Spring Brake Coil Shaping for Quiet Radial Friction Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Spring brakes in home automation systems, such as those used in rolling shutters or blinds, often generate noise due to contact irregularities between the helical spring and the friction drum or hub, leading to defects in shape that cause frictional contact issues.
Innovation Solution
A method of manufacturing a spring with a spiral wire design where each turn is centered on a common axis, involving steps of winding, cutting, and tab formation to ensure radial frictional contact with a friction member, along with a compliance checking process to remove shape defects and prevent noise by ensuring the spring meets specific tolerance criteria.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a helical spring is used in a spring brake, then the brake can function properly with radial frictional contact, but contact irregularities between the turns and the friction drum cause noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing compliance checking on the spring during the manufacturing process, before the spring is assembled into the brake. The checking includes verifying that each turn of the spring conforms to specified tolerance circles and that the wire profile meets requirements. This early detection and correction of defects prevents noise-generating irregularities from occurring in the final product.
2Productivity
If conventional manufacturing methods are used, then production is simpler and faster, but defects in shape on the end turns occur leading to non-compliance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by establishing a compliance checking process that measures the actual geometry of the spring turns and compares them against specified tolerance criteria. The checking system provides feedback on whether each turn conforms to the required shape, allowing for real-time quality assessment. This feedback mechanism enables the manufacturing process to maintain high precision without sacrificing productivity, as defects are detected immediately rather than requiring extensive post-processing or rework.
3Ease of manufacture
If the spring turns have shape defects, then manufacturing is easier, but the frictional contact with the friction member is irregular causing noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing compliance checking on the spring during the manufacturing process, before the spring is assembled into the brake. The checking includes verifying that each turn of the spring conforms to specified tolerance circles and that the wire profile meets requirements. This early detection and correction of defects prevents noise-generating irregularities from occurring in the final product.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by establishing a compliance checking process that measures the actual geometry of the spring turns and compares them against specified tolerance criteria. The checking system provides feedback on whether each turn conforms to the required shape, allowing for real-time quality assessment. This feedback mechanism enables the manufacturing process to maintain high precision without sacrificing productivity, as defects are detected immediately rather than requiring extensive post-processing or rework.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a spring for a spring brake, including a shaping and cutting step f) including the following sub-steps: —f1) shaping a raw wire into a coil with a plurality of raw turns, the raw wire having: raw portions that extend from the end of the raw wire over at least one raw turn, and an intermediate portion between the raw portions, —f2) separating the first raw portion and the second raw portion of the raw wire by cutting, after implementing sub-step f1), and —f3) shaping a first tab (5), at a first end of the intermediate portion, after sub-step f1), and —f4) shaping a second tab (7), at a second end of the intermediate portion opposite the first end, after sub-step f1).