Machine tool provided with cooling mechanism
AssigneeFanuc Corporation
InventorsKunio Kojima, Keiko Yamanaka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A spindle motor as a heating element and a spindle head having a spindle that is driven by the spindle motor are coupled to each other by a cooling flange. The cooling flange is provided with a cooling passage, the cross-sectional area of which gradually increases with distance from its gas inlet toward its gas outlet. When a high-pressure gas is injected into the cooling passage through the gas inlet, it is adiabatically expanded and cooled by the cooling passage having the gradually increasing cross-sectional area. Thus, the cooling flange restrains heat generated from the spindle motor from being transmitted to the spindle head.
Claims4
A machine tool provided with a cooling mechanism,
- the cooling mechanism being provided in the middle of a path of heat conduction from a heating element of the machine tool to a structure around the heating element, whereby the heat conduction from the heating element to the structure is restrained by utilizing a cooling effect produced by adiabatic expansion of a gas through a spiral passage whose cross-sectional area gradually increases from a gas inlet thereof to a gas outlet thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.