Patent Application
20100139433
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ball screw, and more particularly to a ball screw with a circulation member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ball screws used on various types of machines are generally divided into internal circulation type and external circulation type. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,419 discloses an external circulation type ball screw, the circulation member of which is a reverse U-shaped pipe. However, for weight reduction of the ball screw and smooth rolling of the balls, the circulation path inside the pipe is difficult to control due the machining of the reverse U-shaped pipe is not easy. Therefore, it is impossible for the balls to move smoothly.
Outer circulation type ball screw is essentially provided with a circulation member outside the screw for guiding the rolling balls out of the nut. With the circulation member, the circulation of the rolling balls can be realized. The present invention is aimed at the assembly relation between the circulation member and the ball screw.
The existing circulation members are mostly made of plastic. After a circulation member is assembled onto the ball screw, the plastic material of the circulation member plus the inherent manufacturing tolerance of the two will make the assembly clearance between the circulation member and the ball screw inconsistent, thus reducing the defective rate of the products. Therefore, a JP 2005-61608, as shown in
Then, a JP 2007-218383 discloses another circulation member 13, as shown in
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a ball screw with a circulation member, wherein the flexible members are disposed at the combining portion between the circulation member and the nut to allow them to be assembled closely.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a ball screw with a circulation member, wherein the flexible members are disposed at the combining portion between the circulation member and the nut to prevent the circulation member and the nut from being damaged when they are assembled and disassembled.
The ball screw with a circulation member comprises a screw with a rolling groove in its outer surface, a nut having an inserting hole for insertion of the screw, in an inner surface of the inserting hole being formed a rolling groove for cooperating with the rolling groove of the screw to define loading path, in an outer surface of the nut being defined two through holes in communication with the rolling groove of the nut; a circulation member having two leg portions formed at both ends thereof and a circulation path defined between the two leg portions, the leg portions being inserted in the two through holes of the nut; a plurality of rolling elements rolling within the loading path and the circulation path; and a plurality of flexible members disposed between the leg portions of the circulation member and the inner surface of the through holes of the nut.
The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to
The screw 20 is defined in its outer surface with a rolling groove 21.
The nut 30 is provided with an inserting hole 31 for insertion of the screw 20, in the inner surface of the inserting hole 31 is defined a rolling groove 311 for cooperating with the rolling groove 21 to define a loading path A, in the outer surface of the nut 30 are defined two through holes 32 in communication with the rolling groove 311, and in each of the through holes 32 is defined an annular inner flange 321.
The circulation member 40 is made of resin and has a leg portion 41 at each of two ends thereof, and formed between the two leg portions 41 is a circulation path 42. The two leg portions 41 are to be inserted in the two holes 32, and the directions of the input and output portions of the circulation path 42 are tangent to the direction of the loading path A. The circulation member 40 is then fixed to the nut 30 by two screws B.
The plurality of rolling elements 50 roll within the loading path A and the circulation path 42.
The two flexible members 60 are ring-shaped and mounted to the leg portions 41 of the circulation member 40, respectively, and located between the leg portions 41 and the through holes 32 of the nut 30. Each of the flexible members 60 will be slightly deformed because of being pressed and squeezed by the legs 41 of the circulation member 40 and the inner surface of the inner flange 321 of the through holes 32 of the nut 30, and because its bottom surface 61 is abutted against the annular inner flange 321 of the through holes 32 of the nut 30.
It is understood from the above description of the structures of the main parts of the embodiment and the assembly relations among them that the first embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages:
1, Since the flexible members 60 are disposed between the legs portions 41 of the circulation members 40 and the inner surface of the through holes 32 of the nut 30, plus it is deformable, the circulation member 40 and the nut 30 can be assembled together more closely and tightly, creating a liquid-proof and anti-dust effect, namely, the oil inside the ball screw won't come out from the combining portion between the circulation members 40 and the nut 30, and foreign bodies from outside cannot enter the nut via this combining portion.
2, since the circulation member 40 and the nut 30 are assembled via the flexible and deformable members 60, in assembly, they can squeeze the flexible and deformable members 60 to make the assembly easier, similarly, will also make the disassembly easier, thus preventing the circulation member 40 and the nut 30 from being damaged when they are assembled and disassembled.
3, the flexibility and deformability of the flexible members 60 can absorb the shocks caused by the rolling elements 50 between the circulation member 40 and the nut 30, thus allowing the work platform of the processing machine carrying this ball screw to move more stably.
A ball screw with a circulation member in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention also comprises: a screw, a nut, a circulation member, a plurality of rolling elements and two flexible members, and they generally are assembled in the same manner and provide the same function as the first embodiment, except the following differences:
As shown in
It is noted that since in the outer surface of each of the leg portions 41 of the circulation member 40 is defined the annular groove 43, which can further be used to control the thickness of the leg portions 41 of the circulation member 40 in addition to being provided for accommodation of the flexible members 60, so as to prevent the ununiformity of the contraction stress as a result of thickness difference of the leg portions 41, which will cause deformation of the circulation path 42 of the circulation member 40.
A ball screw with a circulation member in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention comprises: a screw, a nut, a circulation member, a plurality of rolling elements and four flexible members. They generally are assembled in the same manner and provide the same function as the first embodiment, except the following differences:
As shown in
The four flexible members 70 in the form of blocks are received in the concaves 44 in such a manner that the flexible members 70 protrude a little out of the outer surface of the leg portions 41 after they are engaged in the concaves 44.
It is noted that since in the outer surface of each of the leg portions 41 of the circulation member 40 are defined opposite concaves 44, which can further be used to control the thickness of the leg portions 41 of the circulation member 40 in addition to being provided for accommodation of the flexible members 60, so as to prevent the ununiformity of the contraction stress as a result of thickness difference of the leg portions 41, which will cause deformation of the circulation path 42 of the circulation member 40.
While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
