Actuator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9752664-B2
Application number	US-201414530057-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2014
Priority date	Nov 1, 2013
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

An actuator includes M supports to support the rotary shaft, M being an integer equal to or more than 2; and M speed reducers. The Nth support out of the M supports is located at the opposite side of the moving body across the (N−1)th support, N being an integer which is equal to or more than 2 and equal to or less than M. The first speed reducer is connected to the moving body and the first support, receives a movement of the moving body in the axial direction as an input and drives the first support with a reduced drive force that is reduced from the input, and the Nth speed reducer is connected to the (N−1)th support and the Nth support, receives a movement of the (N−1)th support in the axial direction as an input and drives the Nth support with a reduced drive force.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An actuator comprising:
a rotary shaft extending in an axial direction;
a moving body to move in the axial direction along the rotary shaft in response to a rotation of the rotary shaft upon receiving a rotational drive force;
M supports to support the rotary shaft on one side of the moving body, M being an integer equal to or more than 2;
M speed reducers,
wherein an (N−1)th support out of the M supports is located between the moving body and an Nth support out of the M supports, N being an integer which is equal to or more than 2 and equal to or less than M,
a first speed reducer out of the M speed reducers is connected to the moving body and a first support, receives a movement of the moving body in the axial direction as a first input and drives the first support with a first reduced drive force that is reduced from the first input,
an Nth speed reducer is connected to the (N−1)th support and the Nth support, receives a movement of the (N−1)th support in the axial direction as an Nth input and drives the Nth support with an Nth reduced drive force that is reduced from the Nth input,
an actuator main body to support the rotary shaft;
a first device including the first support and the first speed reducer; and
an Nth device including the Nth support and the Nth speed reducer,
wherein the first speed reducer includes a first input portion to which the movement of the moving body in the axial direction is input and a first output portion which outputs the first reduced drive force to the first device and has a first speed reduction ratio for driving the first support at a first speed which is middle between a speed of the first input portion and a speed of the first output portion;
the Nth speed reducer includes an Nth input portion to which the movement of the (N−1)th support in the axial direction is input and an Nth output portion which outputs the Nth reduced drive force to the Nth device and has an Nth speed reduction ratio for driving the Nth support at an Nth speed which is middle between a speed of the Nth input portion and an axial moving speed of the Nth output portion; and
the output portion of an Mth speed reducer is connected to the actuator main body.

2. The actuator according to claim 1 , wherein:
the Nth input portion of the Nth speed reducer is connected to an (N−1)th device; and
an (N−1)th output portion of an (N−1)th speed reducer is connected to the Nth device.

3. An actuator comprising:
a rotary shaft extending in an axial direction;
a moving body to move in the axial direction along the rotary shaft in response to a rotation of the rotary shaft upon receiving a rotational drive force;
an actuator main body;
a guide mechanism fixed to the actuator main body; and
a plurality of resonance suppressing mechanisms including a support to support the rotary shaft on one side of the moving body and a unit to hold the support,
wherein the units are arranged in an arrangement direction orthogonal to the axial direction,
each of the units includes a unit main body that is shaped to extend in a moving direction parallel to the axial direction, guided by the guide mechanism so as to be reciprocally movable with respect to the actuator main body while holding the support and includes a first rotation supporting portion and a second rotation supporting portion, a pair of rotating members that are supported by the first rotation supporting portion and the second rotation supporting portion respectively so as to be rotatable with respect to the unit main body while being spaced apart in the moving direction, and an endless string mounted between the pair of rotating members,
in each of the units an upstream side in the arrangement direction is a side upstream of the pair of rotating members in the arrangement direction, a downstream side in the arrangement direction is a side downstream of the pair of rotating members in the arrangement direction,
in a most upstream unit out of the units in the arrangement direction, the endless string is fixed to the actuator main body at the upstream side in the arrangement direction,
in a most downstream unit out of the units in the arrangement direction, the endless string is coupled to the moving body at the downstream side in the arrangement direction,
in an upstream unit out of two of the units adjacent in the arrangement direction, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of a downstream unit in the arrangement direction at the downstream side in the arrangement direction and
in a downstream unit out of the two of the units adjacent in the arrangement direction, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the upstream unit in the arrangement direction at the upstream side in the arrangement direction.

4. The actuator according to claim 3 , wherein
two resonance suppressing mechanisms are provided,
the most upstream unit included by a most upstream resonance suppressing mechanism out of the resonance suppressing mechanisms and the most downstream unit included by a most downstream resonance suppressing mechanism out of the resonance suppressing mechanisms are provided as the units, in the most upstream unit, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the most downstream unit at the downstream side in the arrangement direction, and
in the most downstream unit, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the most upstream unit at the upstream side in the arrangement direction.

5. The actuator according to claim 3 , wherein
three resonance suppressing mechanisms are provided;
the most upstream unit, the most downstream unit and an intermediate unit located between the most upstream unit and the most downstream unit in the arrangement direction are provided as the units,
in the most upstream unit, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the intermediate unit at the downstream side in the arrangement direction,
in the intermediate unit, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the most upstream unit at the upstream side in the arrangement direction the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the most downstream unit at the downstream side in the arrangement direction, and
in the most downstream unit, the endless string is coupled to the unit main body of the intermediate unit at the upstream side in the arrangement.

6. The actuator according to claim 3 , wherein
each of the resonance suppressing mechanisms includes an upstream support and a downstream support as the support,
the upstream support supports the rotary shaft at a side upstream of the moving body in the axial direction, and
the downstream support supports the rotary shaft at a side downstream of the moving body in the axial direction.

7. The actuator according to claim 3 , wherein
a separating distance in the moving direction between two rotating members included in the pair of rotating members is equal among the plurality of units.

8. The actuator according to claim 3 , wherein
the unit main body includes a coupling portion to couple the first rotation supporting portion and the second rotation supporting portion,
and a distance in the moving direction between the first rotation supporting portion and the second rotation supporting portion is adjustable by attaching the first rotation supporting portion to the coupling portion after adjusting a position of the first rotation supporting portion with respect to the coupling portion.

9. The actuator according to claim 8 , wherein
the first rotation supporting portion is attached to the coupling portion movably in the moving direction, whereas the second rotation supporting portion is fixedly attached to the coupling portion.

Assignees

• Yamaha Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kawauchi Motonori
• Egashira Kenji
• Kawata Kouji

Classifications

• F16H19/0663

  with telescopic means, e.g. for supporting or shielding the reciprocating member · CPC title

• F16H25/24 Primary

  Elements essential to such mechanisms, e.g. screws, nuts (F16H25/22 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16H57/0006

  Vibration-damping or noise reducing means specially adapted for gearings (devices for varying tension of belts, ropes or chains with damping means F16H7/0829; toothed members with construction providing vibration damping F16H55/14; reducing vibrations or noise of the gearbox casing F16H57/028; suppression of vibrations or noise of gear selectors F16H59/0208; control of hydrostatic fluid gearing preventing or reducing vibrations or noise F16H61/4183) · CPC title

• Y10T74/1868

  Deflection related · CPC title

• F16H25/20 Primary

  Screw mechanisms (with automatic reversal F16H25/12) · CPC title