Passenger Conveyor Connecting Gear With Variable-Angle Drive Layout
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing passenger conveyor systems, such as escalators and moving walkways, face challenges with insufficient space for drives and supporting structures due to high load forces, necessitating costly and system-specific adaptations for extra-long systems, and require modifications to existing structures for installation and support of tensile forces.
Innovation Solution
A connecting gear design for escalators and moving walkways that allows for flexible installation by using a separate drive frame with a connecting gear comprising intersecting rotational axis planes, enabling variable spatial distances between the drive frame and drive shaft without altering components, and incorporating a flexible coupling for vibration dampening and misalignment compensation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the drive is integrated into the supporting structure, then the structure provides stable support for high load forces, but there is insufficient space for extra-long escalators and moving walks
Solution Approach 1:
The drive system is segmented into two independent parts: the drive unit (motor and connecting gear) mounted on a separate drive frame, and the drive shaft mounted on the supporting structure. This segmentation allows the drive components to be positioned in locations with sufficient space while maintaining structural support capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
A coupling device serves as an intermediary element connecting the drive shaft on the supporting structure to the connecting gear on the separate drive frame. This intermediary enables torque transmission between the two separated components, resolving the spatial conflict while maintaining functional integrity.
2Volume of moving object
If a separate drive frame is used for extra-long systems, then space constraints are relieved, but costly system-specific adaptations are required
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling device is designed as a universal component that can accommodate various drive configurations and spatial arrangements. This universal design allows the same coupling device to be used across different escalator and moving walkway systems, reducing the need for costly system-specific adaptations while maintaining flexibility for extra-long installations.
3Strength
If the drive frame and supporting structure are well anchored, then tensile forces are supported, but modifications to existing structures are necessary
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the drive unit from the supporting structure, the system creates independent mounting points that can be anchored separately. This allows the drive frame to be anchored independently from the supporting structure, enabling installation in existing structures without requiring comprehensive structural modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchoring requirements are localized to specific mounting points on both the drive frame and supporting structure, rather than requiring modifications to the entire structure. This localized anchoring approach maintains installation flexibility while providing sufficient strength to support tensile forces from the conveyor belt.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the connecting gear has fixed rotational axis planes, then the structure is stable, but flexibility in installation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling device incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities that allow the rotational axis planes of the connecting gear to be adjusted during installation and operation. This dynamic feature enables the system to adapt to different spatial configurations and installation requirements while maintaining structural stability during operation through proper locking and securing mechanisms.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a connecting gear mechanism (65) of a passenger-transporting system (1) designed as an escalator or moving walkway. The connecting gear mechanism (65) has a first section (64) and a second section (66). In the first section (64), an input shaft (74) and a first gearwheel set (75) are arranged so as to be operatively connected to one another. In the second section (66), an output shaft (78) and a second gearwheel set (79) are arranged so as to be operatively connected to one another. A connecting shaft (88) connects the two gearwheel sets to one another, wherein, with respect to the connecting shaft axis of rotation (89), the first section can be connected to the second section (66) at any selectable plane intermediate angles (α, β).