Planetary gear transmission systems or components – Condition responsive control
Patent
1993-08-03
1995-03-14
Marmor, Charles A.
Planetary gear transmission systems or components
Condition responsive control
475255, F16H 374, F16H 1308
Patent
active
053972830
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to a device for the dynamic coupling between two propeller shafts, with possibility of variation in the transmitted torque and speed values.
Such a device can find a great number of applications in the mechanics field. In the embodiment hereinafter described by way of example only, the device is used in the motor car field, in place of the traditional friction clutches or stepless speed change gears.
However, the apparatus of the invention lends itself to be advantageously used in any situation in which it is necessary to interconnect two propeller shafts while keeping the possibility of disconnecting and restoring the dynamic connection between said shafts at any moment, as well as suitably varying the torque and speed values according to which the physical transmission of motion takes place.
It is known that in many mechanical applications stepless speed change gears are used. In particular, in the motor car field said stepless speed change gears are used to interconnect the drive shaft and the propeller shaft, the latter being in turn connected to the wheels.
The use of these stepless speed change gears offers the possibility of suitably altering the torque and speed values according to which power is transmitted to the driven shaft. In other words, the parameters according to which the transmission of motion occurs can be instantaneously altered depending upon requirements.
The stepless speed change gears can be substantially classified according to their fundamental features in three different types:
The mechanical speed change gears are presently made according to different solutions all of them exploiting, for the operation of the same, the adhesion between suitable active surfaces pressed against each other.
For example in one type of mechanical speed change gear commonly used the transmission of motion between the drive shaft and driven shaft takes place through a belt or another type of flexible element of trapezoidal section, operatively engaged between two pulleys each of them being mounted on one of said shafts and consisting of two conical elements the axial distance of which can be modified. In particular, when the disc-shaped elements of one of the pulleys move close to each other the disc-shaped elements belonging to the other pulley correspondingly move apart from each other. In this manner the winding radii of the flexible element on each individual pulley vary and thus there is a variation in the gear ratio.
However, due to the intrinsic nature of known mechanical speed change gears they always involve some sliding between the parts through which the transmission of motion occurs, which results in a reduction of efficiency by effect of friction energy losses. In addition, it is difficult to accomplish mechanical speed change gears capable of transmitting very high torques and powers.
It is also noted that for achieving the correct operation of mechanical speed change gears suitable adjusting devices must be combined therewith, adapted to control the gear ratio variation based on given parameters.
Referring to electric speed change gears, it is noted that the operation of the same substantially involves the use of an electric generator converting the mechanical energy issuing from the drive shaft to electric energy. The electric energy is converted again to mechanical energy by an electric motor associated with the driven shaft. By adjusting the main electric quantities (current and voltage) in the motor and generator, the desired speed variation of the driven shaft relative to that of the drive shaft is achieved.
In this type of speed change gears the efficiency is greatly impaired due to energy losses occurring in converting the mechanical energy to electric energy and vice versa. In addition, in this case too the presence of adjusting devices is needed in order to control the torque and speed variations in the driven shaft.
In hydraulic speed change gears, also referred to as "torque converters", the transmission of motion and torque from the
REFERENCES:
patent: 1883355 (1932-10-01), Edberg
patent: 2654269 (1953-10-01), Wilson
Jensen Nathan O.
Marmor Charles A.
Mercantile Lombard Company Ltd.
LandOfFree
Automatically controlled continuously variable transmission does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Automatically controlled continuously variable transmission, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatically controlled continuously variable transmission will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-710378