Joint Device Buffer Recess Design for Shaft Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing joint devices for motors face challenges in smoothly transmitting rotation when the drive shaft and driven shaft are misaligned due to coupling tolerances, leading to resistance and hindered rotation.
Innovation Solution
A joint device with a ring-shaped buffer featuring first and second engagement recesses on its outer surface, allowing for misalignment by having a smaller outer diameter of the recesses compared to the engagement portions, enabling smooth rotation transmission even when the drive and driven shafts are not perfectly aligned.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the buffer has engagement recesses with the same diameter as the engagement portions, then the connection between drive rotor and driven rotor is firm, but rotation cannot be smoothly transmitted when misalignment occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the dimensional parameters of the engagement recesses by making their outer diameters smaller than the inner diameters of the engagement portions, creating radial clearance. This parameter modification allows the buffer to accommodate misalignment while maintaining reliable connection during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates radial clearance in the engagement recesses as a pre-designed cushioning mechanism. This clearance acts as a buffer zone that absorbs misalignment before it causes binding or binding between the drive and driven rotors, preventing rotation smoothness issues before they occur.
2Ease of operation
If coupling tolerances are tight to ensure precise alignment, then rotation transmission is smooth, but manufacturing cost increases and misalignment resistance occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the engagement recess dimensions to create intentional radial clearance, changing the fit from tight to loose. This allows standard manufacturing tolerances to be used without causing misalignment resistance, reducing manufacturing precision requirements while maintaining smooth rotation.
Solution Approach 2:
The radial clearance in the engagement recesses acts as an intermediary zone that mediates between the drive rotor and driven rotor. This intermediary space absorbs the effects of coupling tolerances and misalignment, allowing smooth rotation transmission without requiring tight manufacturing precision.
3Power
If the buffer directly contacts both rotors with tight fit, then power transmission is efficient, but wear and noise increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fit parameter from tight to loose by making the engagement recess outer diameter smaller than the engagement portion inner diameter. This creates radial clearance that reduces contact pressure and friction, thereby reducing wear and noise while maintaining sufficient power transmission efficiency through the buffer material.
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 joint device effectively transmits rotation without direct contact between the drive and driven rotors, reducing noise and wear, and allows for misalignment, ensuring continuous operation even when the shafts are not perfectly aligned.
Implementation Method 1
Although the above publication describes that the elasticity of the buffer allows for misalignment between the drive shaft and the driven shaft, rotation cannot be smoothly transmitted only by the elasticity of the buffer.
Data Source
AI summary
A joint device includes a drive rotor fixed to a drive shaft, a driven rotor fixed to a driven shaft, and a ring-shaped buffer located between the drive rotor and the driven rotor. The drive rotor includes a drive engagement portion that projects toward the driven rotor in an axial direction. The driven rotor includes a driven engagement portion that projects toward the drive rotor in the axial direction. The buffer includes an outer surface, which includes a first engagement recess and a second engagement recess that are recessed toward a radially inner side. An outer diameter of a bottom surface of the second engagement recess is smaller than an inner diameter of the driven engagement portion or an outer diameter of a bottom surface of the first engagement recess is smaller than an inner diameter of the drive engagement portion.