Active Clutch Actuator for Robotic Energy Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic apparatuses face challenges in reducing electric energy consumption and managing load while ensuring safety, particularly in scenarios where motors are centrally located and must control peripheral mechanical members, leading to inefficiencies and potential damage from shocks or overloads.
Innovation Solution
The clutch is transformed from a passive safety component to an active component that engages and disengages shafts based on operating conditions, coordinated with motor operation, inertia, and load, allowing for energy-saving and load management without additional actuating means, thereby reducing power consumption and weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a clutch is used as a passive safety component to limit torque, then safety is improved, but energy consumption increases due to continuous motor operation
Solution Approach 1:
The clutch is transformed from a static passive safety component to a dynamic active component that can engage and disengage based on operating conditions. The control system dynamically adjusts clutch engagement state (fully engaged, partially engaged, or disengaged) according to motor speed, torque demand, and operating phase, enabling energy-saving disengagement during appropriate phases while maintaining safety when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the motor's own operational characteristics (speed, torque, phase) to control clutch engagement, creating a self-regulating mechanism. The control unit automatically determines optimal clutch states based on real-time motor parameters without requiring external intervention, enabling the system to self-optimize energy consumption while maintaining safety.
2Ease of operation
If additional actuating means are added to control the clutch, then clutch control precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The motor serves multiple functions: it performs the primary actuation task and simultaneously provides control signals for clutch engagement. The existing motor control infrastructure (speed, torque, phase information) is repurposed to control the clutch, eliminating the need for separate actuating mechanisms while maintaining precise control through the control unit that coordinates both functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The control functions for the motor and clutch are merged into a single integrated control system. The control unit processes motor operational data and simultaneously manages both motor actuation and clutch engagement state, combining what could be separate control systems into one unified approach that reduces overall complexity.
3Reliability
If the clutch is always engaged to ensure safety, then reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases due to lost regenerative opportunities
Solution Approach 1:
The clutch engagement is made periodic rather than continuous, with the control system alternating between engaged and disengaged states based on operating phases. During phases where the load can safely coast or where regenerative braking is appropriate, the clutch disengages to capture energy; during phases requiring positive torque control or where coasting would be unsafe, the clutch engages. This periodic action pattern optimizes both safety and energy recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the engagement parameter of the clutch dynamically based on operating conditions. The control unit monitors motor speed, torque demand, and phase information, then adjusts the clutch engagement parameter (from fully engaged to disengaged) to match the current operational requirements, enabling the system to adapt between safety-critical and energy-recovery phases.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables up to 60% energy savings in robotic systems by exploiting inertia and gravitational forces, while ensuring safety by limiting torque and preventing damage from overloads, with the clutch's active control reducing the need for specific actuating mechanisms and simplifying the system's design.
Implementation Method 1
exploiting the inertiae and weight of the member itself
Implementation Method 2
exploiting inertia and gravitational forces
Implementation Method 3
a clutch that allows limiting the backward torque transmitted
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~3
Figure 4a~4b
AI summary
The invention relates to a method and a related device for the actuation of a follower member (30) in a robotic apparatus, such as a humanoid robot, a gripping arm for industrial applications, and the like. The method envisages a clutch (20) interposed between an electric drive (10) and the follower member (30), which, in addition to allowing limiting the resistant torque (Tl) transmitted by the follower member (30) in case of sudden overloads, is also used for connecting and/or disconnecting the drive (10) and the follower member (30) to/from each other for controlled time intervals during the operation of the robotic apparatus. In this way it is possible to attain energy savings and exploit regenerative energy in order to recharge the batteries or supercapacitors associated with the apparatus.