Electromechanical cylinder, cooling assembly, system, and method

An electromechanical cylinder, comprising:

• a linear unit having a screw shaft and a nut operationally coupled thereto, wherein said screw shaft is a hollow screw shaft defining a cavity therein and said screw shaft has an inflow channel and a backflow channel in fluid communication therewith;
• a cooling assembly having a rotary union unit, said rotary union unit having a coolant interface with a first port and a second port, wherein said rotary union unit is disposed such that said inflow channel is in fluid communication with said first port or said second port of said coolant interface and said backflow channel is in fluid communication with an other one of said first port or said second port;
• said cooling assembly additionally including a hollow tube fastened to said rotary union unit in a torque-proof manner, said hollow tube protruding into said cavity of said hollow screw shaft;
• and
• a tube rotary support, wherein a free end of said hollow tube is rotatably supported with respect to said hollow screw shaft within said cavity by said tube rotary support.

A method for cooling an electromechanical cylinder, which comprises the steps of:

• providing a coolant to a coolant interface of a rotary union unit of a cooling assembly for an electromechanical cylinder, wherein a free end of a hollow tube of the cooling assembly received by a cavity in a hollow screw shaft of the electromechanical cylinder is rotatably supported with respect to the screw shaft within the cavity by a tube rotary support;
• circulating the coolant from a first port or a second port of the coolant interface through an inflow channel of a screw shaft of the electromechanical cylinder, the inflow channel being in fluid communication with the first port or the second port, and subsequently through a backflow channel of the screw shaft, the backflow channel being in fluid communication with the inflow channel;
• and
• receiving the coolant from the coolant interface via an other one of the first port and the second port, the other one of the first port and the second port being in fluid communication with the backflow channel.