Rotary shafts – gudgeons – housings – and flexible couplings for ro – Shafting – Nonmetalic shaft or component
Patent
1984-10-29
1987-07-21
Stodola, Daniel P.
Rotary shafts, gudgeons, housings, and flexible couplings for ro
Shafting
Nonmetalic shaft or component
464134, 464183, F16C 700, F16C 102
Patent
active
046815562
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to shafts made of composite, fibre reinforced resin, material. More particularly the invention relates to an assembly of such a shaft and a yoke member of a Hookes universal joint. Such shafts may be used, for example, as drive shafts extending between engine and rear axle in conventional rear wheel drive motor vehicles.
It has been proposed hitherto that the yoke member of a Hookes universal joint can be secured to a composite shaft by use of an adhesive. The yoke member may be incorporated in the structure of the shaft during manufacture thereof by winding the fibres over a mandrel which is subsequently removed, the yoke member being positioned on the mandrel and the fibres being wound thereover. Such constructional methods, however, require the use of yoke members which are of massive construction with a tubular spigot portion over which the fibres are wound, the yokes typically being steel forgings. Such construction is heavy and expensive.
It is the object of the present invention to reduce these disadvantages.
According to the invention, we provide an assembly of a composite, fibre reinforced resin, shaft and a yoke member of a Hookes universal joint, the yoke member comprising a sheet metal element with a spigot portion extending axially of the shaft and tubular portions extending transversely thereof and adapted to form or receive bearing elements of the joint, the shaft including fibres wound around said spigot portion and fibres extending around at least part of the circumference of said tubular portions.
Winding the fibres on the yoke member in such a way that they reinforce the tubular portions thereof enables the yoke member to be entirely of relatively thin sheet metal such as steel or an aluminium alloy. The extending of the fibres around the tubular portions also provides a high degree of axial security and torque transmitting ability between the yoke member and shaft, compared with that which would obtain if the fibres were wound around the spigot portion only of the yoke member.
The tubular portions may be integral with the rest of the yoke member. Alternatively they may be separate sheet metal components.
The yoke member may be manufactured from flat sheet metal which is formed to a generally tubular configuration, or may be manufactured from tube stock.
These and other features of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 is a section through an assembly according to the invention.
FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically one method of fibre winding according to the invention.
The assembly illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a sheet metal Hookes joint yoke member with a spigot portion 10 extending axially of the shaft and two tubular portions 11 extending transversely thereof. The portions 11 are provided internally with grooves 12 for receiving circlips by which bearing cups are retained in the portions 11, for supporting opposed trunnions of the cross member of a Hookes joint. At its free end, the yoke member has diametrically opposed cutaways 13 which accommodate the other trunnions of the cross member and other yoke of the joint when assembled, and the boundary of this cut-away is flanged at 14, to provide a guide for fibre winding and to assist rigidity.
The spigot portion 10 of the yoke member has layers 15 of resin impregnated fibres wound thereon. Typically such fibres will include successive layers wound at different helix angles. Fibres are also wound at 16 on the tubular portions 11 of the yoke member to extend at least partly around the circumference thereof. The windings of such fibres may be continuous with those fibres 15 wound helically on the spigot portion 10 and forming the shaft itself.
One possible configuration of winding such fibres is shown in FIG. 2. In that Figure, the axis of the shaft and spigot portion 10 of the joint yoke member is shown at B--B and that of the tubular portions 11 at A--A. One fibre winding is shown extending helically around the spigot portion at 20, circumfe
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patent: 4325174 (1982-04-01), Smith et al.
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BRD Company Limited
Stodola Daniel P.
LandOfFree
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