Annular Tool Magazine With Separated Rail and Single Roller
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tool magazine devices are complex in configuration due to the need for guide grooves and multiple rollers to support tools radially on a rail, limiting the number of tools that can be stored while maintaining a low height.
Innovation Solution
A simplified configuration using an annular rail with a separation section and a coaxially arranged holding ring, where tool pots are held by a single roller that rolls on the rail, allowing for radial tool arrangement without guide grooves or multiple rollers, and a conveyance unit for efficient tool exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If tools are suspended onto the lower part of the magazine body in a state of being attached to the tool pot, then the number of storable tools increases while limiting the height, but the configuration becomes complex requiring guide grooves and multiple rollers
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the guide grooves from the rail structure, retaining only the essential rolling support function through a simplified rail surface, thereby reducing device complexity while preserving the radial tool arrangement capability
Solution Approach 2:
The single roller is designed to perform multiple functions: supporting the tool pot weight, enabling circumferential movement along the rail, and facilitating tool indexing, thereby eliminating the need for separate guide grooves and multiple rollers
2Reliability
If guide grooves are formed on the inner surface, outer surface, and undersurface of the rail, then tools can be stably supported, but the device configuration becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the guide grooves from the rail structure, retaining only the essential rolling support function through a simplified rail surface, thereby reducing device complexity while preserving the radial tool arrangement capability
Solution Approach 2:
The simplified rail surface with basic rolling contact allows the roller to self-align and maintain stable tool support without requiring complex guided grooves, achieving stability through the inherent properties of the rolling mechanism
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration allows for a higher number of tools to be stored compactly, simplifies the device structure, and enables stable and efficient tool indexing with reduced weight and complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a roller supported by the tool pot rolls on the rail in response to rotation of the holding ring
Data Source
AI summary
A tool magazine device includes a rail that is annularly formed and that has a separation section at a part in a circumferential direction of the rail and a holding ring that is arranged coaxially with the rail and that is rotated by a driving motor. The holding ring is provided with a plurality of holding sections that are open in an axial direction of the holding ring. The holding sections are arranged in the circumferential direction of the holding ring. A tool pot is held to be insertable into and extractable from each holding section. A conveyance unit sends out the tool pot placed in the holding section to an exchange position and sends the tool pot into the holding section from the exchange position. A roller supported by each tool pot rolls on the rail in response to the rotation of the holding ring.