Deformation measurement device for belt teeth

Abstract

To provide a deformation measurement device for belt teeth that can quantitatively measure the deformation of the belt teeth without removing a toothed belt from equipment and without being affected by slack in the toothed belt.SOLUTION: A device body 5 that engages with a toothed belt 2 is provided. A slide member 7 that is slidable in the belt longitudinal direction relative to the device body 5 is provided. A tooth profile 6 that fits a belt tooth 3 before deformation is formed in the slide member 7. A position measuring instrument 8 that measures the position of the slide member 7 is provided. Before wear of the belt tooth 3, sliding of the slide member 7 is blocked. After wear of the belt tooth 3, the slide member 7 is made to slide relative to the device body 5 within a range of a gap 17 between the belt tooth 3 and the tooth profile 6. The deformation amount of the belt tooth 3 is calculated by measuring positions on both sides of the slidable range using the position measuring instrument 8.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a belt tooth deformation measuring device for measuring the deformation amount of belt teeth of a toothed belt.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, as a process until a toothed belt reaches damage such as cutting, there is deformation of the belt teeth due to wear or the like. For measuring such deformation of the belt teeth, for example, a contact type shape measuring machine that traces the surface of the belt teeth while bringing a stylus into contact to measure the shape is used.

[0003] Also, as another method for measuring the deformation of the belt teeth, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of detecting measurement values regarding the relative phase positions of the drive parts of the camshaft with respect to the crankshaft at a plurality of time points, and calculating the wear value from the differences between these measurement values to detect the wear value of the electric element.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, in order to measure the deformation of the belt teeth using a contact type shape measuring machine, it is necessary to remove the toothed belt from the equipment and set it on the contact type shape measuring machine, and an operation of removing and reassembling the toothed belt from the toothed pulley of the equipment is required. This operation increases the maintenance cost of the toothed belt, may cause variations in the life and performance of the toothed belt, and moreover, it is necessary to periodically stop the equipment with the toothed belt assembled, resulting in a decrease in the operating rate of the equipment accompanied by a decrease in productivity during the stop period.

[0006] Also, the method of Patent Document 1 can be said to be based on the principle that wear of the belt teeth meshing with the pulley teeth causes an apparent elongation of the toothed belt, thereby changing the relative phase position between the crankshaft and the camshaft. In such a method, although it is not necessary to remove the toothed belt, when the apparent elongation loosens the toothed belt, it becomes difficult to measure the deformation of the belt teeth. In particular, when the user adjusts the belt tension that decreases with the looseness of the toothed belt to an appropriate range, it becomes impossible to measure the deformation of the belt teeth.

[0007] On the other hand, with the toothed belt still assembled in the equipment, users often visually check the health of the toothed belt. In this method, it is difficult for users to make a particularly quantitative judgment of the health, which may cause unexpected damage and have an adverse effect on the productivity of the equipment with the toothed belt assembled.

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a device for measuring the deformation of belt teeth that can quantitatively measure the deformation of belt teeth without removing the toothed belt from the equipment and without being affected by the looseness of the toothed belt.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0009] To achieve the above object, a device for measuring the deformation of belt teeth according to the present invention is for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth of a toothed belt, and includes a device body locked to the toothed belt, a slide member having a tooth shape fitting the belt teeth before deformation and slidable in the belt length direction with respect to the device body, and a position measuring device for measuring the position of this slide member.

[0010] According to the above configuration, a slide member having a tooth shape that fits the belt teeth before deformation is made slidable in the belt length direction with respect to the apparatus main body, and the apparatus main body is locked to the toothed belt. Thus, in a state where no deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth, the tooth shape of the slide member fits into the belt teeth to prevent the slide member from sliding, and it can be confirmed that no deformation has occurred in the belt teeth.

[0011] On the other hand, in a state where deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth, a gap is formed between the belt teeth and the tooth shape. Therefore, within the range of the gap, the slide member can be slid with respect to the apparatus main body, and by measuring the positions on both sides of the slidable range with a position measuring device, the size of the gap between the belt teeth and the tooth shape can be measured and used as the deformation amount of the belt teeth.

[0012] In this way, by simply locking the apparatus main body to the toothed belt, sliding the slide member with respect to the apparatus main body, and measuring the positions on both sides thereof, the deformation amount of the belt teeth can be measured. Therefore, the deformation amount of the belt teeth can be quantitatively measured without removing the toothed belt from the equipment and without being affected by the slack of the toothed belt.

[0013] Furthermore, the apparatus main body may be formed with a tooth shape that fits the belt teeth before deformation.

[0014] According to this configuration, in a state where no deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth, the apparatus main body can be locked to the toothed belt simply by fitting the tooth shape formed on the apparatus main body to the belt teeth. In a state where deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth, one side surface or the other side surface of the tooth shape of the apparatus main body can be abutted against the belt teeth for locking. Instead of forming a tooth shape on the apparatus main body, or in addition to forming a tooth shape, for example, the apparatus main body can also be locked by sandwiching the toothed belt.

[0015] Furthermore, a biasing portion that biases the slide member in one direction along the belt length direction may be provided.

[0016] According to this configuration, when the tooth profile is engaged with the belt teeth, the sliding member automatically moves in one direction within the slidable range. After that, by simply moving the sliding member in the other direction within the slidable range, the sliding member can be positioned on both sides of the slidable range, and the positions of each can be measured by the position measuring device to measure the deformation amount of the belt teeth.

[0017] Furthermore, the apparatus main body may be configured to be lockable to a toothed belt stretched linearly, and the tooth profile of the sliding member may be configured to be engageable with the belt teeth of the toothed belt stretched linearly.

[0018] According to this configuration, since the apparatus main body can be locked to the linearly stretched portion of the toothed belt assembled to the equipment and the tooth profile of the sliding member can be engaged with the belt teeth, the deformation measuring device for the belt teeth can be easily set to the toothed belt while it is assembled to the equipment, and a suitable mode for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth can be provided.

[0019] Also, a toothed pulley around which the toothed belt is wound may be divided in the belt width direction to form the apparatus main body and the sliding member. In this case, an urging portion is interposed between the apparatus main body and the sliding member so as to urge the sliding member in the same direction as the direction in which the belt teeth are pressed against the pulley teeth of the apparatus main body along the circumferential direction of the toothed pulley with respect to the apparatus main body, and the position measuring device can measure the position of the sliding member in the rotational direction with respect to the apparatus main body.

[0020] For example, when the toothed pulley is a driving pulley, since the belt teeth are pressed against the pulley teeth of the apparatus main body toward the rear in the rotational direction, a gap is formed behind the pulley teeth in a state where deformation such as wear occurs in the belt teeth. In this state, by urging the sliding member toward the rear in the rotational direction, which is the same as the pressing direction of the belt teeth, the sliding member can be moved within the range of the gap between the pulley teeth and the belt teeth until its tooth profile hits the rear belt teeth, and by measuring the position of the sliding member with the position measuring device, the deformation amount of the belt teeth can be measured.

[0021] On the one hand, for example, when the toothed pulley is a driven pulley, since the belt teeth are pressed against the pulley teeth of the apparatus main body toward the front in the rotational direction, a gap is formed in front of the pulley teeth in a state where deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth. In this state, by urging the slide member toward the front in the rotational direction, which is the same as the pressing direction of the belt teeth, the slide member can be moved within the range of the gap between the pulley teeth until its tooth shape hits the front belt teeth, and the amount of deformation of the belt teeth can be measured by measuring the position of the slide member with a position measuring device.

[0022] The present invention also provides a deformation measurement method for measuring the amount of deformation of the belt teeth of a toothed belt using the above-described apparatus.

[0023] That is, in the belt tooth deformation measurement method according to the present invention, while meshing the tooth shape of the slide member with the belt teeth, the apparatus main body is locked to the toothed belt, and the slide member is slid along the belt length direction with respect to the apparatus main body in one direction until it stops. After measuring its position with a position measuring device, the slide member is slid along the belt length direction with respect to the apparatus main body in the other direction until it stops, and its position is measured with a position measuring device. The difference between the two measured positions is calculated and used as the amount of deformation of the belt teeth.

[0024] According to this configuration, the same effect as that obtained by adopting the configuration of the above-described deformation measurement apparatus can be achieved.

[0025] Furthermore, a tooth shape that fits the belt teeth before deformation may be formed on the apparatus main body, the tooth shapes of the apparatus main body and the slide member may be meshed with the belt teeth, and the apparatus main body may be moved in the other direction to lock it to the toothed belt.

[0026] According to this configuration, since the apparatus main body is moved in the other direction to lock it to the toothed belt, even if deformation such as wear has occurred in the belt teeth, the other side surface of the tooth shape of the apparatus main body can be brought into contact with one side surface of the belt teeth for positioning.

[0027] Furthermore, an urging portion for urging the slide member may be provided, and while moving the apparatus main body in the other direction and locking it to the toothed belt, the slide member may be urged by the urging portion to slide in one direction.

[0028] According to this configuration, since the apparatus main body is moved in the other direction and locked to the toothed belt, the position in a state where the slide member is slid in the other direction and abutted against the belt teeth can be measured in advance. Moreover, since the slide member is slid in one direction by the urging portion, the size of the slide range can be calculated only by measuring the position of the slide member, and the amount of deformation of the belt teeth can be easily measured.

[0029] The present invention also provides a deformation measurement method for measuring the amount of deformation of the belt teeth of a toothed belt using the above apparatus configured to divide the toothed pulley into the apparatus main body and the slide member.

[0030] That is, the method for measuring the deformation of the belt teeth according to the present invention comprises winding a toothed belt around a toothed pulley to form a belt transmission system, continuously measuring the position of the slide member in the rotational direction with respect to the apparatus main body by a position measuring device while operating this belt transmission system, and calculating the amount of deformation of the belt teeth based on the change in the position of the slide member urged by the urging portion.

[0031] According to this configuration, since the position of the slide member can be continuously measured while operating the belt transmission system, the amount of deformation of the belt teeth can be calculated without stopping the equipment.

Effect of the Invention

[0032] As described above, according to the present invention, the apparatus main body is locked to the toothed belt, and a slide member having a tooth profile that meshes with the belt teeth is slid with respect to the apparatus main body, and the positions on both sides within the slidable range are measured to measure the amount of deformation of the belt teeth. By adopting this configuration, it is possible to measure the degree of deformation of the belt teeth quantitatively and easily without removing the toothed belt from the equipment and without being affected by the slack of the toothed belt.

[0033] This enables even a non-expert user to manage the health of the toothed belt, and further enables prediction of damage to the toothed belt and setting of the replacement cycle based on the measured values of the deformation of the belt teeth.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0034]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0035] Hereinafter, embodiments for implementing the belt tooth deformation measuring device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0036] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the deformation measuring device 1 is for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth 3 of the toothed belt 2. It includes a device body 5 that is locked to the toothed belt 2 formed with a tooth profile 4 that fits into the belt teeth 3 before deformation and stretched linearly, a slide member 7 that has a tooth profile 6 that fits into the belt teeth 3 of the toothed belt 2 stretched linearly and is slidable in the belt length direction with respect to the device body 5, and a position measuring device 8 that measures the position of the slide member 7, and is provided with a biasing portion 9 that biases the slide member 7 in one direction along the belt length direction.

[0037] The device body 5 is made of metal, for example, and is a thick plate wider than the belt width of the toothed belt 2. A tooth profile 4 is formed on its bottom surface, and this tooth profile 4 is meshed with the belt teeth 3 to lock to the toothed belt 2. A plurality of magnets 10 are fixed to the bottom surface of the device body 5, and a metal clamping plate 11 is adsorbed on the bottom surface side of the device body 5 to clamp the toothed belt 2 and maintain the locking state of the device body 5 to the toothed belt 2.

[0038] A rectangular guide hole 12 for guiding the slide member 7 in the belt length direction is formed at the center of the device body 5. At a position sandwiching the guide hole 12, on the upper surface side of the device body 5, a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped holding wall 13 that holds the slide member 7 slidably and a clamping body 14 composed of a pair of rectangular parallelepipeds that clamp the position measuring device 8 are provided.

[0039] The slide member 7 is a thick plate set to a width that fits into the guide hole 12 and a length slidable in the belt length direction. A tooth profile 6 is formed on its bottom surface. On the upper surface side of the slide member 7, a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped protruding wall 15 wider than the guide hole 12 is provided, and it is slidable in the belt length direction along the upper surface of the device body 5. Slide shafts 16 extending in the belt length direction protrude from both surfaces of the protruding wall 15, and one end of each slide shaft 16 penetrates the holding wall 13 slidably and is held.

[0040] The position measuring device 8 employs, for example, a dial gauge, and is clamped by a clamping body 14 so that the tip thereof abuts against the other end of a slide shaft 16 protruding from the protruding wall 15 of the slide member 7, and reads its scale to measure the position of the slide member 7.

[0041] The biasing portion 9 is a spring disposed at one end of a slide shaft 16 that protrudes from the protruding wall 15 of the slide member 7 and penetrates the holding wall 13, and biases in the direction of protruding the tip of the position measuring device 8.

[0042] Next, a state of measuring the wear amount of the belt teeth will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

[0043] First, as shown in FIG. 4(a), until the deformation measuring device 1 is attached to the toothed belt 2, due to the biasing force of the biasing portion 9, the slide member 7 moves in one direction (left direction in FIG. 4) along the guide hole 12 and abuts against the inner surface of one side of the guide hole 12. In this state, the tooth profile 4 of the device main body 5 and the tooth profile 6 of the slide member 7 are slightly displaced.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 4(b), when the tooth profiles 4 and 6 of the device main body 5 and the slide member 7 are meshed with the belt teeth 3 before wear and mounted, the tooth profile 6 of the slide member 7 fits into the belt teeth 3, so that the slide member 7 moves slightly in the other direction (right direction in FIG. 4) against the biasing force of the biasing portion 9. In this case, since the slide member 7 cannot be slid, it can be confirmed that the belt teeth 3 are not worn. In FIG. 4, for clarity of the drawing, the illustration of the clamping plate 11 is omitted.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 4(c), when the belt teeth 3 are worn, when the tooth profiles 4 and 6 of the device main body 5 and the slide member 7 are meshed with the belt teeth 3, a gap 17 is formed between the belt teeth 3 and the tooth profiles 4 and 6, so the device main body 5 is moved in the other direction and locked to the toothed belt 2.

[0046] The slide member 7 biased by the biasing portion 9 slides in one direction along the belt length direction with respect to the apparatus main body 5 and abuts against the belt teeth 3 and stops. Therefore, the position of the slide member 7 is measured by reading the scale of the position measuring device 8.

[0047] Thereafter, the slide member 7 is manually slid in the other direction along the belt length direction with respect to the apparatus main body 5 until it stops, and its position is measured by reading the scale of the position measuring device 8. By calculating the difference between the two measured positions, the wear amount of the belt teeth 3 can be obtained.

[0048] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and appropriate modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, when the form of deformation of the belt teeth 3 is different depending on the user, the tip of the tooth shape 6 of the slide member 7 can be cut off, etc., to measure the deformation amount of an arbitrary tooth height.

[0049] Also, as shown in FIG. 5, a toothed pulley 18 around which a toothed belt is wound may be divided in the belt width direction to form an apparatus main body 19 and a slide member 20. In this case, the apparatus main body 19 is fixed to the axis, the slide member 20 is free to rotate, a biasing portion 21 made of an elastic body is interposed between the apparatus main body 19 and the slide member 20, and the slide member 20 is biased in the same direction as the direction in which the belt teeth are pressed against the pulley teeth 22 of the apparatus main body 19 in the direction along the circumferential direction of the toothed pulley 18 with respect to the apparatus main body 19.

[0050] As the position measuring device, an encoder disk 23 is attached to the apparatus main body 19 and the slide member 20, and the position of the slide member 20 in the rotational direction with respect to the apparatus main body 19 can be measured by a fiber sensor 24 or the like.

[0051] In this case, a toothed belt is wound around the toothed pulley 18 to form a belt transmission system. While operating this belt transmission system, the respective phases of the apparatus main body 19 and the slide member 20 are continuously read by the encoder disk 23 and the fiber sensor 24 as position measuring devices, and the amount of deformation of the belt teeth can be measured based on the phase difference therebetween.

Description of Signs

[0052] 1 Deformation measuring device 2 Toothed belt 3 Belt teeth 4 Tooth profile 5 Apparatus main body 6 Tooth profile 7 Slide member 8 Position measuring device 9 Biasing portion 10 Magnet 11 Clamping plate 12 Guide hole 13 Holding wall 14 Clamping body 15 Protruding wall 16 Slide shaft 17 Gap 18 Toothed pulley 19 Apparatus main body 20 Slide member 21 Biasing portion 22 Pulley teeth 23 Encoder disk 24 Fiber sensor

Claims

1. A deformation measuring device for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth of a toothed belt, comprising: a device body locked to the toothed belt; a slide member having a tooth profile fitting the belt teeth before deformation and slidable in the belt length direction with respect to the device body; and a position measuring device for measuring the position of the slide member. A belt tooth deformation measuring device characterized by that.

2. The belt tooth deformation measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that a tooth profile fitting the belt teeth before deformation is formed on the device body.

3. The belt tooth deformation measuring device according to claim 2, characterized in that a biasing portion for biasing the slide member in one direction along the belt length direction is provided.

4. The device body is capable of being locked to a toothed belt stretched linearly, and the tooth profile of the slide member is capable of meshing with the belt teeth of the toothed belt stretched linearly. The belt tooth deformation measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A toothed pulley around which the toothed belt is wound is divided in the belt width direction to form the device body and the slide member. The biasing portion is interposed between the device body and the slide member so as to bias the slide member in the same direction as the direction in which the belt teeth are pressed against the pulley teeth of the device body in the circumferential direction of the toothed pulley with respect to the device body. The belt tooth deformation measuring device according to claim 3, characterized in that the position measuring device is capable of measuring the rotational position of the slide member with respect to the device body.

6. A deformation measuring method for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth of a toothed belt using the device according to claim 1, comprising: While meshing the tooth profile of the slide member with the belt teeth, locking the device body to the toothed belt, sliding the slide member in one direction along the belt length direction with respect to the device body until it stops, measuring its position with the position measuring device, then sliding the slide member in the other direction along the belt length direction with respect to the device body until it stops, measuring its position with the position measuring device, and calculating the difference between the two measured positions as the deformation amount of the belt teeth. A belt tooth deformation measuring method characterized by that.

7. The tooth profile that fits the belt teeth before deformation is formed on the device body, the tooth profiles of the device body and the slide member are meshed with the belt teeth, and the device body is moved in the other direction to lock it to the toothed belt. The method for measuring the deformation of the belt teeth according to claim 6, characterized in that.

8. An urging portion for urging the slide member is provided, and while the device body is moved in the other direction to lock it to the toothed belt, the slide member is urged by the urging portion and slid in the one direction. The method for measuring the deformation of the belt teeth according to claim 7, characterized in that.

9. A deformation measurement method for measuring the deformation amount of the belt teeth of a toothed belt using the device according to claim 5, The toothed belt is wound around the toothed pulley to form a belt transmission system, and while the belt transmission system is operating, the position of the slide member in the rotational direction with respect to the device body is continuously measured by the position measuring device, and the deformation amount of the belt teeth is calculated based on the change in the position of the slide member urged by the urging portion. The method for measuring the deformation of the belt teeth, characterized in that.

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