Straight-Curved Rail Guide with Swing Arms for Guiding Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing straight-curved guide devices experience a decrease in guiding accuracy due to increased gaps between the roller and the rail, caused by differences in rail width accuracy, leading to reduced precision in the movement of movable elements.
Innovation Solution
The proposed straight-curved guide device incorporates a movable element with pivotable swing portions and an elastic member that compresses or stretches across the gap between these portions, maintaining contact with the rail, thereby minimizing the gap between the rail and the rail groove, ensuring consistent guiding accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a movable element with rollers is used on a rail, then the device can move along the rail, but the gap between the roller and rail increases due to width dimension accuracy differences, causing guiding accuracy to decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The swing portions are designed to be pivotable about connecting portions to the frame, allowing them to dynamically adjust their position in response to rail width variations. This dynamic adjustment mechanism enables the movable element to maintain contact with the rail while compensating for dimensional inaccuracies, thereby preserving guiding accuracy during movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic member changes its physical state between compressed and stretched conditions based on the gap between swing portions. This parameter change allows the system to adapt to varying rail widths and maintain optimal contact pressure between the rail groove and rail, ensuring consistent guiding accuracy across different operational conditions.
2Measurement precision
If the gap between roller and rail is reduced to improve guiding accuracy, then precision increases, but the device becomes more sensitive to rail width dimension variations
Solution Approach 1:
The pivotable swing portions provide dynamic adaptability to rail width variations. When the rail width changes, the swing portions automatically adjust their angular position to maintain proper contact, allowing the system to tolerate width variations while preserving guiding accuracy without requiring extremely tight manufacturing tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic member automatically adjusts the gap between swing portions based on the rail width, eliminating the need for external adjustment mechanisms. The system self-regulates to maintain optimal contact conditions, providing both high guiding accuracy and adaptability to dimensional variations.
3Measurement precision
If swing portions with elastic members are added to maintain guiding accuracy, then precision is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable element is segmented into multiple independent swing portions, each capable of independent pivoting action. This segmentation allows the complex function of maintaining guiding accuracy under varying conditions to be distributed across multiple simple, identical modules, making the overall system more manageable and easier to manufacture despite its enhanced capabilities.
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 effectively suppresses the decrease in guiding accuracy by maintaining precise alignment between the rail and the movable element, enhancing the overall guiding precision.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic member, which is arranged across a space between the arm portion of the first swing portion and the arm portion of the second swing portion and is in a compressed state in which the elastic member is compressed in the longitudinal direction of the rail or in a stretched state in which the elastic member is stretched in the longitudinal direction of the rail
Implementation Method 2
The first rolling elements are arranged in a first rolling passage having a circular annular shape defined by the first raceway surface and the second raceway surface
Implementation Method 3
The second rolling elements are arranged in a second rolling passage having a circular annular shape defined by the third raceway surface and the fourth raceway surface
Data Source
AI summary
A straight-curved guide device including a rail and a movable element. The movable element includes a frame and first and a second swing portions. The swing portions are configured to be pivotable about connecting portions to the frame. Each swing portion includes an arm portion and first and second bearing portions. The first bearing portion includes first and second track members, and a plurality of first rolling elements. The second bearing portion includes third and fourth track members, and a plurality of second rolling elements. The straight-curved guide device further includes an elastic member, which is arranged across a space between the arm portions of the swing portions and is in a compressed state in which the elastic member is compressed in a longitudinal direction of the rail or a stretched state in which the elastic member is stretched in the longitudinal direction of the rail.