Floating Ball-and-Socket Torque Coupler for Shaft Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing torque couplers either fail to efficiently transfer torque due to misalignment between drive and driven shafts or are mechanically complex, with rigid couplers not tolerating any misalignment and flexible couplers not providing sufficient torque transfer.
Innovation Solution
A rigid-floating flexible torque coupler with ball-and-socket joints that allow for axial, lateral, and angular misalignment by using non-spherical surfaces with interference points to transfer torque while allowing pivoting, featuring symmetric ball and socket surfaces with polygonal or gear mesh cross-sections for efficient torque transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If rigid couplings are used to efficiently transfer torque, then torque transfer efficiency is improved, but the system cannot tolerate any misalignment between shafts
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling device is divided into multiple functional segments: a first coupling member with a first socket, a second coupling member with a second socket, and a floating torque shaft with balls. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function - the sockets provide rigid torque transfer interfaces while the floating torque shaft with balls accommodates misalignment, thus resolving the contradiction between torque efficiency and misalignment tolerance.
Solution Approach 2:
The floating torque shaft acts as an intermediary element between the drive shaft and driven shaft. It includes balls that engage with both sockets, serving as a mediator that transfers torque while accommodating misalignment. The balls roll within the sockets, providing a flexible connection that maintains efficient torque transfer despite positional deviations between the shafts.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible couplings are used to tolerate misalignment, then misalignment tolerance is improved, but torque transfer efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling mechanism employs dynamic elements - balls that can roll and pivot within the sockets. This dynamic design allows the coupling to adapt to misalignment conditions while maintaining efficient torque transfer. The balls automatically adjust their position and orientation based on the misalignment degree, providing flexible accommodation without significant torque loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The design changes the operational parameters by using spherical balls with specific diameter ratios relative to the socket dimensions. The balls have a diameter that is 0.4 to 0.6 times the inner diameter of the sockets, optimizing the balance between misalignment tolerance and torque transfer efficiency. This parameter optimization ensures that the coupling can accommodate misalignment while maintaining high torque transfer capability.
3Loss of energy
If ball-and-socket joints with interference points are used to transfer torque, then torque transfer efficiency is improved, but the ability to pivot and tolerate misalignment is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling employs spherical balls that engage with spherical sockets, utilizing curved surfaces to enable pivoting motion. The spherical geometry allows the balls to rotate and pivot within the sockets while maintaining continuous contact for torque transfer. This curvature-based design provides both the interference points needed for efficient torque transfer and the geometric freedom for pivoting to accommodate misalignment.
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
The coupler effectively transfers torque while tolerating misalignment, maintaining efficiency and stability by dynamically adjusting interference points based on shaft misalignment, thus optimizing torque transfer.
Implementation Method 1
opposing ball and socket surfaces that interfere to prevent rotation of the ball relative to the socket to transfer torque
Data Source
AI summary
A rigid-floating flexible torque coupler includes a pair of ball-and-socket joints attached to opposite ends of a rigid shaft that form a single torque shaft. Each socket is configured to be rigidly attached, and possibly integrally formed, to a drive/driven shaft. Each ball-and-socket has opposing ball and socket surfaces that interfere and to prevent rotation of the ball relative to the socket to transfer torque upon rotation of the drive shaft while allowing the ball to pivot within the socket to tolerate lateral or angular offsets of the drive and driven shafts. Each socket may have sufficient depth to allow the ball (single torque shaft) to be displaced axially to tolerate axial misalignment of the drive and driven shafts. The single torque shaft is not rigidly attached. At rest in a nominally aligned state, the single torque shaft and balls “float” within the pair of sockets. In operation, the points of interference of the opposing surface may be constantly changing depending on the misalignment while maintaining the transfer of torque.