Linear Actuator Flat Spring Slider Stabilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional linear actuators experience backlash and runout during object pushing or pulling, affecting accuracy, and existing boring devices struggle to maintain uniform quality when forming noncircular boreholes due to wear and imbalance in tilting units.
Innovation Solution
A linear actuator design incorporating elastic members, such as flat springs, to stabilize the slider and prevent backlash, combined with a boring device structure that uses a linear actuator-driven draw bar to maintain precise tilting and balancing of the tool holder, ensuring consistent borehole formation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If bearings are used to hold the slider in the axial direction, then the slider can be supported during shifting, but backlash or runout occurs in the slider during shifting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the support mechanism from rigid bearings to elastic members (springs) that provide axial support while allowing controlled compliance. This parameter change in the support system's stiffness enables the slider to maintain positional accuracy without backlash during shifting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite support system combining elastic members (springs) with rigid components (slider, body casing). This composite approach allows the system to simultaneously provide structural support and eliminate backlash through the elastic deformation characteristics of the spring members.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the tilting unit is used to form noncircular boreholes by rotating the tool holder, then various borehole shapes can be created, but wear and imbalance in the tilting unit affects quality consistency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical tilting unit with a linear actuator system that uses electromagnetic or piezoelectric fields to control tool holder positioning. This substitution eliminates mechanical wear and imbalance issues while maintaining the ability to create various borehole shapes through precise digital control.
Solution Approach 2:
The linear actuator system incorporates self-compensating mechanisms that automatically maintain positioning accuracy over time without requiring manual adjustment or maintenance. The system compensates for any drift or degradation automatically, ensuring consistent borehole quality across repeated operations.
3Ease of operation
If a linear actuator structure is used to push or pull objects, then linear motion can be achieved, but accuracy is adversely affected by backlash or runout
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the support parameter from rigid (bearings) to elastic (springs), transforming the system's mechanical characteristics. This allows the linear actuator to maintain accuracy during pushing or pulling operations by using the elastic members to eliminate backlash while preserving full linear motion capability.
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 solution enables precise pushing or pulling of objects and repeated boring with uniform quality by stabilizing the slider and maintaining the tilting unit's original position, reducing wear and maintaining accuracy over time.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of elastic members, each of the elastic members supports one or the other end portion of the slider in the axial direction, and the elastic members elastically deform due to the shift of the slider in the axial direction
Implementation Method 2
when a current is applied to the coils 104, due to the interaction between the electrically energized coils 104 and magnets 103, the slider 102 shifts relative to the body casing 101 in the axial direction
Data Source
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AI summary
[Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a linear actuator and a boring device provided with the linear actuator that can perform pushing or pulling operations in an accurate manner. [Means for achieving the object] A linear actuator 1 having a linearly extending slider 3 disposed in a body casing 2, a plurality of magnets 6 fixed to the slider 3 along the axial direction of the slider 3, and a plurality of coils 4 supported by the body casing 2 so as to surround the slider 3 to which the magnets 6 are fixed, the linear actuator 1 being structured so that a slider 3 shifts in the axial direction relative to the body casing 2 due to interaction between energized coils 4 and magnets 6, the linear actuator 1 further comprising a plurality of flat springs 7 each supporting one end or the other end of the slider 3 in the axial direction, each flat spring 7 being elastically deformed relative to the axial direction of the slider 3.