Patent Grant
8640564
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides circulation elements for a linear transmission element. In particular, the present invention relates to an arrangement of circulation elements and cap nuts for ball screw.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
In order to improve the aforesaid conventional problems coming from the cap nut having a short lead (i.e. having a small lead angle) or more than two rolling trenches, a publication cap nut having a circulation hole, being formed through two ends of the cap nut along an axial direction. The two ends of the circulation hole are formed with two circulation elements, and the two ends of a circulation passage formed by the circulation elements connect helical paths of the cap nut and the screw and the circulation hole. The thickness between the helical paths is thinner due to the small lead of the helical path or due to the plural helical paths. In order to mount the circulation elements on the cap nut, a part of the circulation passages of the circulation elements is designed on the cap nut. However, the circulation passages formed on the cap nut is curved and has a curved surface, and the processing would be difficult, the process time would be longer, and the manufacturing cost would be increased thereby. Even if the process is completed, the circulation passages of the circulation elements may not be matched. The circulation passages are curved, and the rolling element moves therein would impact the surfaces of the circulation passages. As the circulation passages are partially made of metal, the impact would be noisier. The technology disclosed in this Japan publication patent cannot solve the problems coming from the cap nut having a short lead (i.e. having a small lead angle) or more than two rolling trenches.
According to the aforesaid problems of the conventional technology, the inventor researches and improves to provide the invention, which certainly achieves the following invention objectives.
The primary objective of the present invention is to open up and develop circulation elements used for a ball screw having a short lead (i.e. having a small lead angle) or more than two rolling trenches, and to save the manufacturing cost and decrease operating noise of the ball screw.
To achieve the recited objectives, the present invention is a ball screw having circulation elements, comprising:
a screw, being formed with a spiral rolling trough at an outer edge thereof;
a cap nut, being formed with a through hole for the screw to insert through, an inner edge of the through hole formed with a rolling trench relative to the rolling trough, the rolling trench and the rolling trough forming a loading path, the loading path having a lead angle, and the cap nut having a circulation hole, being formed through two ends of the cap nut along an axial direction, and a mounting trough, being formed at two ends of the circulation hole and connecting with the rolling trench;
two circulation elements, being formed at the mounting trough, each of the circulation elements being formed with a circulation passage, two ends of the circulation passage connecting to the loading path and the circulation hole to form a circulation path;
a plurality of rolling elements, being formed at the circulation path;
wherein the mounting trough is formed with a first leaning surface, a second leaning surface, and an inclined plane, the inclined plane is approximately parallel to a lead angle of the loading path, each of the circulation elements is formed with a first resisting surface, a second resisting surface, and a mating surface, the first resisting surface leans on the first leaning surface, the second resisting surface leans on the second leaning surface, and the mating surface is disposed relatively to the inclined plane.
The mating surface and the inclined plane do not contact with each other.
The inclined plane is located between the first leaning surface and the second leaning surface.
The mating surface is formed between the first resisting surface and the second resisting surface.
The normal direction of the first leaning surface and the second leaning surface is parallel to the axial direction of the screw.
The normal direction of the first resisting surface and the second resisting surface is parallel to the axial direction of the screw.
The section of the inclined plane is U shaped.
The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention.
The drawings disclose an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, which serves to exemplify the various advantages and objects hereof, and are as follows:
Referring to
a crew 3, being formed with a spiral rolling trough 31 at an outer edge thereof;
a cap nut 4, being formed with a through hole 41 for the screw 3 to insert through, an inner edge of the through hole 41 formed with a rolling trench 411 relative to the rolling trough 31, the rolling trench 411 and the rolling trough 31 forming a loading path, the loading path having a lead angle A, and the cap nut 4 having a circulation hole 42, being formed through two ends of the cap nut along an axial direction, and a mounting trough 43, being formed at two ends of the circulation hole 42 and connecting with the rolling trench 411;
two circulation elements 5, being formed at the mounting trough 43, each the circulation elements 5 being formed with a circulation passage 51, two ends of the circulation passage 51 connecting to the loading path and the circulation hole 42 to form a circulation path;
a plurality of rolling elements K, being formed at the circulation path;
wherein the mounting trough 43 is formed with a first leaning surface 431, a second leaning surface 433, and an inclined plane 432, the inclined plane 432 is approximately parallel to a lead angle A of the loading path. Each of the circulation elements 5 is formed with a first resisting surface 52, a second resisting surface 54, and a mating surface 53. The first resisting surface 52 leans on the first leaning surface 43, the second resisting surface 54 leans on the second leaning surface 433, and the mating surface 53 is located relatively to the inclined plane 432.
However, because the inclined plane 432 is approximately parallel to the lead angle of the loading path, the good precision of the processing on the inclined plane 432 would be hard obtained. Therefore, the first resisting surface 52 leans on the first leaning surface 431 and the second resisting surface 54 leans on the second leaning surface 433 for positioning the circulation elements 5 in the present invention. The normal direction of the first leaning surface 431 and the second leaning surface 433 is parallel to the axial direction of the screw 3, and the processing would be easier and would have a better precision. The assembly precision of the circulation elements 5 would be improved. The mating surface 53 and the inclined plane 432 do not contact with each other. The inclined plane 432 is approximately parallel to a lead angle of the loading path. Thereby, there would not be any broken thread at the mounting trough 43 of the cap nut 4, and the rigidness of the rolling trench 411 would not be affected. Because there is a certain thickness between the rolling trenches 411, the circulation elements 5 would be positioned in the mounting trough firmly.
In order to clarify the features of the present invention, the advantages and the practical utilities of the present invention comparing with the prior art are illustrated as following.
The present invention amends the outline of the mounting trough formed on the conventional cap nut, and the cap nut having a short lead (i.e. having a small lead angle) or more than two rolling trenches will not have the broken tooth's question. When processing the mounting trough of the present invention, an end mill would be only used. Any special process is not required, and the manufacturing cost would be reduced. The circulation passages of present invention are disposed on the circulation elements, and the mating precision of the circulation hole and the loading path would be improved. Therefore, the rolling element may operate much smoother and may make less noise.
Many changes and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
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