Compact Actuating Drive with Wound Flat Spring Innovation
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Summary
Problems
Existing actuating drives for heating, ventilation, and cooling systems are often heavy, complex, and require a substantial installation depth due to the use of solid drive springs with steep characteristic curves, which complicates their design and manufacturing.
Innovation solutions
The use of a wound flat spring with a simpler and more lightweight design, where the spring axis is radially spaced apart from the actuation axis and aligned parallel to it, allowing for a compact and flexible actuating drive with a constant or reduced number of windings, and a free spring end that is tangentially fastened to the shaft portion, enabling easy reversal of direction and reduced stress on the gear unit.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If solid cylindrical helical springs are used as restoring springs, then the actuating drive can provide restoring force, but the actuating drive becomes heavy and requires substantial installation depth
Why choose this principle:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the spring by using a wound flat spring instead of a solid cylindrical helical spring. This parameter change results in a lighter spring with fewer windings (6-25) compared to solid springs, directly reducing the weight of the actuating drive while maintaining the restoring force function.
Principle concept:
If solid cylindrical helical springs with steep characteristic curves are used, then restoring force is provided, but the actuating drive becomes complex and requires overdimensioning of the motor
Why choose this principle:
The patent changes the spring characteristic from a steep curve (solid helical spring) to a flatter curve (wound flat spring). This parameter change in the spring's force-displacement characteristic simplifies the overall drive system, eliminating the need for overdimensioning the motor and reducing device complexity.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
The use of a wound flat spring with a simpler and more lightweight design, where the spring axis is radially spaced apart from the actuation axis and aligned parallel to it, allowing for a compact and flexible actuating drive with a constant or reduced number of windings, and a free spring end that is tangentially fastened to the shaft portion, enabling easy reversal of direction and reduced stress on the gear unit.
Abstract
Various embodiments of the teachings herein include an actuating drive comprising: a drive element; an actuation element; and a restoring spring. The drive element drives the actuation element indirectly about an actuation axis. The actuation element includes a shaft portion concentric to the actuation axis and extends at least partially circumferentially. The restoring spring includes a wound flat spring providing a restoring torque on the actuation element, acting tangentially on the shaft portion, and a free spring end tangentially fastened to the shaft portion. The free spring end is radially externally disposed with respect to the spring axis and fastened tangentially to the shaft portion. The spring is mounted rotatably so the spring axis is radially spaced apart from the actuation axis and aligned parallel to the actuation axis.