Cable guide device

Abstract

cable guidance device comprising a plurality of interconnected frame bodies, wherein Each frame body has a pair of left and right side plates (110a, 110b) spaced apart from each other and a pair of connecting plates (120, 130), and one of the connecting plates (120, 130) is arranged on the side facing inwards during bending between the side plates (110a, 110b), and the other of the connecting plates (120, 130) is arranged on the side facing outwards during bending between the side plates (110a, 110b), the side plates (110a, 110b) are connected to the side plates (110a, 110b) of adjacent frame bodies in the longitudinal direction of the cable guide device, and the side plates (110a, 110b) limit the pivot range of each of the frame bodies with respect to the adjacent frame body. Each of the inner sides of the side plates (110a, 110b) has a shoe (200, 300, 400) attached to the side plate (110a, 110b), and the longitudinally folded cable guide device is folded such that a first area of ​​the frame bodies is placed on a second area of ​​the frame bodies, wherein the shoes (200, 300, 400) attached to the frame bodies of the first area are in sliding contact with the shoes (200, 300, 400) attached to the frame bodies of the second area. characterized by the fact that that each shoe (200, 300, 400) has an indicator to show the wear level, and that each of the side plates (110a, 110b) has: an end surface of the side arranged on the inside during bending, wherein this end surface is formed with an insertion opening (140), an outer side surface, wherein the outer side surface is equipped with a concave area (150) formed in the outside of the side plate (110a, 110b), and Each of the gliding shoes (200, 300, 400) has: either a projecting area (260, 360, 460; 270, 370, 470) and a small projecting area (270, 370, 470), or projecting areas (260, 360, 460; 270, 370, 470) which together form a projection that are fitted into the insertion opening (140) when the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400) is attached to the side of the frame body that is on the inside during bending, a side wall area (210, 310, 410) is made of a deformable synthetic resin, wherein the side wall area (210, 310, 410) projects along the width direction and has a length along the length direction so that it is opposite the outer side surface of the side plate (110a, 110b) when the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400) is attached to the side of the frame body that is on the inside during bending, and a hook (220, 320, 420) formed on a side wall area (210, 310, 410) of the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400), wherein the side wall area (210, 310, 410) of the sliding shoe (200) is designed to be bendable in order to be bent during the assembly of the sliding shoe (200) in such a way that the hook (220, 320, 420) engages with the concave area (150) when the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400) is mounted on the side of the frame body which is on the inside during bending.

Description

[0001] The present invention generally relates to cable management devices for reliably protecting and guiding flexible cables. The term "flexible cable," as used hereinafter, refers to any elongated energy- or fluid-carrying device, such as a cable consisting of one or more electrical wires or optical fibers; a fluid-carrying hose for conducting compressed air or a hydraulic fluid used as a kinetic energy transfer medium; a flexible guide used to guide a gas such as compressed air; a liquid such as hydraulic fluid; or another fluid used in a machine or industrial process; a flexible actuator such as a Bowden cable; or a flexible rotating shaft with or without a non-rotating sleeve.Such flexible cables are used, for example, to connect relatively movable parts of a machine, such as a machine tool, an industrial robot or a conveyor or other material transporting machine, such as a hoist or other machine used in civil engineering.

[0002] A conventional cable guide device has a structure including a number of frame bodies, each comprising a pair of left and right spaced-apart side plates disposed on both sides of a cable, and a pair of connecting plates connecting the side plates. One connecting plate is disposed on the outermost bending sides of the pair of left and right spaced-apart side plates and connects them. The other connecting plate is disposed on the innermost bending side of the pair of left and right spaced-apart side plates and connects them. The frame bodies are connected to each other longitudinally to form the cable guide device. The maximum curvature of the cable guide device is limited to a fixed radius of curvature to prevent excessive bending or kinking of the cable.Each of the adjacent frame bodies is pivotable relative to the adjacent frame body within the specified range.

[0003] Such a cable guiding device is known, for example, from DE 41 05 651 A1.

[0004] When the cable management device is folded, a first region of the frame body of the cable management device comes into contact with a second region of the frame body of the cable management device. The sides of the connecting plates of the first region of the frame body that are located inward during bending contact the sides of the connecting plates of the second region of the frame body that are located inward during bending. This contact of the inner peripheral sides of the connecting plates causes noise and wear. Such a cable management device, in which the side of the connecting plate that is located inward during bending is provided with a shoe, is known from JP H06-23 589 B2.

[0005] A generic cable guide device as mentioned above requires a special design for attaching the shoe to the cable guide device, as in Fig. 8. As shoe wear progresses, it cannot be detected in time to replace the shoe, resulting in breakage of the cable management device. Furthermore, when shoe wear is advanced, measurement of the plate thickness is not possible if the shoes are removed one by one, and therefore monitoring and maintenance become impossible. Another problem is that known cable management devices require a manual defining the required plate thickness, and if such a manual or corresponding instructions are not provided, the required plate thickness of the shoe to ensure the function of the cable management device is unknown. Due to the lack of a method for determining the plate thickness of the shoe, trained personnel with knowledge of the required plate thickness must be available.Without training, monitoring and maintenance of the shoe is not possible.

[0006] From DE 196 47 322 A1 a chain link made of different materials is known, wherein the chain plates are formed by means of a two-component injection molding process.

[0007] DE 103 46 486 A1 discloses a cable guide device with a wear element, wherein a magnet is exposed by the wear, and a signaling device with a measuring element is provided to warn in case of a critical degree of wear.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cable routing device.

[0009] This object is achieved by a cable guide device having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are the subject of the subclaims.

[0010] According to the present invention, a cable guide device is provided comprising a plurality of interconnected frame bodies, each frame body having a pair of left and right spaced-apart side plates and a pair of connecting plates. Each frame body has a pair of left and right spaced-apart side plates, and each of the side plates has an outward-bend side and an inward-bend side. One of the connecting plates is disposed between the outward-bend sides of the side plates, and the other of the connecting plates is disposed between the inward-bend sides of the side plates. The side plates are connected to the side plates of adjacent frame bodies in the longitudinal direction of the cable guide device. The side plates limit the pivoting range of each of the frame bodies with respect to the adjacent frame body.Each of the sides of the side plates that are arranged inward when bent has a shoe that is attached to the side plate. The attachment of the shoe is simplified in that the shoe is simply clipped onto the side plates and can be easily removed from the side plates when the cable management device is maintained. Furthermore, the longitudinally folded cable management device is folded such that a first region of the frame bodies is placed on a second region of the frame bodies. Here, the shoes that are attached to the frame bodies of the first region are in sliding contact with the shoes that are attached to the frame bodies of the second region. This is particularly the case with cable management devices with a free end and a fixed end, in which friction occurs between the shoes in contact with each other during operation.In addition, each shoe has a wear indicator for easy inspection, which is preferably done visually, so that it can be easily recognized when a wear limit is reached and the shoe needs to be removed and replaced.

[0011] According to a preferred, simple embodiment, the indicator can be formed by a groove region of the shoe, which is formed in a sidewall surface of the shoe. The groove region can be arranged close to the sliding contact surface of the shoe, so as to form a (pre-)warning point that appears sooner or later during the wear of the shoe. The dimensions of the groove region also regulate the limit point, which is preferably formed by the upper region of the groove. Two factors are essential for the design of the groove region: firstly, the position of the groove and secondly, the size of the groove. The limit point is determined by the upper side of the groove region, which is the surface furthest away from the sliding contact surface of the shoe. The limit point can be defined as the point at which the shoe must be replaced before damage to the cable guide device occurs.The height of the groove area determines the allowable wear between the warning point and the limit point. The position of the groove area determines the allowable wear before the warning point is reached. The provision of a groove area allows for a simple visual inspection of the shoe, allowing wear to be determined at a glance and thus determining whether the shoe needs to be replaced.

[0012] Alternatively, or possibly in conjunction with a grooved area, the shoe may have an indicator formed by a first area with a first color and a second area with a different, second color. This manufacturing process is known as two-color molding. The wear limit point can be determined and recognized when a different color appears than the rest of the shoe body. This allows the condition of the shoe to be easily determined at a glance. Wear monitoring can thus be done very easily and visually.

[0013] According to another alternative embodiment, the indicator is formed by a metallic plate. This metallic plate is preferably cast into the synthetic resin forming the shoe. When the shoe is worn to a surface of the metallic plate that represents the wear limit at which a shoe replacement is required, subsequent wear is slower due to the greater hardness of the metal. Thus, even if the right time for replacing the shoe has passed, the shoe can be prevented from falling off due to the significantly slower wear of the metallic plate, so that further destruction of the shoe and its falling off can generally be prevented, thereby further protecting the cable routing device and preventing damage.Furthermore, the wear is not only visually apparent once the metal plate is reached, but can also be easily detected, even without visual inspection, due to the changing sound, namely that metal is now sliding on metal.

[0014] The shoe, which can be attached to the individual frame bodies of the cable routing device, is preferably cast from at least one synthetic resin. However, several different synthetic resins can also be cast to form a shoe, particularly in the case of different colors for forming the wear indicator. In principle, the same synthetic resin material can be used here, but differently colored, but a harder synthetic resin, such as particularly preferably polyamide or polyacetate, is particularly preferably provided for the differently colored indicator area, so that a similar effect to that achieved with the provision of the metallic plates can be created. The synthetic resin that forms the sliding contact surface and the sidewall area of ​​the shoe is preferably cast from a softer elastomeric synthetic resin to enable easy assembly, so that the shoe can be easily clipped onto the corresponding frame body.

[0015] The invention is explained in more detail below using three exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings. They show: Fig. 1 a perspective view of a frame body of a cable guide device according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing three interconnected frame bodies of the cable guide device according to the invention, Fig. 3(a) is a perspective view showing a shoe with an indicator, Fig. 3(b) another perspective view of the shoe of Fig. 3(a), Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the shoe, which is shown on the inside side of the connecting plates of a frame body when bent, with a section shown enlarged, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the cable guide device according to the invention, which is folded so that the shoes of some frame bodies are shown in sliding contact with each other, Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention with a shoe with indicator, Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the present invention with a shoe with indicator, and Fig. 8 is a side view showing a frame body of a conventional cable guide device. First example:

[0016] Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a frame body according to the invention. This frame body has a pair of right and left spaced-apart side plates 110a and 110b, a connecting plate 120 arranged between the side plates 110a, 110b on the outside during bending, and a connecting plate 130 arranged between the side plates 110a, 110b on the inside during bending. Furthermore, a cutout portion 112 and a convex portion 114 are provided, which will be described below. In particular, when a frame body is attached to an adjacent frame body, the cutout portion 112 is in contact with a convex portion 114 of the adjacent frame body. The cutout portion 112 and the convex portion 114 limit the radius of curvature of the cable guide device to a fixed value in the longitudinal direction of the device. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the state where three frame bodies are connected together.

[0017] The materials constituting the side plates 110a, 110b and the connecting plates 120 and 130 are not limited. However, they are preferably molded, particularly from glass fiber reinforced polyamide resin, which has excellent strength properties.

[0018] In the following, a shoe 200 of a cable guide device according to the invention is described in more detail. The shoes 200 are attached to the sides of the interconnected frame bodies that are arranged inward during bending (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 3(b) are two different perspective views of a shoe 200 removed from the frame body. This shoe 200 is integrally molded by injection molding using a synthetic resin. A groove portion 230 is formed at a location relatively far from the sliding contact surface 240 of the shoe 200 at a predetermined distance. This groove portion 230 serves as an indicator. The lower side of the groove portion 230 is relatively close to the sliding contact surface 240 of the shoe 200 and forms a warning point, allowing personnel to determine whether the shoe 200 should be replaced or not. The upper side of the groove portion 230 is relatively far from the sliding contact surface 240 of the shoe 200 and forms a limit point, i.e., a point at which the shoe 200 must be replaced, or otherwise, damage will occur. The groove area 230 allows the degree of wear of the shoe 200 to be determined at a glance.

[0019] In the following, the attachment of the shoe 200 to a frame body will be described with reference to Fig. 4 described. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a part of both the side plate 110b shown at the front and the connecting plate 130 shown at the bottom are cut away for clarity. One end surface of the side plate 110b located inside during bending is formed with an insertion hole 140 into which a protruding portion 260 and a small protruding portion 270 of the shoe 200 are inserted. One side surface of the side plate 110b is formed with a concave portion 150 that contacts a hook 220 formed on a side wall portion 210 of the shoe 200. The protruding portion 260 and the small protruding portion 270 of the shoe 200 are formed to fit the inner walls of the insertion hole 140 extending therealong. However, according to a variant, the projecting areas can be continuous so that they form a single projection.

[0020] The resin sidewall portion 210 is bent during assembly of the shoe 200 so that the hook 220 comes into contact with the concave portion 150 provided on the side surface of the side plate 110b. Furthermore, since the hook 220 itself, which is in contact with the concave portion 150 provided on a side surface of the side plate 110b, is made of a resin and can be easily deformed, removal of the shoe 200 is easy, and therefore, assembly of the cable management device can also be carried out easily, and further, breakage of the shoe is prevented.

[0021] Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cable guide device is used in a folded state, the cable guide device having a stroke in the longitudinal direction. The inward-bending sides of some connecting plates or frame bodies are positioned below the inward-bending sides of other connecting plates or frame bodies, so that the shoes 200 are in direct contact with each other. A shoe is mounted on the inward-bending side of each frame body, as described above. Thus, when the cable guide device is used in the folded state, the shoes slide against each other. 2. Example:

[0022] In the following, with reference to Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 6(b) shows the second embodiment in more detail. Fig. 6(a) a perspective view of a shoe 300 with indicator function and Fig. 6(b) a section along the line bb in Fig. 6(a). Since the assembly of the shoe 300 with the frame body is substantially the same as that of the shoe 200 and the frame body according to the first embodiment, the description will be omitted below. The shoe 300 is integrally molded by molding two synthetic resins of different colors in the central region 380, comprising a protruding portion 360 and a small protruding portion 270, a sliding contact surface 340, and a side wall portion 310. The sliding shoe 300 is molded such that an end surface 330 of the central region 380 is exposed in the side wall portion 310, so that the corresponding end surface of the central region 380 serves as an indicator. As shown in Fig. As is evident from Figure 6(b), said central region 380 serves as a wear limit when the sliding contact surface 340 wears and the sliding contact surface 340 has reached the end surface 330. When molding two differently colored resins, the central region 380 serving as an indicator is preferably molded using a hard resin, such as polyamide or polyacetate. The resin forming the sliding contact surface 340 and the sidewall region 310 of the shoe 300 is preferably molded from an elastomeric, soft resin. 3. Example:

[0023] A third embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 7(b) is explained in more detail. Fig. 7(a) a perspective view of a shoe 400 with indicator function and Fig. 7(b) a section along line bb in Fig.7(a). Since the assembly of the shoe 400 to the frame body is substantially the same as that of the shoe 200 and the frame body according to the first embodiment, the following description will be omitted. The shoe 400 is molded from a synthetic resin as in the first embodiment, and a metallic plate 490, such as a stainless steel plate or a mild steel plate, serving as an indicator is molded into the synthetic resin. When the sliding contact surface 440 of the shoe 400 wears, the metallic plate 490 is exposed and detected as a wear limit. Even if it is neglected that the wear has reached the wear limit, accidental falling off of the shoe 400 can be prevented because the metallic plate 440 of the shoe 400 does not wear easily.Furthermore, the sound generated by sliding contact of the metallic plate elements can be easily detected and thus warn the staff, even if shoe wear was accidentally not visually detected. List of reference symbols 100a, 100b side plate 112 cutout area 114 convex area 120, 130 connecting plate 140 insertion opening 200, 300, 400 shoe 210, 310, 410 side wall area 220, 320, 420 hooks 230 groove area 240, 340, 440 sliding contact surface 260, 360, 460 protruding area 270, 370, 470 small protruding area 330 end face 380 central area 490 metallic plate

Claims

[1] Cable guide device comprising a plurality of interconnected frame bodies, wherein each frame body has a pair of left and right, spaced-apart side plates (110a, 110b) and a pair of connecting plates (120, 130), and one of the connecting plates (120, 130) is arranged on the inside side during bending between the side plates (110a, 110b), and the other of the connecting plates (120, 130) is arranged on the outside side during bending between the side plates (110a, 110b), the side plates (110a, 110b) are connected to the side plates (110a, 110b) of adjacent frame bodies in the longitudinal direction of the cable guide device, and the side plates (110a, 110b) limit the pivoting range of each of the frame bodies with respect to the adjacent frame body, each of the sides of the side plates (110a, 110b) arranged inward during bending has a shoe (200, 300, 400) attached to the side plate (110a, 110b), and the longitudinally folded cable guide device is folded such that a first region of the frame bodies is placed on a second region of the frame bodies, wherein the shoes (200, 300, 400) attached to the frame bodies of the first region are in sliding contact with the shoes (200, 300, 400) attached to the frame bodies of the second region, characterized by , that that each shoe (200, 300, 400) has an indicator to show the wear, and that each of the side plates (110a, 110b) has: an end face of the side arranged inward during bending, said end face being formed with an insertion opening (140), an outer side surface, the outer side surface being provided with a concave portion (150) formed in the outer side of the side plate (110a, 110b), and each of the sliding shoes (200, 300, 400) has: either a protruding portion (260, 360, 460; 270, 370, 470) and a small protruding portion (270, 370, 470), or protruding portions (260, 360, 460; 270, 370, 470) which together form a projection, which are fitted into the insertion opening (140) when the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400) is attached to the side of the frame body which is arranged inward during bending, a side wall portion (210, 310, 410) is made of a deformable synthetic resin, the side wall portion (210, 310, 410) projecting along the width direction and having a length along the longitudinal direction so that it faces the outer side surface of the side plate (110a, 110b) when the slide shoe (200, 300, 400) is attached to the inside side of the frame body during bending, and a hook (220, 320, 420) formed on a side wall portion (210, 310, 410) of the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400), wherein the side wall portion (210, 310, 410) of the sliding shoe (200) is designed to be bendable in order to be bent during assembly of the sliding shoe (200) such that the hook (220, 320, 420) engages with the concave portion (150) when the sliding shoe (200, 300, 400) is mounted on the side of the frame body arranged inward during bending. [2] Cable guide device according to claim 1, characterized bythat the indicator is formed by a groove area (230) of the shoe (200). [3] Cable guide device according to claim 1, characterized by that the shoe (300) has a wear indicator with a first color and another area with a different, second color. [4] Cable guide device according to claim 3, characterized by that the material that forms the wear indicator is harder than the other material that forms the rest of the shoe. [5] Cable guide device according to claim 1, 3 or 4, characterized by that the indicator is formed by a metallic plate (490). [6] Cable guide device according to claim 5, characterized by that the metallic plate (490) is cast into the synthetic resin forming the shoe (400). [7] Cable guide device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized bythat the shoe (200, 300, 400) is designed such that the wear indicator is cast from at least one synthetic resin. [8] Cable guide device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that each of the side plates (110a, 110b) is formed with a cutout portion (112) and a convex portion (114) to limit the radius of curvature of the device within a fixed value.

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