Ball Screw Assembly Apparatus with Temporary Shaft Mediator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional assembly methods for ball screw devices and parts supply systems face issues such as ball damage and blockage due to small lead sizes, and require precise adjustments for sphere delivery, while steel ball counters are complex and require demagnetization steps, leading to inefficiencies and increased production time.
Innovation Solution
An assembly apparatus with a support block, nut reception base, temporary shaft, and pushing mechanism to prevent ball damage and blockage, and a parts supply device with a funnel-shaped hopper and air nozzle to smoothly deliver spheres, along with a counter device using negative pressure to stabilize sphere counting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If balls are fed into the circulation passage by their own weight, then the structure is simple, but balls are blocked when the lead of the nut raceway groove is small
Solution Approach 1:
A temporary shaft is introduced as an intermediary component to feed balls into the circulation passage. The temporary shaft rotates to gradually feed balls one by one into the nut raceway groove, preventing blockage while maintaining a relatively simple structure. This mediator resolves the contradiction between structural simplicity and charging reliability.
2Reliability
If balls are pushed into the circulation passage with an insertion rod, then balls are charged reliably, but balls are damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The temporary shaft acts as a mediator that replaces the direct contact method of insertion rods. By rotating the temporary shaft, balls are gently fed one by one into the circulation passage without being pushed or struck, eliminating ball damage while ensuring reliable charging.
Solution Approach 2:
The temporary shaft rotates periodically to feed balls into the circulation passage in a controlled, sequential manner. This periodic rotation ensures that balls are fed one by one at appropriate intervals, preventing blockage and damage while maintaining charging reliability.
3Productivity
If a predetermined number of balls are aligned and fed all at once, then the process is fast, but balls are blocked frequently
Solution Approach 1:
The temporary shaft rotates periodically to feed balls into the circulation passage in a controlled sequence. This periodic action maintains productivity by continuously feeding balls while ensuring they are introduced one by one, preventing blockage and improving charging reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of feeding all balls simultaneously, the temporary shaft segments the feeding process by introducing balls one by one in sequence. This segmentation prevents blockage in the circulation passage while maintaining efficient charging throughput.
4Volume of moving object
If the lead of the nut raceway groove is small, then the ball screw device is compact, but balls are blocked in the connection passage
Solution Approach 1:
The temporary shaft serves as a mediator that carefully feeds balls into the compact circulation passage with small lead. By controlling the feeding rate and introducing balls one by one, it prevents blockage in the constrained space while maintaining the compact design.
Solution Approach 2:
The periodic rotation of the temporary shaft ensures balls are fed into the compact circulation passage at controlled intervals, preventing blockage in the limited space created by small lead while maintaining the compact ball screw device design.
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
The proposed solutions enable smooth assembly of ball screw devices without ball damage or blockage, efficient sphere delivery, and stable steel ball counting, reducing production time and complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a parts supply device with a funnel-shaped hopper and air nozzle to smoothly deliver spheres
Implementation Method 2
a counter device using negative pressure to stabilize sphere counting
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly apparatus for assembling a ball screw device includes a support block, a nut arranged in a longitudinal direction, a nut reception base that arranges the nut so that its axial direction towards vertical direction of the assembly apparatus and that supports the nut so as to elevate the nut with respect to the support block, a temporary shaft inserted into an inner diameter side of the nut arranged on the nut reception base and rotatably supported by the support block, an inclined face provided at a forward end portion of the temporary shaft, for guiding balls into the nut raceway groove and a pushing mechanism that has elasticity in the radial direction of the temporary shaft and that pushes balls which are fed into the nut raceway groove by a forward end portion protruding from the outer circumferential face of the temporary shaft.