FRICTION DRIVE UNIT

Abstract

A friction drive unit for moving a table along a rail comprising: a pair of drive rollers for sandwiching a guide rail therebetween, one of the pair of the drive rollers being connected to a drive source; a pair of reverse rollers attached to roller shafts of the respective drive rollers so as to transmit rotation of the one drive roller connected to the drive source to the other drive roller; and two arm portions formed integrally with or separately from one another, the pair of the drive rollers being pivoted on the arm portions, respectively, wherein the two arm portions are resiliently deformable in such directions as to approach and move away from each other and are provided so that the pair of the drive rollers produce pressing forces to the guide rail.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views showing an attached state of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 1 of the invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a top plan view and FIG. 1B is a side plan view.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a structure of the friction drive unit according to the embodiment 1 of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an inner structure of the friction drive unit according to the embodiment 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 2 of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 3 of the invention.

FIGS. 6A to 6B are schematic views showing a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 4 of the invention, wherein FIG. 6A shows a friction drive unit of a biaxial link type and FIG. 6B shows a friction drive unit of a uniaxial link type

FIGS. 7A to 7C are schematic views showing a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 5 of the invention, wherein FIG. 7A is a side plan view, FIG. 7B is a top plan view, and FIG. 7C is a partial cross-sectional side view.

FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic views showing a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 6 of the invention, wherein FIG. 8A is a side plan view, FIG. 8B is a top plan view, and FIG. 8C is a partial cross-sectional side view.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic views showing forms of drive rollers according to the embodiment 6 of the invention, wherein FIG. 9A is a side plan view of straight drive rollers and FIG. 9B is a side plan view of the drive rollers formed with arc-shaped recessed portions.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional side view showing other example of a structure of a friction drive unit according to the embodiment 6 of the invention.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are schematic views showing a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 7 of the invention, wherein FIG. 11A is a top plan view and FIG. 11B is a side plan view.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are schematic views showing a structure of a friction drive unit according to an embodiment 8 of the invention, wherein FIG. 12A is a top plan view and FIG. 12B is a side plan view.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are schematic views showing structures of friction drive units according to an embodiment 9 of the invention, wherein FIG. 13A is a side plan view of a friction drive unit having a tightening portion and FIG. 13B is a side plan view of a friction drive unit without a tightening portion.

FIG. 14 is a top plan view showing an example of coupled friction drive units in two lines according to the embodiment 9 of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a side plan view of other example of a friction drive unit attached to a table bottom face according to the embodiment 9 of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an example of a form of connection between a drive source and an arm portion according to an embodiment 10 of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a prior-art direct-acting drive mechanism (ball screw mechanism).

FIGS. 18A and 18B are schematic views showing a prior-art direct-acting drive mechanism (friction drive mechanism), wherein FIG. 18A is a front plan view and FIG. 18B is a side plan view.

Claims

1. A friction drive unit for moving a table along a rail comprising: a pair of drive rollers for sandwiching a guide rail therebetween, one of the pair of the drive rollers being connected to a drive source;a pair of reverse rollers attached to roller shafts of the respective drive rollers so as to transmit rotation of the one drive roller connected to the drive source to the other drive roller; andtwo arm portions formed integrally with or separately from one another, the pair of the drive rollers being pivoted on the arm portions, respectively,wherein the two arm portions are resiliently deformable in such directions as to approach and move away from each other and are provided so that the pair of the drive rollers produce pressing forces to the guide rail.

2. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the two arm portions are provided so that an inside width between the pair of the drive rollers becomes smaller than a width of the guide rail sandwiched between the pair of the drive rollers.

3. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the two arm portions are tightened together by a tightening portion for adjusting a space between the arm portions.

4. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is one single round shaft guide rail or a plurality of parallel-disposed round shaft guide rails.

5. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is a round shaft guide rail having flat face portions at portions to be in contact with the drive rollers.

6. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the two arm portions further include oil retaining layers retaining lubricant, respectively andthe lubricant is supplied to the pair of the drive rollers and/or the pair of the reverse rollers from the oil retaining layers by capillary action.

7. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the roller shaft on a drive source side is a hollow shaft having a slit at one end portion on the drive source side anda drive shaft of the drive source is inserted into the hollow shaft.

8. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, wherein the arm portions are attached to one of the table and a base member.

9. A friction drive unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a position detecting portion for detecting a position of the table arranged parallel to the rail; anda control portion for controlling movement of the table by feeding back detected positional information on the table to the drive source.

10. A friction drive unit for moving a table along a rail comprising: a pair of drive rollers for sandwiching a guide rail therebetween, one of the pair of the drive rollers being connected to a drive source;a pair of reverse rollers attached to roller shafts of the respective drive rollers so as to transmit rotation of the one drive roller connected to the drive source to the other drive roller;two arm portions being swingable, the pair of the drive rollers being pivoted on the arm portions, respectively; anda tightening portion for tightening the two arm portions together so that the pair of the drive rollers produce pressing forces to the guide rail by adjusting a space between both of the arm portions.

11. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, wherein the guide rail is one single round shaft guide rail or a plurality of parallel-disposed round shaft guide rails.

12. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, wherein the guide rail is a round shaft guide rail having flat face portions at portions to be in contact with the drive rollers.

13. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, wherein the two arm portions further include oil retaining layers retaining lubricant, respectively andthe lubricant is supplied to the pair of the drive rollers and/or the pair of the reverse rollers from the oil retaining layers by capillary action.

14. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, wherein the roller shaft on a drive source side is a hollow shaft having a slit at one end portion on the drive source side anda drive shaft of the drive source is inserted into the hollow shaft.

15. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, wherein the arm portions are attached to one of the table and a base member.

16. A friction drive unit according to claim 10, further comprising: a position detecting portion for detecting a position of the table arranged parallel to the rail; anda control portion for controlling movement of the table by feeding back detected positional information on the table to the drive source.

17. A friction drive unit for moving a table along a rail comprising: a single drive roller connected to a drive source, the drive roller producing a pressing force to an upper face of the rail fixed onto a base member; anda housing attached to the table through an attaching portion protruding sideways,wherein the housing supports the drive source and pivots the drive roller andthe attaching portion of the housing is provided so that the drive roller produces the pressing force to the rail by resilient deformation of the housing in the vertical direction.

18. A friction drive unit according to claim 17, further comprising: a tightening portion that is attached to the table and is resiliently deformable,wherein the tightening portion is brought in contact with the upper face of the housing so as to press the housing downward.

19. A friction drive unit according to claim 17, wherein the housing further includes an oil retaining layer retaining lubricant andthe lubricant is supplied to the drive roller from the oil retaining layer by capillary action.

20. A friction drive unit according to claim 17, wherein a roller shaft of the drive roller is a hollow shaft having a slit at one end portion on the drive source side anda drive shaft of the drive source is inserted into the hollow shaft.

21. A friction drive unit according to claim 17, further comprising: a position detecting portion for detecting a position of the table arranged parallel to the rail; anda control portion for controlling movement of the table by feeding back detected positional information on the table to the drive source.