Linear guide rail

Abstract

The utility model discloses a linear guide rail, including two slide rails and baffle, the baffle is set between two slide rails, the gear is rotatively arranged on the baffle in the central position, and the slide groove is formed on two slide rails respectively, and the rack is arranged in the slide groove of two slide rails respectively, the rack is engaged with the gear, and the rack on two slide rails is arranged on the both sides of gear respectively, still be provided with a plurality of bearing groups on the baffle, and each bearing group includes double row ball bearing and single row ball bearing, the inner ring of double row ball bearing and single row ball bearing is fixedly connected with the baffle respectively, the outer ring of double row ball bearing is contacted with the slide groove of one of slide rails, and the outer ring of single row ball bearing is contacted with the slide groove of another slide rail. Its simple structure can improve effective stroke, realize high bearing, high rigidity, low friction operation effect.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to a linear guide rail. Background Technology

[0002] Linear guide bearings, as core components of precision transmission, are widely used in automated equipment, precision machine tools, and other applications requiring linear reciprocating motion. Their load-bearing capacity, structural rigidity, effective stroke, and smooth operation directly determine the overall machine's working accuracy. Existing conventional linear guide bearings often directly assemble steel balls within the slider's groove, relying on the guide rail to constrain the steel balls for sliding guidance. This assembly structure has significant drawbacks: the steel balls lack independent enclosed protective structures, making them prone to falling off during high-speed reciprocating operation, significantly shortening the guide rail's lifespan, and posing risks of equipment jamming and precision failure. Furthermore, traditional guide rail structures are limited in size, with a relatively small overall slider volume and a limited number of steel balls, resulting in weak overall load-bearing capacity and insufficient bending rigidity. Under heavy loads, they are prone to deformation and vibration, leading to poor motion stability. Moreover, the conventional single-slider, single-guide rail layout has a short stroke limitation; the effective working stroke of the guide rail cannot exceed the length of the guide rail itself. In scenarios where equipment installation space is limited and long-stroke transmission is required, the guide rail base must be lengthened, increasing both the equipment's footprint and manufacturing costs. Utility Model Content

[0003] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this utility model provides a linear guide rail with a simple structure that can improve the effective stroke and achieve high load-bearing capacity, high rigidity, and low friction operation.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, this utility model provides a linear guide rail, comprising two slide rails and a partition, wherein the partition is disposed between the two slide rails. The partition is characterized by: a gear rotatably disposed at the center of the partition; each of the two slide rails having a groove; and racks disposed in the grooves of the two slide rails, the racks meshing with the gears; the racks on the two slide rails being disposed on opposite sides of the gears; and the partition also comprising several bearing assemblies, each bearing assembly including a double-row ball bearing and a single-row ball bearing. The inner rings of the double-row and single-row ball bearings are fixedly connected to the partition, the outer ring of the double-row ball bearing contacts the groove of one of the slide rails, and the outer ring of the single-row ball bearing contacts the groove of the other slide rail.

[0005] The advantages of this design are as follows: With two racks positioned on either side of the gear and fixed to the corresponding slide rails, when one slide rail slides relative to the partition, the other slide rail can be driven to move in the opposite direction synchronously through gear meshing. This makes the total effective stroke of the guide rail the sum of the relative displacements of the two slide rails. Under the same total guide rail length, the effective stroke is almost doubled, enabling long-distance linear transmission in confined installation spaces without the need to lengthen the guide rail base, thus directly reducing the equipment's footprint and manufacturing costs. The use of independent, enclosed bearing assemblies to replace the traditional structure of embedded steel balls in the slider eliminates the risk of ball drop during high-speed reciprocating operation, significantly improving operational reliability. The double-row ball bearings, with their double rows of rolling elements, can simultaneously withstand radial and bidirectional axial loads, serving as the main load-bearing unit. The single-row ball bearings on the opposite side provide auxiliary constraints, and together they form a multi-point symmetrical support system. This effectively enhances the bending stiffness and anti-overturning capacity of the guide rail, significantly reducing the elastic deformation of the slide rail under heavy load conditions. This suppresses vibration and impact during operation, ensuring smooth motion and making it suitable for high-load precision transmission scenarios. The bearing outer ring and the slide rail groove have pure rolling contact, resulting in frictional resistance far lower than that of a sliding guide structure. This leads to lower starting torque, lower operating power consumption, slower component wear rate, and longer service life. Furthermore, the rolling contact provides excellent motion consistency, eliminating crawling at low speeds and resulting in higher positioning accuracy and repeatability in reciprocating motion, with excellent accuracy retention even after long-term use. In terms of layout versatility, the bearing assembly can be flexibly adjusted in number and spacing along the sliding direction to adapt to the application requirements of different load levels. The transmission structure with the gears arranged in the center is symmetrically stressed, and the transmission of the slide rails on both sides has good synchronization and balanced force, which can avoid jamming and abnormal wear caused by uneven load.

[0006] As a further feature of this invention, the double-row ball bearing includes a first inner ring and a first outer ring, with two rows of rollers fitting between the first inner ring and the first outer ring. A mating step is provided on the end face of the first inner ring, and a mating groove is provided on the partition plate corresponding to the position of the mating step. The mating step is engaged in the mating groove. A connecting pin is fitted on the inner hole of the first inner ring, with the head of the connecting pin abutting against one end face of the partition plate. The rod portion of the connecting pin passes through the partition plate and is threaded into the inner hole of the first inner ring.

[0007] The beneficial effects of this design are as follows: the mating step on the end face of the first inner ring engages with the corresponding mating groove of the partition, forming a high-precision radial limit. This ensures that the rotation axis of the double-row ball bearing is perpendicular to the mounting surface of the partition, preventing uneven rolling element stress and one-sided raceway wear caused by bearing misalignment. It also ensures accurate contact between the bearing outer ring and the slide rail groove, allowing the load to be evenly distributed along the circumference of the raceway, fully leveraging the double-row bearing's load-bearing advantage. Simultaneously, it eliminates operational vibration and noise caused by off-center loading, improving operational smoothness. Regarding connection reliability, a connecting pin passes through the partition and engages with the threaded inner hole of the first inner ring. The head of the connecting pin abuts against the end face of the partition, forming an axial lock. Under long-term reciprocating motion of the guide rail and under alternating and impact loads, the bearing will not experience axial movement or radial loosening, maintaining a stable support position. Even during long-term operation, it can maintain its initial installation accuracy, significantly improving the overall precision retention and service life of the guide rail. The stepped positioning and pin locking structure eliminates the need for complex tooling, allowing for rapid bearing alignment and fixation during assembly, significantly improving assembly efficiency. Disassembly simply requires unscrewing the connecting pin to separate the bearing from the partition, facilitating individual replacement of damaged bearings later without requiring complete disassembly of the guide rail, thus reducing operation and maintenance costs and complexity. The interlocking structure of the steps and grooves allows some radial loads to be directly transferred to the partition base via the stepped surface, significantly reducing the shear force on the connecting pin and improving the overall shear strength and load-bearing limit of the connection structure. This enables the double-row ball bearings to withstand greater radial loads and overturning moments, further enhancing the guide rail's heavy-duty adaptability.

[0008] As a further feature of this invention, the single-row ball bearing includes a second inner ring and a second outer ring, with a row of rollers fitted between the second inner ring and the second outer ring. The partition plate is provided with mounting holes corresponding to the position of the single-row roller bearing. A connecting shaft extends from the second inner ring into the mounting hole, and a fastening nut is threaded onto the connecting shaft. The fastening nut abuts against the end face of the partition plate.

[0009] The advantages of this design are as follows: the integrated connecting shaft of the second inner ring is inserted into the mounting hole of the partition plate, achieving precise radial constraint. This ensures that the rotation axis of the single-row ball bearing is perpendicular to the mounting surface, avoiding uneven contact between the outer ring and the groove, and excessive local stress caused by bearing runout. Combined with the axial locking of the fastening nut, the single-row ball bearing is firmly fixed to the partition plate, preventing axial displacement and radial wobble during reciprocating motion. The support posture is stable and reliable, providing continuous and stable auxiliary support and guiding constraint, forming a stable support system with the main load-bearing double-row ball bearing. The integrated structure of the inner ring extension connecting shaft eliminates the need for additional connecting parts such as pins and positioning sleeves, reducing the total number of parts and simplifying the assembly process. The partition plate only needs to be machined with mounting holes of the corresponding specifications, eliminating the need for complex mating groove structures, reducing the machining difficulty and manufacturing cost of the partition plate. Furthermore, the arrangement of the single-row bearing is not limited by the mating groove, allowing for flexible adjustment of the mounting point according to space requirements and load distribution, adapting to different guide rail layout designs. By tightening the locking nut to a certain extent, the axial installation position of the single-row ball bearing can be finely adjusted within a certain range, thereby adjusting the fit clearance between the bearing outer ring and the slide rail groove, ensuring that the bearing and the slide rail are always in effective contact, eliminating the movement play caused by the assembly clearance, and improving the overall rigidity and movement accuracy of the guide rail; at the same time, the locking force can be adjusted according to the actual load requirements to adapt to different operating conditions such as light load and heavy load.

[0010] As a further feature of this invention, a limiting block is provided on the outer wall of the slide rail, and an abutting block is provided on the outer wall of the partition. The abutting block and the limiting block abut against each other to limit the sliding of the partition.

[0011] The beneficial effects of this design are as follows: The mutual contact between the limiting block on the outer wall of the slide rail and the abutting block on the outer wall of the partition creates a rigid mechanical limit on the relative sliding stroke of the partition and the slide rail. This prevents overtravel from causing the gears and racks to disengage, and also prevents the bearings from dislodging from the slide rail groove. Structurally, this eliminates structural failures and equipment damage caused by overtravel, ensuring the safety and stability of the guide rail operation. Especially in high-speed operation and automatic control scenarios, it can serve as a final mechanical protection, compensating for the failure risk of electronically controlled limits. The limiting structure is entirely external to the outer walls of the slide rail and partition, without occupying the internal groove space of the guide rail. It will not interfere with the internal bearing rolling contact or gear and rack transmission, ensuring the continuity and integrity of the internal moving parts. Simultaneously, the external structure does not damage the integrity of the groove raceway, which remains continuously smooth throughout its entire stroke. The bearings run smoothly throughout the entire stroke without impact or jamming, ensuring consistent motion accuracy.

[0012] As a further feature of this invention, the partition sidewall is provided with several assembly slots.

[0013] The advantages of this design are as follows: By strategically placing assembly slots on the sidewalls of the partition, the material usage of the partition can be effectively reduced while ensuring the overall structural strength and rigidity of the partition. This lowers the overall weight of the guide rail, making it suitable for applications such as precision equipment and automated terminals where strict weight control is required. It also directly reduces material consumption and improves the product's economic efficiency. The assembly slots on the sidewalls serve as gripping and alignment references during assembly, facilitating the handling, clamping, and precise alignment of the partition during guide rail assembly. This reduces assembly difficulty and improves assembly efficiency and alignment accuracy. Furthermore, the assembly slots can be directly used to install external connectors, displacement sensors, limit switches, and other auxiliary components without requiring additional mounting points on the partition. This achieves integrated expansion of the guide rail's functions and enhances its adaptability to various scenarios. Attached Figure Description

[0014] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the present utility model; Figure 2 This is a partial cross-sectional structural diagram of an embodiment of the present utility model; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the slide rail structure in an embodiment of the present utility model; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the partition structure in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0015] Examples of implementations of the linear guide of this utility model Figures 1 to 4As shown: The system includes two slide rails 1 and a partition 2. The partition 2 is positioned between the two slide rails 1. A gear 21 is rotatably mounted on the partition 2 at its center. Each of the two slide rails 1 has a groove, and a rack 11 is mounted on each groove. The rack 11 meshes with the gear 21. The racks 11 on the two slide rails 1 are positioned on opposite sides of the gear 21. The partition 2 also has several bearing assemblies. Each bearing assembly includes a double-row ball bearing 3 and a single-row ball bearing 4. The inner rings of the double-row ball bearing 3 and the single-row ball bearing 4 are fixedly connected to the partition 2. The outer ring of the double-row ball bearing 3 contacts the groove of one of the slide rails 1, and the outer ring of the single-row ball bearing 4 contacts the groove of the other slide rail 1. The beneficial effects of this configuration are as follows: With the two racks 11 respectively positioned on both sides of the gear 21 and fixedly connected to the corresponding slide rails 1, when one slide rail 1 slides relative to the partition 2, the other slide rail 1 can be driven to move in the opposite direction synchronously through the meshing transmission of the gear 21. This makes the total effective stroke of the guide rail the sum of the relative displacements of the two slide rails 1. Under the same total guide rail length, the effective stroke is almost doubled, enabling long-distance linear transmission in a small installation space without the need to lengthen the guide rail base, thus directly reducing the equipment footprint and manufacturing cost. The adoption of independent enclosed bearing assemblies to replace the traditional structure of embedded steel balls in the slider eliminates the risk of ball drop during high-speed reciprocating operation, significantly improving operational reliability. The double-row ball bearing 3, with its double-row rolling elements, can simultaneously withstand radial and bidirectional axial loads, serving as the main load-bearing unit. The single-row ball bearing 4 provides auxiliary constraint on the opposite side. Together, they form a multi-point symmetrical support system, effectively enhancing the guide rail's bending stiffness and anti-overturning capability. Under heavy-load conditions, the elastic deformation of the slide rail 1 is significantly reduced, suppressing vibration and impact during operation, ensuring smooth motion, and making it suitable for high-load precision transmission scenarios. The bearing outer ring and the slide rail 1 groove have pure rolling contact, resulting in frictional resistance far lower than that of a sliding guide structure. This leads to low starting torque, low power consumption, slow wear rate of parts, and longer service life. Furthermore, the rolling contact provides good motion consistency, eliminating crawling at low speeds, and resulting in higher positioning accuracy and repeatability in reciprocating motion, with excellent accuracy retention after long-term use. In terms of layout versatility, the bearing assembly can be flexibly adjusted in number and spacing along the sliding direction to adapt to the application requirements of different load levels. The transmission structure with gear 21 arranged in the center is symmetrically stressed, and the two slide rails 1 on both sides have good transmission synchronization and balanced stress, which can avoid jamming and abnormal wear caused by off-center load.

[0016] As a further feature of this embodiment, the double-row ball bearing 3 includes a first inner ring 31 and a first outer ring 32. Two rows of rollers are fitted between the first inner ring 31 and the first outer ring 32. A mating step 33 is provided on the end face of the first inner ring 31. A mating groove is provided on the partition plate 2 corresponding to the position of the mating step 33. The mating step 33 is engaged in the mating groove. A connecting pin 34 is fitted on the inner hole of the first inner ring 31. The head of the connecting pin 34 abuts against one end face of the partition plate 2. The rod of the connecting pin 34 passes through the partition plate 2 and is threaded into the inner hole of the first inner ring 31. The beneficial effects of this design are as follows: the mating step 33 on the end face of the first inner ring 31 engages with the corresponding mating groove of the partition 2, forming a high-precision radial limit. This ensures that the rotation axis of the double-row ball bearing 3 is perpendicular to the mounting surface of the partition 2, preventing uneven rolling element stress and one-sided raceway wear caused by bearing misalignment. It also ensures accurate contact between the bearing outer ring and the slide groove of the slide rail 1, allowing the load to be evenly distributed along the circumference of the raceway, fully leveraging the double-row bearing's load-bearing advantage. Simultaneously, it eliminates operational vibration and noise caused by off-center loading, improving operational smoothness. Regarding connection reliability, a connecting pin 34 passes through the partition 2 and engages with the threaded inner hole of the first inner ring 31. The head of the connecting pin 34 abuts against the end face of the partition 2, forming an axial lock. Under long-term reciprocating motion of the guide rail and under alternating and impact loads, the bearing will not experience axial movement or radial loosening, maintaining a stable support position. Long-term operation can maintain the initial installation accuracy, significantly improving the overall precision retention and service life of the guide rail. The stepped positioning and pin locking structure eliminates the need for complex tooling, allowing for quick bearing alignment and fixation during assembly, significantly improving assembly efficiency. Disassembly simply requires unscrewing the connecting pin 34 to separate the bearing from the partition 2, facilitating individual replacement of damaged bearings later without requiring complete disassembly of the guide rail, thus reducing operation and maintenance costs and difficulty. The mating structure of the step 33 and the mating groove allows some radial loads to be directly transferred to the partition 2 base via the stepped surface, significantly reducing the shear force on the connecting pin 34, improving the overall shear strength and load-bearing limit of the connection structure, enabling the double-row ball bearing 3 to withstand greater radial loads and overturning moments, further enhancing the guide rail's heavy-duty adaptability.

[0017] As a further feature of this embodiment, the single-row ball bearing 4 includes a second inner ring 41 and a second outer ring 42, with a row of rollers fitted between the second inner ring 41 and the second outer ring 42. A mounting hole is provided on the partition plate 2 corresponding to the position of the single-row roller bearing. A connecting shaft 43 extends from the second inner ring 41 into the mounting hole, and a fastening nut 44 is threaded onto the connecting shaft 43, abutting against the end face of the partition plate 2. The beneficial effects of this configuration are: the connecting shaft 43, integrally extending from the second inner ring 41, is inserted into the mounting hole of the partition plate 2, achieving precise radial constraint. This ensures that the rotation axis of the single-row ball bearing 4 is perpendicular to the mounting surface, avoiding uneven contact between the outer ring and the groove, and excessive local stress caused by bearing wobble. With the axial locking of the fastening nut 44, the single-row ball bearing 4 can be firmly fixed on the partition plate 2, preventing axial displacement and radial wobble during reciprocating motion. The support posture is stable and reliable, providing continuous and stable auxiliary support and guiding constraint, forming a stable support system with the main load-bearing double-row ball bearing 3. The integrated structure of the inner ring extension connecting shaft 43 eliminates the need for additional connecting parts such as pins and positioning sleeves, reducing the total number of parts and simplifying the assembly process. The partition 2 only requires machining mounting holes of the corresponding specifications, eliminating the need for complex mating groove structures, thus reducing the machining difficulty and manufacturing cost of the partition 2. Furthermore, the arrangement of the single-row bearings is not limited by the mating groove, allowing for flexible adjustment of the mounting points according to space requirements and load distribution, adapting to different guide rail layout designs. By tightening the locking nut 44, the axial mounting position of the single-row ball bearing 4 can be finely adjusted within a certain range, thereby adjusting the mating clearance between the bearing outer ring and the slide rail 1 groove. This ensures that the bearing and the slide rail are always in effective contact, eliminating movement play caused by assembly clearance and improving the overall rigidity and movement accuracy of the guide rail. Simultaneously, the locking force can be adjusted according to actual load requirements, adapting to different operating conditions such as light and heavy loads.

[0018] As a further feature of this embodiment, a limiting block 12 is provided on the outer wall of the slide rail 1, and an abutting block 22 is provided on the outer wall of the partition 2. The abutting block 22 abuts against the limiting block 12 to limit the sliding of the partition 2. The beneficial effect of this configuration is that the mutual abutment between the limiting block 12 on the outer wall of the slide rail 1 and the abutting block 22 on the outer wall of the partition 2 can form a rigid mechanical limit on the relative sliding stroke of the partition 2 and the slide rail 1, preventing the gear 21 from disengaging from the rack 11 due to excessive sliding stroke, and at the same time preventing the bearing from dislodging from the slide rail 1 groove. Structurally, this eliminates structural failure and equipment damage caused by excessive stroke, ensuring the safety and stability of the guide rail operation. Especially in high-speed operation and automatic control scenarios, it can serve as a terminal mechanical protection to compensate for the failure risk of electronically controlled limiting. All limiting structures are externally mounted on the outer walls of slide rail 1 and partition 2, without occupying the internal slide groove space of the guide rail. This will not cause any interference to the internal bearing rolling contact or gear 21 and rack 11 transmission, ensuring the continuity and integrity of the internal motion pair operation. At the same time, the external structure will not damage the integrity of the slide groove raceway, and the raceway will remain smooth throughout the entire stroke. The bearing will run smoothly throughout the entire stroke without impact or jamming, ensuring the consistency of motion accuracy.

[0019] As a further feature of this embodiment, the partition 2 is provided with several assembly slots on its sidewall. The advantages of this design are: by rationally setting the assembly slots on the sidewall of the partition 2, the material usage of the partition 2 can be effectively reduced while ensuring the overall structural strength and rigidity of the partition 2, thus lowering the overall weight of the guide rail. This makes it suitable for applications such as precision equipment and automated terminals where the weight of the equipment is strictly controlled, while also directly reducing material consumption and improving the product's economic efficiency. The assembly slots on the sidewall can serve as gripping and alignment references during the assembly process, facilitating the handling, clamping, and precise alignment of the partition 2 during guide rail assembly, reducing assembly difficulty, and improving assembly efficiency and alignment accuracy. Simultaneously, the assembly slots can be directly used to install external connectors, displacement sensors, limit switches, and other auxiliary components without requiring additional mounting points on the partition 2, achieving integrated expansion of the guide rail's functions and improving its adaptability to various scenarios.

[0020] The above examples are merely one preferred embodiment of this utility model. Ordinary variations and substitutions made by those skilled in the art within the scope of this utility model's technical solution are all included within the protection scope of this utility model.

Claims

1. A linear guide rail, comprising two slide rails and a partition, wherein the partition is disposed between the two slide rails, characterized in that: A gear is rotatably mounted on the partition plate at its center. Two slide rails each have a groove, and racks are mounted on the grooves of both slide rails. The racks mesh with the gear, and the racks on the two slide rails are positioned on opposite sides of the gear. The partition plate also has several bearing assemblies, each consisting of a double-row ball bearing and a single-row ball bearing. The inner rings of the double-row and single-row ball bearings are fixedly connected to the partition plate. The outer ring of the double-row ball bearing contacts the groove of one slide rail, and the outer ring of the single-row ball bearing contacts the groove of the other slide rail.

2. The linear guide rail according to claim 1, characterized in that: The double-row ball bearing includes a first inner ring and a first outer ring, with two rows of rollers fitting between the first inner ring and the first outer ring. A mating step is provided on the end face of the first inner ring, and a mating groove is provided on the partition plate corresponding to the position of the mating step. The mating step is engaged in the mating groove. A connecting pin is fitted on the inner hole of the first inner ring, and the head of the connecting pin abuts against one end face of the partition plate. The shank of the connecting pin passes through the partition plate and is threaded into the inner hole of the first inner ring.

3. The linear guide rail according to claim 2, characterized in that: The single-row ball bearing includes a second inner ring and a second outer ring, with a row of rollers fitted between the second inner ring and the second outer ring. The partition plate is provided with mounting holes corresponding to the position of the single-row roller bearing. A connecting shaft extends from the second inner ring into the mounting hole, and a fastening nut is threaded onto the connecting shaft. The fastening nut abuts against the end face of the partition plate.

4. The linear guide rail according to claim 1, characterized in that: A limiting block is provided on the outer wall of the slide rail, and an abutting block is provided on the outer wall of the partition. The abutting block and the limiting block abut against each other to limit the sliding of the partition.

5. The linear guide rail according to claim 1, characterized in that: The partition wall is provided with several assembly slots.

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