Double Cardan Joint Spring Centering Without Ball-Joint Seals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional double cardan joints require an expensive aligning ball-joint for centering and alignment, which increases costs and requires grease that can become contaminated, necessitating additional sealing measures and potential disassembly for maintenance.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a resilient member, such as a spring or elastic component, between the universal joints to center and align the double cardan joint, eliminating the need for the aligning ball-joint and associated sealing complexities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an aligning ball-joint is used to center and align the double cardan joint, then the joint can be properly centered and aligned, but the cost increases and grease contamination becomes an issue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the aligning ball-joint from the double cardan joint assembly and replaces it with a spring-based centering mechanism. This extraction eliminates the need for grease-lubricated components and complex sealing arrangements, directly reducing cost and complexity while maintaining the centering and alignment function through the elastic properties of the spring.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the mechanical aligning ball-joint system with an elastic spring mechanism. The spring provides the necessary centering force through its elastic deformation, replacing the grease-dependent ball-joint mechanism with a maintenance-free elastic element that achieves the same centering and alignment objective without requiring lubrication or sealing.
2Ease of operation
If grease is used in the aligning ball-joint, then the joint functions properly, but contamination can occur requiring disassembly for maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The spring-based centering mechanism is inherently maintenance-free and does not require external lubrication or sealing. The elastic element self-regulates through its material properties, eliminating the need for periodic grease replacement or contamination monitoring that would require disassembly and maintenance intervention.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a sleeve is added to seal the double cardan joint, then contamination is prevented, but cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for sealing sleeves by removing the grease-lubricated aligning ball-joint that would require such sealing. The spring-based mechanism has no lubrication requirements, thereby extracting the entire sealing subsystem and its associated complexity and cost.
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 solution reduces the overall cost of the double cardan joint by eliminating the expensive ball-joint and associated sealing requirements, while also simplifying maintenance and reducing the risk of contamination.
Implementation Method 1
a resilient member positioned between the universal joints to center and align the double cardan joint. The resilient member is adapted to support the input and output shafts
Data Source
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AI summary
A double cardan joint assembly (200) including an input universal joint, an output universal joint, and a resilient member (235) disposed between the input universal joint and the output universal joint. The resilient member (235) is positioned between the input universal joint and the output universal joint by attachment to either an arc guard (211, 221) of each universal joint or a cross-member (215, 225) of each universal joint, for example. The resilient member (235) is adapted to center and align the double cardan joint assembly (200). Thus, the double cardan joint assembly (200) does not necessarily include a conventional aligning ball-joint.