Three-position control device and three-position control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12516684-B2
Application number	US-202519087125-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2025
Priority date	Mar 28, 2024
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

A three-position control device includes a cylinder device, a fluid control unit, and a displacement restriction device. The cylinder device displaces a piston to each of a retracted position, an intermediate position, and an advanced position. The cylinder device has a first fluid chamber for retraction and a second fluid chamber for advance. A fluid control unit switches an advanced/retracted position of the piston. A second working pressure during displacement from an intermediate position to the advanced position is set to be greater than a first working pressure during displacement from the retracted position to the intermediate position. The displacement restriction device has a load receiving portion and a biasing means. A biasing force of the biasing means is set to be greater than a thrust caused by the first working pressure and smaller than a thrust caused by the second working pressure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A three-position control device comprising:
a cylinder device having a piston which is interlocked with a control object, the piston being displaceable to each of a retracted position, an intermediate position, and an advanced position by receiving a thrust of a working fluid; a fluid control unit that controls intake and discharge of a working fluid to and from the cylinder device; and a displacement restriction device that restricts displacement of the piston moving from the retracted position toward the advanced position at the intermediate position, wherein the cylinder device has:
a first fluid chamber into which the working fluid is introduced so that the piston is pressed toward the retracted position; and
a second fluid chamber into which the working fluid is introduced so that the piston is pressed toward the advanced position,
the fluid control unit is switchable between a first flow path for introducing the working fluid into the first fluid chamber at a predetermined working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the second fluid chamber, a second flow path for introducing the working fluid into the second fluid chamber at a first working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the first fluid chamber, and a third flow path for introducing the working fluid into the second fluid chamber at a second working pressure higher than the first working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the first fluid chamber, the displacement restriction device has a load receiving portion that receives a load of the piston moving toward the advanced position when the piston is displaced from the retracted position to the intermediate position, and a biasing means for biasing the load receiving portion in a direction against a load input from the piston, a biasing force of the biasing means is set to be greater than a thrust of the piston caused by the first working pressure and smaller than the thrust of the piston caused by the second working pressure, the biasing means is a spring member, an initial load at which the spring member starts to deform is set to be greater than the thrust of the piston caused by the first working pressure and smaller than the thrust of the piston caused by the second working pressure, the predetermined working pressure is set to be equal to the first working pressure or the second working pressure, and the fluid control unit includes:
a flow path switching valve capable of selectively connecting and switching a supply flow path and a discharge flow path of the working fluid to the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber; and
a pressure switching valve capable of selectively switching a pressure source connected to the supply flow path between a first pressure source whose pressure is the first working pressure and a second pressure source whose pressure is the second working pressure.

2 . The three-position control device according to claim 1 , wherein the cylinder device includes
a cylinder body in which the piston is retractably housed, and a piston rod which is connected to the piston and protrudes outward from an axial end of the cylinder body, the displacement restriction device is installed outside the cylinder body so that a displacement direction of the load receiving portion is parallel to the axial direction of the piston rod, and a load transfer arm capable of transferring a load acting on the piston rod from the piston to the load receiving portion is connected to the piston rod.

3 . A three-position control method using a cylinder device having a piston which is interlocked with a control object, the piston being displaceable to each of a retracted position, an intermediate position, and an advanced position by receiving a thrust of a working fluid,
a fluid control unit that controls intake and discharge of a working fluid to and from the cylinder device, and a displacement restriction device that restricts displacement of the piston moving from the retracted position toward the advanced position at the intermediate position, wherein the cylinder device is provided with a first fluid chamber into which the working fluid is introduced so that the piston is pressed toward the retracted position and a second fluid chamber into which the working fluid is introduced so that the piston is pressed toward the advanced position, the displacement restriction device is provided with a load receiving portion that receives a load of the piston moving toward the advanced position when the piston is displaced from the retracted position to the intermediate position, and a biasing means for biasing the load receiving portion in a direction against a load input from the piston, a biasing force of the biasing means is set to be greater than a thrust caused by a working pressure of the working fluid when the piston is displaced from the retracted position to the intermediate position, and to be smaller than a thrust caused by the working pressure of the working fluid when the piston is displaced from the intermediate position to the advanced position, the biasing means is a spring member, an initial load at which the spring member starts to deform is set to be greater than the thrust of the piston caused by the first working pressure and smaller than the thrust of the piston caused by the second working pressure, the fluid control unit includes:
a flow path switching valve capable of selectively connecting and switching a supply flow path and a discharge flow path of the working fluid to the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber; and
a pressure switching valve capable of selectively switching a pressure source connected to the supply flow path between a first pressure source whose pressure is the first working pressure and a second pressure source whose pressure is the second working pressure, and
the method comprises: when the piston is displaced to the retracted position, introducing the working fluid into the first fluid chamber at a predetermined working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the second fluid chamber; when the piston is displaced from the retracted position to the intermediate position and stopped at the intermediate position, introducing the working fluid into the second fluid chamber at a first working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the first fluid chamber; and when the piston is displaced from the intermediate position to the advanced position, introducing the working fluid into the second fluid chamber at a second working pressure higher than the first working pressure and discharging the working fluid from the first fluid chamber, wherein the predetermined working pressure is set to be equal to the first working pressure or the second working pressure.

Assignees

• Tokyo Seimitsu Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kera Toya

Classifications

• H10P72/00

  Handling or holding of wafers, substrates or devices during manufacture or treatment thereof · CPC title

• F15B2211/7053

  Double-acting output members · CPC title

• F15B2211/6336

  representing a state of the output member, e.g. position, speed or acceleration · CPC title

• F15B2211/8855

  Compressible fluids, e.g. specific to pneumatics · CPC title

• G01R31/2887

  involving moving the probe head or the IC under test; docking stations (moving single probes G01R1/06705; moving individual probes in multiple probes G01R1/07392) · CPC title