Worm Gear Adjustment Mechanism With Stiffeners for Load Holding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing adjustment mechanisms for adjustable elements, such as satellite receiver antennas and solar panels, are unable to maintain desired positions under external load without significantly increasing manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
The adjustment mechanism incorporates a main worm gear wheel and housing with stiffeners to lock the intermeshing arrangement under torque, including plates, slots, and intermediate gear set elements to limit axial, transverse, and rotational movements, while using an electric motor-driven drive train and a bonded connection between the base and cover.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If an injection molded plastic housing is used for the adjustment mechanism, then manufacturing costs are reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but the capability to maintain desired position under external load deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into a base and a cover that are bonded together, creating a segmented structure. This segmentation allows the housing to maintain positional stability under external load while retaining the manufacturing advantages of injection molded plastic components. The base provides structural support and the cover protects internal components, with the bonded connection between them enhancing overall rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustment mechanism employs a composite construction combining injection molded plastic housing components with metal or rigid plastic stiffeners and bearing elements. This composite approach integrates the cost-effectiveness and ease of manufacture of plastic with the load-bearing capabilities of stronger materials, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing ease and position maintaining capability under external load.
2Reliability
If stiffeners are added between the housing and main worm gear wheel/main worm, then the capability to maintain desired position under external load is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffeners are integrated into the housing structure itself rather than being separate attached components. The base and cover of the housing incorporate stiffening features directly into their molded structures, and the bonding process between base and cover simultaneously creates both the structural connection and the stiffening effect. This merging approach enhances position maintaining capability while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Stiffeners are strategically positioned only at critical locations where external loads are applied or where the main worm gear wheel and main worm interface with the housing. This localized stiffening provides maximum positional stability under external load while minimizing the overall complexity and material usage compared to a fully reinforced structure.
3Ease of operation
If the housing is divided into a base and a cover with a bonded connection, then manufacturing flexibility and assembly ease are improved, but structural rigidity may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The base and cover are separately manufactured using injection molding, allowing for optimized design and manufacturing of each component before assembly. This preliminary action enables complex internal geometries and integrated stiffeners to be formed during molding, then the components are bonded together with a specialized bonding process that restores and enhances structural rigidity, achieving both manufacturing flexibility and structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The bonded connection between base and cover is designed to replicate and distribute loads across multiple bonding points or surfaces, effectively copying the structural integrity of a monolithic housing. The bonding process creates a joint that distributes external loads across the bonding interface, maintaining structural rigidity comparable to or exceeding that of a single-piece construction while retaining assembly advantages.
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 mechanism effectively maintains the desired position under external load with reduced manufacturing costs by limiting movements and providing rotational stiffness, ensuring precise positioning even under significant loads.
Implementation Method 1
a number of stiffeners is provided between the housing and the main worm gear wheel and/or the main worm to lock the intermeshing arrangement of the teeth under torque that is applied between main worm gear wheel and housing external to the drive train
Implementation Method 2
a main worm having at least one circumferential spiral tooth in intermeshing arrangement with teeth on the circumference of the main worm gear wheel
Data Source
AI summary
An adjustment mechanism for an adjustment device comprising a main worm gear wheel having a hollow central passage and a main worm. The main worm gear wheel is held in an injection molded plastic housing having at least one opening axially aligned with the central passage to allow a shaft to extend via the opening into the central axial passage to be in supporting engagement with the main gear. The main worm is held in the housing for rotation about a main axis of the main worm, and includes at least one circumferential spiral tooth in intermeshing arrangement with teeth on the circumference of the main worm gear wheel, and can be driven to rotation relative to the housing about its main worm axis. Stiffeners are provided between the housing and the main worm gear wheel and/or the main worm to lock the intermeshing arrangement of the teeth under torque.