V-Groove Slide Guide Unit for Surveying Instruments
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Solution Overview
Problem
In precision machines like surveying instruments, looseness between the slider and its support portion leads to inaccurate transmission of displacement, causing errors in tilt angle setting, particularly in laser luminescence devices where high accuracy is required.
Innovation Solution
A slide guide unit with V-grooves, conical recesses, and steel balls, along with a steel ball support plate and compression spring, ensures precise alignment and movement by preventing looseness, allowing for accurate displacement and positional detection without rotation, and adjustable pressing force for optimal performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional slider support mechanism is used, then the structure is simple, but looseness occurs between the slider and support portion causing positioning errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs steel balls (spherical elements) as the core component to eliminate looseness between the slider and support portion. The steel balls are constrained within V-grooves and conical recesses, transforming the linear sliding contact into a spherical rolling contact system. This curvature-based approach ensures precise positioning by preventing gaps and looseness while maintaining structural simplicity through the use of basic geometric shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
The steel balls act as intermediary elements between the slider and the support structure. Instead of direct contact between the slider and support portion, the steel balls mediate the interaction, allowing for precise force transmission and positioning while eliminating direct friction and looseness. The V-grooves and conical recesses further constrain these intermediary balls to ensure they remain in the correct position for accurate displacement transmission.
2Manufacturing precision
If steel balls are used to eliminate looseness, then positioning accuracy improves, but the risk of ball dropout increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses asymmetric V-grooves with specific angle configurations (e.g., 45 degrees) and conical recesses that are not symmetric about the vertical axis. These asymmetric geometric features create natural retention mechanisms that prevent steel balls from dropping out while allowing them to roll freely in the intended direction. The asymmetric design ensures the balls are constrained laterally by the V-groove walls while maintaining freedom of motion along the sliding path.
Solution Approach 2:
The conical recesses provide curved containment surfaces that cradle the steel balls, preventing them from dropping out while allowing smooth rolling motion. The curved geometry of the conical recesses works in conjunction with the spherical shape of the steel balls to create a reliable retention system that maintains positioning accuracy without restricting the necessary degrees of freedom for smooth operation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the steel ball support plate is rigidly fixed, then the structure is stable, but adjustment of pressing force becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the rigid, fixed support plate into a dynamic, adjustable structure. The support plate incorporates mechanisms (such as adjustable bolts or springs) that allow the pressing force applied to the steel balls to be modified according to operational requirements. This dynamic capability enables optimization of the pressing force to eliminate looseness while preventing excessive force that could cause binding or wear, thus maintaining both stability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables change in the pressing force parameter of the support plate to optimize performance. By allowing adjustment of this physical parameter, the system can adapt to different operating conditions, wear levels, and load requirements. The ability to modify the pressing force maintains stable operation across varying conditions while providing the versatility needed for different application scenarios.
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 slide guide unit enables high-accuracy positioning and tilt setting of laser reference planes by minimizing looseness and ensuring smooth, linear movement, enhancing the precision and reliability of surveying instruments and other high-accuracy applications.
Implementation Method 1
a steel ball support plate with spring action as disposed on a side surface of the slide block on the other V-groove side
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a slide guide unit comprising; a guide base having V-grooves formed on both the side end faces in parallel, a slide block having a facing surface facing one of the V-grooves on both the side ends, conical recesses formed at two positions on the facing surface facing the one V-groove with a predetermined interval, first steel balls fitted in the conical recesses and fitted in the one V-groove, a steel ball support plate with spring action as disposed on a side surface of the slide block on the other V-groove side and a necessary number of second steel balls as fitted in a steel ball holding groove and the other V-groove, wherein the steel ball support plate has the steel ball holding groove facing the other V-groove, wherein the steel ball support plate presses the second steel balls to the other V-groove and the slide block is movable along the one V-groove side and the other V-groove side via the first steel balls and the second steel balls.