Rodless cylinder apparatus

摘要

The rodless cylinder includes at least a cylinder tube and a piston, but it has no piston rod that is indispensable in the conventional cylinders. The article carrier is connected via the piston yoke to the piston and movable with parts and jigs placed thereon as the piston moves along the cylinder. At least one rod is fixed relative to the cylinder tube to extend in parallel with the direction in which the piston and hence the carrier moves. The sensor is provided to be movable along the rod as the piston moves. The sensor has a moving member movable along the rod as the piston moves within the cylinder tube, for detecting a current position of the piston in accordance with relative positional relation between the moving member and the rod. With such arrangements, the rodless cylinder as a whole has a higher rigidity against heavy load, and also the piston can be accurately positioned to stop at a desired position in its stroke.