Flexible Shaft Coupling Hub Flange Overload Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible shaft couplings face issues with disk pack breakage due to high-frequency flexural stresses at high speeds, leading to manufacturing costs being higher than necessary for oversized designs to ensure security against breakage.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates wing-like hub flanges that protrude radially and are received in recesses of the connecting flange with planar stop surfaces, providing a large contact area to distribute torque and prevent material wear, with the stop surfaces lying in planes intersecting the shaft axis, thus avoiding punctiform pressure and allowing perpendicular force transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the disk pack is oversized to achieve high security against disk breakage, then the reliability is improved, but the manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements overload protection elements (hub flange and connecting flange) that are designed to engage before the disk pack fails under excessive loads. These elements provide a mechanical stop that limits the maximum torque transmitted to the disk pack, preventing breakage without requiring an oversized design. The cushioning effect is achieved through the controlled engagement of the form-fitting elements at predetermined load thresholds.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the structural parameters of the coupling by introducing wing-like hub flanges with planar stop surfaces that engage with corresponding surfaces on the connecting flange. This geometric modification creates a mechanical limit to torque transmission, allowing the disk pack to be sized for normal operating conditions rather than extreme overload conditions, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining reliability.
2Power
If the disk pack is subjected to high-frequency flexural stresses at high speeds, then the power transmission capability is improved, but the risk of lamella breakage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The overload protection elements engage before the disk pack reaches stress levels that could cause lamella breakage. The planar stop surfaces create a mechanical barrier that prevents excessive torque from being transmitted to the disk pack during high-speed operation, cushioning the system against sudden load spikes and high-frequency stresses that would otherwise lead to fatigue failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potential harmful effect of high-frequency flexural stresses into a beneficial protective mechanism. The overload protection elements are designed to engage under extreme conditions, transforming what would be destructive stress cycles into controlled mechanical engagement events that protect the disk pack while still allowing normal power transmission at high speeds.
3Stress or pressure
If the contact surface area between hub flange and connecting flange is increased, then the surface pressure is reduced, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the torque transmission function into two distinct mechanisms: the disk pack for normal operation and the overload protection elements (hub flange and connecting flange) for extreme conditions. The planar stop surfaces on the hub flange create a distributed contact area that engages only when needed, reducing surface pressure without requiring continuous structural complexity. The segmented design allows simple geometry that engages only under specific load conditions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The coupling has a hub (1'') with a tubular-shaped section for receiving a shaft. The hub has multiple wing-like hub flanges (1.1'), which are connected individually with the tubular-shaped section, and stick out radially to outer side. A mounting flange (3.1') has recesses (3.4'), where the hub flanges with a clearance (S) are accommodated in the recesses in a form-fit manner. Edges of the hub flanges face each other, where the edges and the recesses comprise planar stopping surface (6), which defines a contact area and lies in a plane that intersects the shaft carrying the hub.