Machine element or mechanism – Rotary member or shaft indexing – e.g. – tool or work turret – Locking means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-01
2002-09-24
Kim, Chong H. (Department: 3682)
Machine element or mechanism
Rotary member or shaft indexing, e.g., tool or work turret
Locking means
C074S826000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06453773
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an elevation and index apparatus of a water hydraulic driven type and, more particularly, to an elevation and index apparatus of a water hydraulic driven type having a high level of cleanliness and washability as well as high positioning accuracy and a high responsiveness. The elevation and index apparatus of a water hydraulic driven type is particularly useful for food processing machines.
(Related Art)
Hitherto, as an index table of a machine tool, there has been used an elevation and index mechanism having an elevation table and a rotary table. The elevation table has a piston disposed so as to move upwardly or downwardly by a cylinder mechanism while restricting its rotary movement about its axis. The rotary table is supported on the elevation table so as to pivot about the axis.
Relating to a mechanism for positioning a rotary table by driving and rotating the table held rotatably through a gear reduction mechanism by a servo-motor, proposed was a mechanism which can reduce a positioning error resulting from a backlash of the gears by using a mechanism biasing the table in either rotary direction at the positioning period after driving the rotary table.
A roller gear cam mechanism has been known for long time, and is sold as a single part, for example, under the trade name “INDEX DRIVE”.
On the other hand, a so-called water hydraulic component has been developed from the point of view of cleanliness, safety, saving resources and the other purposes, which uses clean water, in place of oil that has been used as a working medium for conventional oil hydraulic components. The water hydraulic component is basically the same as the conventional oil hydraulic component using oil as the working medium, in that the water hydraulic component using water as the working medium utilizes the pressure of a fluid. Therefore, the former is almost the same as the latter in terms of operation principles and structural configuration. Since water has problems in that its lubricating properties are lower than oil and it is prone to cause rust, structures and materials are devised for the water hydraulic components using water as the working medium so as to overcome these problems.
In the current food processing industry, a large number of works are conducted manually because of the fact that objects to be processed, such as meat, agricultural products, etc. vary substantially in size, shape, etc. depending on individuals. Automation of the food processing has strongly been demanded because reducing manual work is more effective and useful from the point of view of prevention of contamination with bacteria such as Escherichia coli, etc., saving of labor, and for other reasons.
For such machines for use in automation of processing food, an accurate positioning of objects to be processed is demanded to adjust the individual differences of the processed objects, in order to improve the quality and yield of the products by the automated processing of the objects on the basis of measurements for shapes of the individual objects and results of the measurements. In particular, a so-called base machine by which the objects to be processed by a food processor are measured and transferred to the processing location is required to satisfy many requirements from the point of view of productivity, such as high-speed processing ability, improved speed, compactness, etc., in addition to an accurate positioning performance. Moreover, as machines for processing fob are required to allow its food-processing section to be washed by spraying water under high pressure, the base machine is also required to have high resistance to washing.
As devices for driving and controlling the base machine, there have hitherto been extensively used components that can be driven electrically or hydraulically. However, considering a washing by high-pressure water for electrically driven components, in order to prevent danger of electric leakage of failures due to water penetration into electric components such as a cylinder or a motor (hereinafter referred to as “an actuator”) for generating a large power, it is required to enclose the periphery of the actuator so as to seal it against water penetration. Therefore, enclosing of the electrical components may result in a larger size of the entire system, or require air purging in accordance with the sealing conditions and, additional accessory instruments are occasionally needed.
Moreover, the enclosing of the electrical devices may cause problems due to poor heat radiation or dissolving of the grease caused by heating up of the actuators. Further, it may require a connecting mechanism in order to extract an output through the sealed portion, or it may result in a decrease in output. On the other hand, the oil hydraulic components have the lesser risk of causing failures due to washing of the apparatus, and can even realize a higher output and responsiveness than the electrically drivable devices. However, if standard materials are used for the hydraulic components, there is a risk that rust is produced due to exposure to washing water, or that the surroundings are contaminated with oil that is leaked from the inside of the components. Furthermore, oil available for use with food processing machines can be used as operating oil for the components; however, such oil cannot be said to be thoroughly non-toxic and non-hazardous to the environment and the human body.
In addition, there may also be used a pneumatically driven component that is recognized as a clean drive system, although it is little used for a base machine. Such a pneumatic driven component; however, may suffer from difficulties in that a high power cannot be produced as compared to that produced by using hydraulic driven components and electric driven components. Also, it is anticipated that it is difficult to achieve desired high positioning accuracy due to the lack of rigidity resulting from compressibility of air. Furthermore, a problem might result from discharging of lubricant oil from the components, and the compressor for generating air pressure, in the form of oil mist. Given those problems, a pneumatic driven component is not suitable for use in food processing machines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In order to solve the problems prevailing in the conventional food processing devices, extensive studies have been made regarding elevation and index apparatuses for use particularly with a base machine of a food-processing machine. As a result of extensive studies, it was found that an elevation and index apparatus of a water hydraulic driven type having a particular compact structural configuration could achieve desired machine performance.
Means to Solve the Problems
Therefore, the present invention has the object to provide an elevation and index apparatus of a water hydraulic driven type having a compact structural configuration as well as a high level of cleanliness, washability, responsiveness, output and positioning accuracy, which can be used in a transfer-load section that is used as a base machine particularly for a food processing machine.
In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides an elevation and index apparatus for loading an object to be processed, and transferring and locating the loaded processing object by moving upwardly or downwardly and indexing the loaded processing object. The elevation and index apparatus is of a water hydraulic driven type consisting of a rotary table supported pivotally by a bearing, a power transmission mechanism composed of a follower node fixed to the rotary table and a drive node engaged with the follower node, a motor that has an output shaft thereof connected to the power transmission mechanism and that is fixed to a table base supporting the bearing, a cylinder disposed so as to move linearly along the pivotal center of the follower node fixed to the table base, a main elevation shaft extending through a communicating bore formed in the center of the
Kodama Ryuji
Mammoto JPX
Miyakawa Shimpei
Mochizuki Yoshihiro
Takahashi Tamami
Ebara Corporation
Kim Chong H.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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