficiency is high and the contribution to cost reduction is large. Also, by closing all the piping ports of this rod cover,
The present invention can be applied to a clamp cylinder of a type in which a head cover is provided with a head side piping port for supplying and discharging a fluid to and from a cylinder chamber in a head cover.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a description will be given of a clamp cylinder which is a first operation type which involves an axial movement when a piston rod pivots due to an axial movement of a piston, and which can select a side or end face piping type. . In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylinder tube made of an aluminum extruded or cold drawn material, and a sensor mounting groove 2 is formed on the outer periphery of the peripheral wall 1a in the tube axis direction, and on the peripheral wall 1a in the tube axis direction. It has a cross-section in which a plurality of bolt through holes 3 are formed and fluid passage holes (axial holes for one side piping) 4a, 4b are formed.
The fluid passage hole 4a is used in a head side piping form described later,
The fluid passage hole 4b is used in the form of a side or end pipe.
The cylinder hole 5 of the cylinder tube is formed by cold drawing even when the outer shape of the tube is formed by extruding aluminum. Since the cylinder hole 5 is formed by cold drawing, the dimensional accuracy is very good. Therefore, there is no need to cut and process with iron-based materials (stainless steel, etc. if it is a non-magnetic material) as before.
Further, compared with the case where the cylinder hole is formed by extruding aluminum, the cold-drawn product can be produced at low cost without any processing such as cutting.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a holding member for a guide member, which has a flange portion 8 having the same outer diameter as the outer diameter of the cylinder tube 1, and projects axially rearward (downward in FIG. It has a guide member holding shaft portion 10 as a fitting shaft portion that largely enters the inside, and a shallow fitting hole 11 on the front side (the upper surface side in FIG. 1). The guide member holding member 7 has a bolt through hole 3 of the cylinder tube 1.
And a communication passage 14 for communicating a first communication passage 22a (described later) of the rod cover 13 with the front cylinder chamber P1 in an assembled state.
And a communication flow path 15b for communicating one fluid communication path 4b of the cylinder tube 1 with the second communication path 22b of the rod cover 13. In the case of a head side piping type described later, the other fluid communication passage 4a of the cylinder tube 1 is used.
A communication flow path 15a is formed to communicate between the first communication hole and the third communication hole 22c of the rod cover 13.

[0007] Since the piston rod slides in the sliding hole 16, the rod cover 13 is made of an iron-based material having high wear resistance.
For example, it is made of ductile cast iron and a pearlite-based material.
The rod cover 13 has a substantially rectangular shape whose outer shape is further expanded outward in the tube radial direction than the outer shape of the cylinder tube 1, and a short fitting shaft portion 18 fitted into the fitting hole 11 protrudes from a back surface 17 thereof. (FIG. 3). The diameter of the fitting shaft portion 18 of the rod cover 13 and the diameter of the guide member holding shaft portion 10 of the guide member holding member 7 are set to be the same. On the back surface 17, a portion facing the front end surface (upper end surface) of the flange portion 8 of the guide member holding member 7 is a sealing surface 19. Seal surface 1 on back 17
9 is an attachment surface 2 to a fixed member such as a machine base.
It is 0. The sealing surface 19 and the mounting surface 20 form the same plane.

The rod cover 13 is provided with a pair of side piping ports 21a and 21b on the side surface 13a. The one side piping port 21a communicates with a first communication passage 22a opening on the rear end surface (the lower end surface in FIG. 1) of the fitting shaft portion 18 and a third communication passage 22c opening on the sealing surface 19. The third communication passage 22c is used in a head-side piping format described later. The other side piping port 21b is
Communicates with the second communication passage 22b that opens to the outside. In addition, end surface piping ports 23a and 23b communicating with the side surface piping ports 21a and 21b are opened in the mounting surface 20.
On the back surface 17 of the rod cover 13, a female screw hole 24 with a predetermined depth is formed to face the bolt through hole 3 of the cylinder tube 1. The rod cover 13 has mounting bolts 10 attached to a fixed member such as a machine base.
One bolt hole 26 is provided therethrough.

At the rear end (the lower end in FIG. 1) of the cylinder tube 1, a head cover 27 is provided, and a sensor insertion groove 28 for inserting and removing the sensor 110 corresponding to the sensor mounting groove 2, and a bolt corresponding to the bolt through hole 3. The hole 29 is made of an aluminum drawing die having a cross section, and the die is cut to a required thickness (required axial length), and the cut member is machined to fit into the cylinder hole 5. A fitting shaft portion 30, an escape hole 31 into which the rear end of the piston rod enters, a communication groove 32 for communicating the rear cylinder chamber P2 with the fluid passage hole 4b, and a bolt hole 29
A counterbore 33 at the entrance is formed. The back surface (the surface facing the cylinder tube 1) of the head cover 27 is entirely a sealing surface 34, and the communication groove 32 is provided from the fitting shaft portion 30 to the sealing surface 34.

[0010] Between the back surface 17 of the rod cover 13 and the guide member holding member 7, between the guide member holding member 7 and the front end surface (upper end surface) of the cylinder tube 1, and between the head cover 27 and the cylinder tube 1. Rear end (lower end)
And a thin plate-like gasket 3 as a sealing material.
5, 36 and 37 are interposed respectively. Gasket 35-3
Reference numeral 7 denotes a thin metal plate (aluminum or steel plate) sandwiched between seal plates made of an elastic rubber material or the like. As shown in FIG. 6, the gasket 37 between the head cover 27 and the cylinder tube 1 is provided with the sensor insertion groove 28,
A portion 28E corresponding to the bolt hole 29 and the communication groove 32,
29E and 32E are cut out and fitted outside the fitting shaft portion 30. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the gasket 35 between the rod cover 13 and the guide member holding member 7 has the female screw hole 24, the second communication passage 22b, the end face piping ports 23a and 23b, and the bolt hole 26. The portions 24E, 22bE, 23aE, 23bE, and 26E corresponding to are cut out, and fitted into the outside of the fitting shaft portion 18,
The size is such that it extends not only to the sealing surface 19 but also to the entire outer mounting surface 20. Since no hole is formed in a portion corresponding to the third communication path 22c, the third communication path 22c is closed in this embodiment. The gasket 36 between the guide member holding member 7 and the front end face of the cylinder tube 1 is, as shown in FIG.
2. Portions 12E and 15bE corresponding to the communication flow path 15b are notched. The rod cover 13, the guide member holding member 7, the cylinder tube 1, and the head cover 27
Four fastening bolts 38 are passed through the bolt holes 29 of the head cover 27 with these gaskets 35, 36, 37 interposed therebetween, and the fastening bolts 38 pass through the bolt through holes 3, 12 of the cylinder tube 1 and the guide member holding member 7. The external thread portion is screwed into the female screw hole 24 of the rod cover 13 and integrally fastened together to form a cylinder body, and a gasket is provided between the members 13, 7, 1, 27 to be jointly fastened. Sealed at 35,36,37.

The piston rod 40 projects forward through the guide member holding member 7 and the sliding holes 10a and 16 of the rod cover 13, and a clamp arm 41 is integrally provided at the projected portion. The rear part of the piston rod 40 is formed in a small-diameter mounting shaft portion 42, and a center hole 43 a of a piston 43 sliding in the cylinder hole 5 is rotatably fitted in the mounting shaft portion 42. A magnet holding member 44 is rotatably fitted on the rear side (lower side in the figure) of the mounting shaft portion 42 in the axial direction with the annular permanent magnet 45 interposed between the magnet 43 and the piston 43.
The piston 43 and the magnet holding member 44 are sandwiched between the step portion 47 of the mounting shaft portion 42 by a fastening bolt 46 from behind. In the tightened state, the front end surface 48a of the washer (prevention member) 48 of the tightening bolt 46 is pressed against the rear end surface (lower end surface) of the mounting shaft portion 42, and the piston 43 and the magnet holding member 44 are connected to each other by the step The piston 43 and the magnet holding member 44 are not sandwiched between the
2, there is a slight gap in the axial direction between the step 47 and the washer 48. Therefore, piston 4
3. The magnet holding member 44 and the piston rod 40 can rotate relative to each other. A seal member (O-ring) 49 is interposed between the mounting shaft portion 42 and the piston center hole 43a.

On the outer periphery of the piston rod 40, as shown in an exploded view in FIG. 8, a turning guide groove 50 having a semicircular cross section and comprising a rectilinear groove 51 and a turning groove 52 is formed. The guide member holding shaft portion 10 of the guide member holding member 7 is provided with a guide member receiving hole 53 in the radial direction, and the receiving hole 53 is made of phosphor bronze. A ball receiving member 55 rotatably supporting a steel ball 54 as a mating guide member is embedded. When the piston 43 moves from the retreating end (FIG. 1) to the forward end, the turning guide groove 50 slightly moves from the state where the clamp arm (piston rod) 41 is clamping the work W by engagement with the steel ball 54. After moving forward (ascending), the clamp angle position A facing the work W is shifted from the unclamping angle position B
(Refer to FIG. 3), while pivoting while moving along the axis, slightly advances (rises) at the unclamping angle position B, and conversely, when the piston 43 moves from the forward end to the retreating end, the piston slightly advances at the unclamping angle position B. After the descent, it is formed so as to pivot while moving axially from the unclamping angle position B to the clamping angle position A, and to descend slightly straight at the clamping angle position A. In this clamp cylinder, the side piping port 21
a, 21b and one of the end face piping ports 23a, 23b, and the other is closed with a plug or the like, so that two pipe types, a side face pipe and an end face pipe, can be selected.

Next, a clamp cylinder of the head side piping type in the first operation mode will be described. 9 and 10, the head cover 1 is greatly different from the above embodiment.
27. When the inside diameter of the cylinder hole is the same and the piston rod diameter is the same, the cross section of the cylinder tube 1, the rod cover 13, the internal piston rod turning structure, and the like have the same shape and the same dimensions. In the case of this piping type, the side surface on the rod cover 13 side, the end surface piping ports 21a, 21b,
Since the ports 23a and 23b are not used, the ports 21a, 21b, 23a and 23b are used in order to have common parts with the clamp cylinders of the side and end face piping type described above.
, But are all closed with plugs PG1 and PG2. The head cover 127 is provided with a pair of head side piping ports 128a, 128b. One head side piping port 128b communicates with the rear cylinder chamber P2 via the communication passage 129. The other head side piping port 128
a is a fluid communication hole 4a, a communication passage 15a of the guide member holding member 7, and a communication passage 15a of the guide member holding member 7 which are not used in the above-described piping type, via an oblique communication passage 130 opened at a position corresponding to the fluid communication hole 4a. It communicates with the front cylinder chamber P1 via the side piping port 21a, the first communication passage 22a, and the communication passage 14 via the three communication passage 22c. In this piping type, the fluid communication hole 4b used in the piping type is not used.
With respect to the longitudinal center line CL (FIGS. 3 and 10) of the clamp arm 41 at the clamp angle position A, the sensor mounting groove 2, the bolt through hole 3, the fluid communication holes 4a and 4b, the female screw hole 24, and the bolt hole. 26, end face piping ports 23a, 23b
Are formed symmetrically, the gaskets 35, 36, and 37 are used upside down for communication of the communication path. That is, in the gasket 35, the hole 22
bE is located at the hole position 22cE corresponding to the third communication passage 22c. In the gasket 36, the hole portion 15bE is located at the hole position 15aE corresponding to the communication path 15a. In the gasket 37, the notch 32E is
It is located at the hole position 130E corresponding to the (fluid communication passage 4a) (indicated by two-dot chain lines in FIGS. 5 to 7, respectively).

Next, a clamp cylinder of a second operation type, wherein the piston and the piston rod are relatively rotatable and relatively movable in the axial direction, and the piston rod does not move in the axial direction when the piston rod turns. The case where the rod side surface, end surface piping type can be selected will be described. The difference from the clamp cylinder of the first operation type is the internal turning structure. Since such an operation type itself is known, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-5739,
A brief description will be given. In FIG. 11, when the piston 43A is moved forward (ascended), the piston 43A moves
0, the piston rod 40A moves by a predetermined amount only in the axial direction while being restricted by the axial guide groove 71. On the other hand, since the rear end of the piston rod 40A is restricted from turning with the head cover 27A, the piston rod 40A advances with the piston 43A, and In the unclamped state away from W, the flange 7 of the piston rod 40A
2 comes into contact with the rod cover 13 and is prevented from advancing, and at the same time, the rotation restriction of the piston rod 40A by the head cover 27A is released.
When the piston 43A moves forward in the axial direction relatively to A, the piston rod 40A is turned to a predetermined degree without the axial movement by the guide member 54A and the turning guide groove 50A interposed therebetween. Then, when the piston 43A is retracted from the position where the piston rod 40A is turned by the predetermined angle, the retraction of the piston rod 40A causes the head cover 27A.
In this state, the piston 43A retreats relative to the piston rod 40A in the axial direction, whereby the piston rod 40A is turned by a predetermined angle in the opposite direction without the axial movement, and then the head cover 27
A prevents the piston rod 40A from retreating due to A, and the piston rod 40A retreats to clamp the work W with the clamp arm 41 at the tip.

In the clamp cylinder of this operation type, when the inner diameter of the cylinder hole 5 is the same and the diameter of the piston rod 40A is the same as that of the clamp cylinder of the first operation mode, the cross section of the cylinder tube 1 and the rod The cover 13 has the same dimensions and shape as the clamp cylinder in the first operation mode. Therefore, even in the clamp cylinder of the second operation mode, the side and end face pipe types can be selected. Also, similarly to the cylinder of the first operation mode, when the head side pipe is desired, the head cover is provided with the above. Similar piping ports may be provided to communicate with the front and rear cylinder chambers, and all the piping ports on the rod cover side may be closed with plugs.

FIG. 12 shows a piston rod 40B.
9 shows a clamp cylinder of the above-mentioned two operation modes and another third operation mode in which only the front and rear sides are changed. This cylinder differs from the above-described cylinder in that it does not have a turning mechanism inside. When the cylinder tube 1 is made of the same material as the cylinder tube 1 and the inner diameter of the cylinder hole 5 and the diameter of the piston rod 40B are the same, the rod cover 13 is used in the first and second operation modes described above. It has the same dimensions and shape as the cylinder. In this mode of operation,
By changing the two pipe configurations of the side and end faces of the rod cover 13 and changing the head cover to the same one as in the first embodiment, the rod cover having the same dimensions and shape can be used for the head side piping.

[0017]

As described above, in the present application, one type of rod cover can close the cylinder tubes of three types of clamp cylinders having different operation types. Since there is an end face piping port, each type of clamp cylinder can have two types of piping by closing one of the piping ports as necessary, so that the operation type differs. In addition, one kind of rod cover can cope with a plurality of clamp cylinders having different piping types, and there is an advantage that the number of types of parts can be reduced when a series of such different types of clamp cylinders are manufactured. In addition, since the rod cover of the present application is also applied to a cylinder tube having a head-side piping port, the head-side piping can be performed by closing the side surface and the end-surface piping port. Different piping types can be adopted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a clamp cylinder of a first type.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an IV view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a gasket on a rod cover side together with a sealing surface and a mounting surface.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a gasket on a head cover side.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a gasket of the guide member holding member.

FIG. 8 is a development view showing a turning guide groove.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a clamp cylinder of a first operation type, which is another piping type.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 shows a clamp cylinder of a second operation type to which the head cover of the present application is applied.

FIG. 12 is a clamp cylinder of a third operation type to which the head cover of the present application is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cylinder tube 1a Peripheral wall 3 Bolt through hole 5 Cylinder hole 13 Rod cover 18 Rod cover fitting shaft portion 24 Female screw hole 38 Fastening bolt 40 Piston rod 50 Swing guide groove 54 Steel ball (guide member) 128a, 128b Head side piping Port PG1, PG2 plug

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A clamp cylinder of a type that involves axial movement when a piston rod pivots due to an axial movement of a piston, and a clamp cylinder of a type that does not involve axial movement when the piston rod pivots due to an axial movement of a piston. Due to the axial movement of the clamp cylinder and piston,
It is a rod cover that closes one end of the cylinder tube of each type of clamp cylinder, with the type of clamp cylinder in which the piston rod moves only in the axial direction without rotating movement, and is the same for each type of clamp cylinder. The same shape for the bore diameter of the cylinder and the same piston rod diameter, and on the side and back of itself, a side piping port for supplying and discharging pressurized fluid to and from the cylinder chamber, and an end face communicating with the side piping port A rod cover for a clamp cylinder, comprising a piping port. 2. The rod cover according to claim 1, wherein one end of the cylinder tube is closed by a rod cover, the other end of the cylinder tube is closed by a head cover, and the piston cover projects from the rod cover. A clamp cylinder characterized in that the side and end piping ports of the rod cover are closed with plugs, and a head-side piping port for supplying and discharging fluid to and from the cylinder chamber is provided in the head cover.