# US 10,766,112 B2 · Machine-tool spindle cooling method and machine tool

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- Number: US 10,766,112 B2
- Document ID: US10766112B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/556,479
- Filed: 2016-03-10
- Published: 2018-02-15
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2015-03-10
- Assignees: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Shingo Nakamura
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10766112B2

## CPC

- B23Q 11/127: {for cooling motors or spindles}
- B23Q 5/10: driven essentially by electrical means
- B23Q 2220/006: Spindle heads
- B23Q: DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g. ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING (tools of the kind used in lathes or boring machines B23B27/00); MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF METAL-WORKING MACHINES, NOT DIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR RESULT

## Abstract

An object is to provide a machine-tool spindle cooling method and a machine tool capable of suppressing thermal deformation of a spindle while achieving energy saving. To achieve it, a machine-tool spindle cooling method is provided in which bearings (13) and a spindle rotation motor (14) that generate heat with rotation of a spindle (12) are cooled by causing a spindle cooling device (18) to supply and circulate cooled cooling oil inside a housing (11) rotatably supporting the spindle (12), the method comprising deactuating the spindle cooling device (18) to thereby stop supplying the cooling oil in a case where the number of revolutions of the spindle (12) is less than or equal to a predetermined number of revolutions and the temperatures of the bearings (13) and the spindle rotation motor (14) detected by temperature sensors (15, 16) are less than or equal to a predetermined temperature.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A machine-tool spindle cooling method in which a heat source that generates heat with rotation of a spindle is cooled by causing a spindle cooling device to supply and circulate a liquid inside a housing rotatably supporting the spindle, the method comprising:
deactuating all motors in the spindle cooling device to thereby stop supplying and circulating the liquid in a case where a number of revolutions of the spindle is less than or equal to a predetermined number of revolutions and a temperature of the heat source detected by a temperature sensor is less than or equal to a predetermined temperature.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The machine-tool spindle cooling method according to claim 1, wherein switching of the spindle cooling device between an actuated state and a deactuated state is not performed until a certain period of time elapses after switching to the actuated state or the deactuated state.

### Claim 3

A machine tool comprising:
a spindle rotatably supported inside a housing through a plurality of bearings;
a spindle rotation motor that rotates the spindle;
a spindle cooling device that cools the bearings and the spindle rotation motor generating heat with rotation of the spindle, by supplying and circulating liquid inside the housing;
a temperature sensor that detects at least one temperature among a temperature of the bearings and a temperature of the spindle rotation motor; and
a control device that deactuates all motors in the spindle cooling device so as to not supply and circulate the liquid in a case where a number of revolutions of the spindle is less than or equal to a predetermined number of revolutions and the at least one temperature detected by the temperature sensor is less than or equal to a predetermined temperature.