Pinned Gear Assembly With Elastomeric Pins for Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gear transmissions suffer from misalignment issues that lead to premature wear, failure, and reduced efficiency due to stress concentration and inadequate load-bearing capabilities, with conventional solutions failing to effectively compensate for misalignment while maintaining high torque transfer and structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
A pinned gear assembly featuring a toothed ring gear, spline gear, and curved-faces pin assembly with elastomeric material, allowing controlled tilting and damping to mitigate misalignment, while incorporating a locking assembly for secure connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional rigid gear assemblies are used, then structural integrity is maintained, but misalignment causes stress concentration and premature wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the material at the gear interface by introducing an elastomeric layer that can deform elastically. This allows the rigid gear components to maintain their structural integrity while the elastomeric material absorbs misalignment stresses through deformation, preventing stress concentration and premature wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines rigid gear components with an elastomeric material to create a composite gear assembly. The rigid portions maintain structural integrity and torque transfer capability, while the elastomeric portion provides compliance to accommodate misalignment, thereby resolving the contradiction between rigidity and misalignment tolerance.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible couplings are used to accommodate misalignment, then misalignment compensation improves, but torque transfer capability and structural integrity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies flexibility locally at the gear tooth interface through an elastomeric layer, while the rest of the gear components remain rigid. This localized compliance allows misalignment compensation without compromising the overall structural integrity and torque transfer capability of the gear assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a material with different mechanical properties (elastomeric) at the critical interface zone, creating a gradient from rigid to compliant. This parameter change allows the system to exhibit both rigidity for torque transfer and flexibility for misalignment compensation in different locations.
3Reliability
If safety factors are increased to account for misalignment, then reliability improves, but system efficiency and size deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The elastomeric material provides self-adjusting compliance that automatically compensates for misalignment variations during operation. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for excessive safety factors, allowing the gear system to maintain high reliability without sacrificing efficiency or increasing size.
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 assembly effectively compensates for misalignment, maintaining high torque transfer and structural integrity by allowing controlled tilting and damping, reducing stress concentrations and preventing premature wear.
Implementation Method 1
curved-faces pin assembly with elastomeric material, allowing controlled tilting and damping to mitigate misalignment
Implementation Method 2
curved-faces pin assembly with elastomeric material, allowing controlled tilting and damping to mitigate misalignment
Data Source
AI summary
A pinned gear assembly that includes a toothed ring gear having a plurality of inner gear teeth alternating with a plurality of inner grooves on an inner circumference and a plurality of outer gear teeth located on an outer circumference. A spline gear having an outer circumference comprising a plurality of spline teeth alternating with a plurality of spline grooves is included. The spline teeth are configured to fit in the inner grooves of the toothed ring gear when the spline gear is assembled to the toothed ring gear, wherein the spline gear has a central opening configured to receive a shaft. Each of the plurality of inner grooves and each of the plurality of spline grooves has trapezoidal walls. A curved-faces pin assembly includes a cylindrical pin having semicircular ends and a pattern of an elastomeric material which conforms to a shape of the spline grooves and the inner grooves, the cylindrical pin of the curved faces pin assembly is centrally located between the trapezoidal walls and parallel to the shaft.