Swingable Gear Holder Mechanism for Constant Pitch Transmission
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional conveyance apparatuses with gear trains experience variations in gear pitches due to assembly looseness and swinging positions, leading to unsmooth rotation or gear tooth breakage.
Innovation Solution
A conveyance apparatus with a main body and an equipped unit, featuring a first gear holder and a second gear holder connected by a connecting shaft, maintaining constant pitches between gears even when the holders swing, ensuring consistent gear train operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a gear train is used to transmit drive force from the main body to the equipped unit, then the drive force can be transmitted, but variation in assembly and swinging position causes variation in gear pitches leading to unsmooth rotation or gear tooth breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the gear holders swingable rather than fixed. The first gear holder and second gear holder are each swingably supported on the main body and equipped unit respectively, allowing them to dynamically adjust their positions to maintain constant pitch relationships with the gears even when assembly variations or swinging occur. This dynamic adjustment prevents gear tooth breakage and ensures smooth rotation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by allowing the positions of the gear holders to vary within certain ranges while maintaining the critical parameter of constant gear pitch. The swingable support mechanism enables the gear holders to change their spatial parameters (position, orientation) to compensate for assembly variations and maintain the essential pitch relationship between engaged gears.
2Device complexity
If fixed gear holders are used to support gears, then the structure is simple, but assembly variation and swinging cause pitch variation in the gear train
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static fixed gear holder structure into a dynamic swingable structure. Each gear holder is supported swingably on its respective carrier (main body or equipped unit), enabling it to automatically adjust its position to maintain constant gear pitch despite assembly variations or external swinging forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the gear support function into independent swingable gear holders that can move relative to the main body and equipped unit. This segmentation allows each gear holder to independently compensate for local position variations while maintaining the overall gear train pitch consistency through the connecting shaft mechanism.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the equipped unit is made swingable to accommodate assembly variation, then adaptability improves, but gear pitch variation occurs leading to unsmooth rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the gear holders swingable rather than fixed. The first gear holder and second gear holder are each swingably supported, allowing them to dynamically adjust their positions to maintain constant pitch relationships with the gears even when the equipped unit swings or assembly variations occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting shaft acts as an intermediary element that connects the first gear holder and second gear holder while allowing relative swinging motion. This intermediary mechanism transmits the swingable support function between the two gear holders, enabling them to maintain constant gear pitch while accommodating the adaptability of the equipped unit's swinging motion.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a conveyance apparatus including: a main body including a drive source, and a conveyance portion to which a drive force is transmitted from the drive source; an equipped unit including a drive portion to which the drive force is transmitted from the drive source in the main body; a first gear provided in the main body and rotated by the drive force transmitted thereto from the drive force; a first gear holder provided swingably in the main body to support the first gear; a second gear provided in the equipped unit to transmit the drive force to the drive portion; a second gear holder provided swingably in the equipped unit to support the second gear; and a third gear supported by a connecting shaft connecting the first and second gear holders to engage respectively with the first and second gears.