The precision linear rails are the key components of the mechanical transmission system to realize the linear reciprocating motion, and their core role is to guide the moving parts to move accurately and smoothly in a straight line according to the predetermined trajectory, and to withstand the loads in the process of the motion (including vertical gravity, horizontal impact force and torque). Specific role can be developed from the following dimensions:
First, accurate guidance, to ensure the accuracy of the movement trajectory
linear slide block through the slider and guide precision cooperation (gap can usually be controlled within 0.01mm), strict restrictions on the degree of freedom of moving parts (such as the table, robotic arm, tooling, etc.), and only allow it to do straight-line movement along the direction of the guide axis, to eliminate lateral offset, torsion and other errors.
For example, the tool holder of a CNC machine tool is guided by a linear guideway, which ensures that the tool always moves in a straight line along the set X/Y axis in the machining process and ensures the dimensional accuracy of the part (e.g., flatness ≤ 0.005mm/m);
The transplanting mechanism of the automated production line relies on the linear guide rail to realize the accurate positioning of materials on the conveying line (repeat positioning error ≤±0.02mm), avoiding gripping offset.
Second, carrying and dispersing load, enhance system stability
linear slide block can transfer the weight of moving parts, external forces (such as cutting force, impact force) evenly to the guide rail body, and then dispersed to the equipment frame through the guide rail fixed seat, so as to reduce the force load of the single support point, to protect the structure of the equipment.
Different types of guide rails have different loading capacity:
Miniature linear guide rail (width ≤ 15mm) is suitable for light load scenarios (such as cell phone screen handling in 3C industry, load ≤ 50kg);
Heavy-duty linear guide (width ≥ 45mm) can withstand vertical loads up to several tons (such as large stamping equipment slider guide, need to withstand the instantaneous impact of stamping);
Part of the guide is designed with "four-direction equal load" structure (the contact surface of the slider and the guide is 45°), which can simultaneously withstand the up and down, left and right direction of the load and torque, suitable for complex force scenarios (such as the robot end-effector movement).
Third, reduce friction resistance, improve motion efficiency and life
linear guide between the slider and the guide rail through the rolling body (steel ball or roller) contact, the coefficient of friction is extremely low (usually 0.001-0.002, much lower than the sliding friction of 0.1-0.3), bringing two major advantages:
Reduce power consumption: drive the moving parts of the force required to significantly reduce, for example, to promote the 100kg workbench, the sliding guide may require 50N of force, while the linear guide only 0.5N, you can choose a smaller power of the drive motor (such as servo motors to reduce the power by more than 30%);
Reduce wear and prolong life: rolling friction wear is much smaller than sliding friction, in the case of regular lubrication, the rated life of the linear guide can reach more than 10,000 hours (about 5 years of continuous work), is the traditional sliding guide 5-10 times.
Fourth, to adapt to high-speed movement, improve equipment efficiency
linear guide rolling structure of the speed change adaptability, can support higher speed (conventional models up to 1-5m / s, high-speed models and even more than 10m / s), and the movement process will not appear in the sliding guide "crawl" phenomenon (low speed due to the coefficient of friction fluctuations caused by jitter). (jitter caused by friction coefficient fluctuation at low speed).
For example, the cutting knife of the lithium battery pole slitter is driven by a linear guideway, which can maintain stability in high-speed reciprocating motion (speed of 3m/s), so that the efficiency of slitting can be increased to more than 2 times that of traditional equipment;
The gripping arm of the sorting robot relies on the linear guideway to realize rapid expansion and contraction, and with the servo motor, it can complete the movement of 500mm travel in 0.5 seconds, which improves the sorting beat (the number of pieces handled per hour increases by 30%).
Five, simplify the structure of the equipment, reduce the difficulty of installation and maintenance
Linear guide is usually standardized design, can be directly bolted to the equipment frame, without the need for complex assembly adjustments (some models support the preload adjustment, through the gap compensation between the slider and the guide rail, to further enhance the rigidity).
Maintenance: only need to regularly add grease to the guide rail slider injection nozzle (such as 1 time per month), can ensure normal operation, compared with the sliding guide rail regular scraping, replacement of lubricants (1 time per week), maintenance costs reduced by more than 60%.
Summarize
Linear guide's core value is ** "accurate guidance + efficient bearing" **, it is not only the moving parts of the 'track', but also the load of the "supporting skeleton", its performance directly affects the accuracy, speed and life of the equipment. Its performance directly affects the accuracy, speed, life and stability of the equipment. In automation, precision manufacturing, robotics and other fields, linear guide has become the mainstream choice to replace the traditional sliding guide, is the modern machine.
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