Planetary Wheel Drive Brake Spring Stabilizer Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing planetary wheel drives lack a design that incorporates a stamped spring plate with mechanically bonded coil springs, which are effectively secured by spring stabilizers, enhancing the mechanical bonding and stability of the spring pack.
Innovation Solution
The planetary wheel drive design features a stamped spring plate with spring stabilizers and coil springs, where the last coil of each spring is wedged over the stabilizers, providing frictional engagement and secure placement, and includes a single walled output planet carrier with a locking lug and notch mechanism for additional stability and ease of disassembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If individual springs are located in spring pockets, then the brake structure is simple, but the mechanical bonding and stability of the spring pack is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual spring pockets into a single stamped spring plate with integrated spring stabilizers. The spring plate includes a planar portion and multiple spring stabilizers formed as collars protruding from the planar portion, creating a unified structure that mechanically bonds multiple coil springs together, thereby improving spring pack stability without proportionally increasing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining the stamped spring plate (metallic material) with coil springs (elastic material). The spring stabilizers act as mechanical bonds between the rigid spring plate and the flexible springs, creating a composite assembly that leverages the strengths of both material types to enhance overall mechanical bonding and stability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a stamped spring plate with spring stabilizers is used, then the stability and stiffness of the planetary wheel drive is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stamped spring plate is designed with segmented functional zones: a planar portion for structural support and multiple spring stabilizers protruding from it. Each stabilizer is a distinct collar-shaped element that independently secures a coil spring. This segmentation allows the complex function of securing multiple springs to be achieved through repeated, standardized features that can be efficiently manufactured using stamping processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring stabilizers are formed by changing the geometric parameters of the spring plate during the stamping process. The collars protrude from the planar portion with specific dimensions and spacing, creating varied local geometries from a single flat sheet. This parameter variation within a single manufacturing process enables complex functionality without requiring multiple manufacturing steps.
3Reliability
If coil springs are mechanically bonded to spring stabilizers, then the spring pack stability is enhanced, but the disassembly difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring stabilizers are designed as self-retaining features where the last coil of each spring is wedged over the collar, creating frictional engagement that automatically secures the spring in place during operation. This self-service mechanism provides reliable mechanical bonding without requiring additional fasteners or complex assembly procedures, and allows for relatively easy disassembly by simply compressing the spring to release the wedged coil.
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
This design enhances the mechanical bonding of the spring pack, improves the stability and stiffness of the planetary wheel drive, allows for easy disassembly, and reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining high performance and low cost.
Implementation Method 1
a last coil of each one of said plurality of springs is wedged over one of the plurality of spring stabilizers, so that each one of the plurality of springs is frictionally engaged with and held in place by one of the plurality of spring stabilizers
Data Source
Figure 1~1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
A planetary wheel drive uses a brake having a stamped spring plate which includes a plurality of spring stabilizer connections. Each one of the plurality of springs is mechanically bonded to a respective one of the plurality of spring stabilizer connections. A brake piston includes a bore therethrough and resides in sliding engagement with the stationary spindle. The brake piston is generally cylindrically shaped with an inner portion and an outer portion. The plurality of coil springs reside between said spring stabilizers and said inner shoulder of said brake piston. Pressurized hydraulic fluid releases the brake.