JP2014074475A - Linear guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a linear guide device which prevents the deterioration of the operability of a slider and leakage of a lubricant thereby preventing contamination in a peripheral environment.SOLUTION: A recovery unit 40 and a side seal 50 are provided at both ends of an end cap 30. Multiple lip parts 52a, 52b, which make a pair in a longitudinal direction of a guide rail 10, are formed at the side seal 50. The lip part 52a at the recovery unit 40 side, from among the multiple lip parts 52a, 52b, causes an extra lubricant on a surface of the guide rail 10 to be recovered to the recovery unit 40. Multiple discharge holes which discharge the recovered extra lubricant are provided on a side surface part of the recovery unit 40.

Description

  The present invention relates to a linear guide device used in, for example, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a machine tool, and a measuring instrument.

Conventionally, linear guide devices used in a clean environment (for linear motion guide bearing devices, a device that has been devised to improve the sealing performance so that grease and other lubricants do not leak out of the slider and contaminate the surrounding environment has been proposed. Has been.
However, when the lubricant becomes old, the lubrication performance deteriorates. Therefore, it is necessary to replenish the lubricant periodically, and there is a problem that the old lubricant is inevitably polluted and the surrounding environment is contaminated. On the other hand, if the lubricant is not replenished, a lubrication failure may occur and the linear guide device may be destroyed at an early stage.
In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a linear guide device provided with a portion for collecting a lubricant in a slider and provided with a lubricant collecting part for collecting excess lubricant. .

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional linear guide device disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, in this linear guide device 100, a guide rail 110 is installed on an installation surface (not shown) with its axis directed in the vertical direction. Of the two end caps 130a and 130b that are joined to both end surfaces of the slider main body 120 in the moving direction, the end cap 130a disposed below is on the surface opposite to the surface facing the slider main body 120. The case part 200 is attached. A lubricant absorbing portion 140 having a porous structure and having physical properties capable of absorbing the lubricant is held by the case portion 200 in contact with the guide rail 110.
The linear guide device 100 having such a configuration prevents the lubricant from scattering by absorbing the lubricant leaking from between the guide rail 110 and the slider body 120 and flowing downward by the lubricant absorbing portion 140. It has a configuration.

JP 2001-295840 A

However, even in the linear guide device disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the lubricant recovery component is composed of an absorption plate having a porous structure, the problem that the lubricant leaked from the absorption plate contaminates the surrounding environment still remains. It was not solved.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a linear guide device that prevents the operability of the slider and the leakage of the lubricant and prevents contamination of the surrounding environment. It is in.

A linear guide device according to claim 1 of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a guide rail, and a slider formed by attaching end caps to both end faces of a slider body that relatively moves in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, A number of rolling elements provided between the rolling element rolling grooves formed on the slider body of the slider and the rolling element rolling grooves formed on the outer surface of the guide rail, In a linear guide device comprising a side seal provided on an end cap end face and a recovery unit,
The side seal is formed with a plurality of lip portions that are paired in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, and one of the plurality of lip portions collects excess lubricant on the surface of the guide rail. A recovery hole is formed in the front portion of the unit, and a sponge that absorbs a base oil or an additive constituting a lubricant is provided around the recovery hole.
A side surface of the recovery unit is provided with a plurality of discharge holes for discharging a thickener as a component of the lubricant.
According to invention of Claim 1, the base oil or additive which is a component of a lubrication agent can be regularly absorbed into the sponge provided in the side surface and bottom face of the said collection | recovery unit. Further, the thickener, which is a component of the lubricant that has been collected regularly, can be discharged (sucked) from the discharge hole provided in the side surface of the recovery unit. Therefore, it is possible to keep the amount of lubricant inside the slider constant, prevent leakage of the lubricant, and as a result, prevent contamination of the surrounding environment.

The linear guide device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the linear guide device according to the first aspect, characterized in that a protrusion is formed along the side surface of the front portion of the recovery unit. Yes.
According to invention of Claim 2, since the sealing property of the said collection | recovery unit and the side seal installed in the front part side is improved, the contamination of the surrounding environment by the leakage of a lubricant can further be prevented.

The linear guide device according to claim 3 of the present invention is the linear guide device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the shape of the one lip portion is more than the other lip portion located on the opposite side. The inclination angle with respect to the surface of the guide rail is small, and the guide rail is long in the axial direction of the guide rail.
According to the invention of claim 3, since the shape of the one lip portion (the lip portion on the side where the recovery unit is installed) is formed with a small inclination angle and a long length, lubrication on the guide rail is achieved. It becomes easy to scoop up the agent. As a result, unnecessary lubricant on the guide rail can be efficiently guided to the recovery unit, and contamination of the surrounding environment can be prevented.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the linear guide apparatus which prevents the operability fall of a slider and the leakage of a lubricant, and prevents the surrounding environment from being contaminated can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the structure in one Embodiment of the linear guide apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the collection | recovery unit in one Embodiment of the linear guide apparatus which concerns on this invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is a bottom view, (c) is a rear view, (d) is a top view, (E) is a right side view, and (f) is a left side view. It is a figure which shows the structure of the side seal in one Embodiment of the linear guide apparatus which concerns on this invention, (a) is a top view, (b) is a front view, (c) is a part along 3c-3c of (a). It is sectional drawing. It is a figure explaining the process of collect | recovering the unnecessary lubricant on the guide rail in the collection | recovery unit in one Embodiment of the linear guide apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the conventional linear guide apparatus.

Embodiments of a linear guide device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration in an embodiment of a linear guide device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recovery unit in an embodiment of the linear guide device according to the present invention, where (a) is a front view, (b) is a bottom view, (c) is a rear view, d) is a plan view, (e) is a right side view, and (f) is a left side view.
As shown in FIG. 1, the linear guide device 1 includes a guide rail 10 extending in the axial direction, a slider 20 straddling the guide rail 10 so as to be relatively movable in the axial direction, an end cap 30, and a recovery unit. 40 and a side seal 50.

<Guide rail>
Two rolling element rolling grooves 11, 11 are formed on both side surfaces 10 a, 10 a of the guide rail 10 along the axial direction (longitudinal direction) of the guide rail 10.
<Slider>
On the other hand, the slider body 20a of the slider 20 is formed with rolling element rolling grooves 22 and 22 facing the rolling element rolling grooves 11 on the inner side surfaces of both sleeve portions 21 and 21, respectively. A large number of balls B as an example of rolling elements are slidably loaded between the opposing rolling element rolling grooves 11 and 22, and the slider 20 is moved through the rolling of these balls B. The guide rail 10 can be relatively moved along the axial direction.

<End cap>
With this movement, the ball B interposed between the guide rail 10 and the slider 20 rolls and moves to the end of the slider 20, but in order to continuously move the slider 20 in the axial direction, It is necessary to circulate these balls B indefinitely.
For this reason, the rolling element passage 23 penetrating in the axial direction is formed in the sleeve portion 21 of the slider body 20a, and the substantially U-shaped end caps 30 are respectively installed at both ends of the slider body 20a. The end cap 30 is formed with a semicircular arc-shaped direction change path 24 that communicates between the rolling element rolling grooves 11 and 22 and the rolling element passage 23 to form a rolling element infinite circulation track. Yes.

  A collection unit 40 and a side seal 50 are installed on the end face 30 a outside the end cap 30 in this order so as to overlap in the axial direction (movement direction) of the slider 20. The collection unit 40 is installed in a non-contact manner with respect to the left and right side surface portions 10a and 10a and the upper surface portion 10b of the guide rail 10. The end cap 30, the recovery unit 40, and the side seal 50 are fixed to the slider 20a through fixing means such as screws 25, for example.

<Recovery unit>
As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2F, the recovery unit 40 has a hollow substantially U shape.
A recovery hole 41 penetrating inside is formed in the front surface portion 40a of the recovery unit 40 facing the side seal 50 along the opposing surface portions 40c facing the both side surface portions 10a and 10a of the guide rail 10 and the upper surface portion 10b. ing.

  In addition, a protrusion 42 that protrudes in the direction in which the side seal 50 is provided is formed on the front surface 40a of the recovery unit 40 along the side surface 40d. Here, the side surface portion 40d refers to a surface excluding the front surface portion 40a, the opposed surface portion 40c, and the back surface portion 40b on the opposite side of the front surface portion 40a among all surfaces constituting the surface of the recovery unit 40. That is, the side surface portion 40 d is a front surface portion 40 a that faces the side seal 50, a back surface portion 40 b that faces the end cap 30, and a facing surface portion that faces the guide rail 10 among all the surfaces constituting the surface of the recovery unit 40. Since it is a surface other than 40c, it is exposed to the outside.

Further, the side surface portion 40d is provided with one or more discharge holes 45 penetrating into the collection unit 40. The installation position of the discharge hole 45 is not particularly limited as long as it is provided on the side surface portion 40d, and is appropriately selected according to the purpose. However, in the case where a plurality of the discharge holes 45 are provided, It is preferable that they are provided symmetrically.
The discharge hole 45 is normally closed with a removable plug such as a screw.
Further, a protruding portion 42 that protrudes in the direction in which the end cap 30 is provided may also be formed on the back surface portion 40b of the recovery unit 40 along the side surface portion 40d.

<Side seal>
3A and 3B are diagrams showing a configuration of a side seal in an embodiment of the linear guide device according to the present invention, in which FIG. 3A is a plan view, FIG. 3B is a front view, and FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view in alignment with 3c.
As shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, the side seal 50 is formed in a substantially U shape like the end cap 30 and the recovery unit 40, and the seal surface whose inner peripheral portion is in sliding contact with the guide rail 10. A lip portion 52 formed by baking and bonding synthetic rubber to the pressed steel sheet 5 is integrally formed. The tip of the lip portion 52 on the guide rail 10 side branches in a pair in the longitudinal direction (axial direction) of the guide rail 10. That is, the lip portion 52 extends to the collection unit 40 side and slidably contacts the guide rail 10, and the lip portion 52 extends to the outside (on the opposite side to the collection unit 40 side) and slidably contacts the guide rail 10. Lip portion 52b.

Here, the shape of the first lip portion 52a formed at the tip portion of the lip portion 52 has a smaller inclination angle with respect to the surface of the guide rail 10 than the second lip portion 52b, and is in the axial direction of the guide rail 10. It is preferable to form it long.
Further, the lubricant X, which is communicated with the first lip portion 52a and scooped up from the tip of the first lip portion 52a, is applied to the surface of the side seal 50 on the collection unit 40 side. A guide groove 53 that guides in a direction away from 10a and the upper surface portion 10b and reaches the recovery hole 41 is formed. Further, a sponge 60 is provided around the collection hole 41 (see FIG. 4).

<Lubricant recovery process>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process of collecting unnecessary lubricant on the guide rail in the collection unit in one embodiment of the linear guide device according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 4, when the slider 20 is moved in the axial direction with respect to the guide rail 10 in a state where the discharge hole 45 is closed by the plug, the slider 20 leaks and accumulates on the guide rail 10. The lubricant X is scooped up by the first lip portion 52 a of the side seal 50.

The lubricant X scooped up by the first lip portion 52a travels along the guide groove 53 of the side seal 50 as shown by the arrow in FIG. Alternatively, the additive Y is absorbed, and the thickener Z that is a component of the lubricant X is stored in the recovery hole 41 of the recovery unit 40.
The base oil or additive Y absorbed by the sponge 60 provided around the collection hole 41 can be removed from the collection unit together with the sponge 60. Further, the thickener Z stored in the collection hole 41 can be discharged by removing the plug of the discharge hole 45 and connecting a suction device (not shown) such as a suction pump to the discharge hole 45. Therefore, the amount of the lubricant X inside the slider 20 can be kept constant, leakage of the lubricant X can be prevented, and as a result, contamination of the surrounding environment can be prevented.

In addition, since the projecting portion 42 is formed on the front surface 40a of the recovery unit 40, the sealability between the recovery unit 40 and the side seal 50 is improved, so that contamination of the surrounding environment due to leakage of the lubricant X can be further prevented. Can do.
Further, the shape of the first lip portion 52a is formed so that the inclination angle with respect to the upper surface portion 10b of the guide rail 10 is smaller and longer in the axial direction of the guide rail 10 than the second lip portion 52b. It becomes easy to scoop up the lubricant X on the guide rail 10. As a result, unnecessary lubricant X on the guide rail 10 can be efficiently guided to the recovery unit 40, and contamination of the surrounding environment can be prevented.
As mentioned above, although embodiment of the linear guide apparatus based on this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible unless it deviates from the meaning of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Linear guide apparatus 10 Guide rail 11 Rolling body rolling groove 20 Slider 20a Slider main body 22 Rolling body rolling groove 30 End cap 40 Recovery unit 40d Side part 45 Discharge hole 50 Side seal 60 Sponge B Rolling element X Lubricant Y Base oil Or additive Z thickener

Claims (3)

A guide rail, a slider in which end caps are attached to both end faces of the slider main body that moves relative to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, rolling element rolling grooves formed in the slider main body of the slider, and the outside of the guide rail A linear body comprising a large number of rolling elements provided in a freely rolling manner between rolling element rolling grooves formed on the surface, a side seal provided on an end cap end surface of the slider, and a recovery unit. In the guide device,
The side seal is formed with a plurality of lip portions that are paired in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail,
A recovery hole is formed in the front portion of the recovery unit that recovers excess lubricant on the surface of the guide rail by one lip portion of the plurality of lip portions,
A sponge that absorbs the base oil or additive that is a constituent of the lubricant is provided around the recovery hole,
The linear guide device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of discharge holes for discharging the excess lubricant recovered from the thickener, which is a component of the lubricant, are provided on a side surface of the recovery hole.   The linear guide device according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion is formed along a side surface of the front surface of the recovery unit.   The shape of the one lip part is smaller than the other lip part located on the opposite side, and the inclination angle with respect to the surface of the guide rail is smaller and longer in the axial direction of the guide rail. Item 3. The linear guide device according to Item 1 or 2.

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