Patent Application
20070042857
This disclosure relates the transmission of angular velocity, specifically to its mechanical transmission through a continuously engaged gear train including a gear-driven disk gear simultaneously rotating and orbiting about the mechanism's central axis to produce both a first non-varying component of rotational motion and a user-actuated second variable component of rotational motion which mechanically combine to infinitely vary the mechanism output.
The modern need for rotary motion transmission devices originated with the introduction of internal combustion engines producing narrow ranges of high power output. Two forms of rotary motion transmissions appeared: (1) continuously infinitely variable traction devices, and (2) geared multiple-ratio shifting mechanisms. Both forms experienced serious limitations.
Multiple ratio gear boxes require clutching mechanisms to interrupt drive continuity during ratio shifting. Therefore the mechanisms must incorporate ablative friction clutches or fluid torque converters which have limited life spans, exhaust generated energy, and are mechanically complex.
Infinitely variable devices are preferable since they are capable of being varied to the exact desired ratio. Therefore, efforts are continuing to perfect what the industry has labeled continously variable transmission (“CVT”) designs. Continuing efforts are primarily limited to CVT V-belts and variable roller-toroid designs. Both experience limitations in traction, lubrication, and premature friction-induced failure.
All-gear positively infinitely variable transmission devices utilizing non-varying orbital components have been patented, all possessing serious limitations precluding their industrial adoption. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,293 (Han 1994); U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,190 (Won 1989).
Positively infinitely variable transmission devices utilizing variable orbital components have also been patented. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,162 (Coronel 1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,652 (Coronel 1998). The '162 patent, as with the present disclosure, utilizes a disk gear to variably orbit the mechanism's central axis to track variable circular gear paths. The '652 patent utilizes a tilting disk gear to track variable circular gear paths. Both devices failed due to their inability to isolate, extract, and transfer as output the variable rotational product. They simply exchange two inverse varying products, each of which cancel the other. However, both devices taught the feasibility of mechanically utilizing one gear to establish variable diameter gear tracks capable of transferring varying angular velocity.
The Drawing Figures
The objectives of the mechanism include the mechanical inception of the following advantages:
1. An all-geared positively infinitely variable rotary motion transmission.
2. A gear train utilizing one gear-driven disk gear to generate two rotational motion components: (1) gear-driven disk gear rotation, and (2) user-actuation variable disk gear swing motion which is isolated, extracted, then combined with the first motion to produce a positively infinitely variable rotary motion output.
3. A positively infinitely variable transmission generating direct output without transiting through multiple universal joints.
4. A transmission which increases the efficiency of the transfer of power from the motor to the vehicle wheels to increase fuel conservation and decrease pollution.
5. A positively infinitely variable transmission which is actuated without injections or extractions of rotary motion.
6. A geared-neutral bidirectional positively infinitely variable transmission eliminating the need for ablative friction clutches, hydraulic torque converters, or drive train disengagement and reverse gearing.
7. A separate geared-neutral, bidirectional mechanism for interconnection to other positively infinitely variable transmissions.
During construction of the positively infinitely variable transmission of
Orbital Alignment Support 9 is constructed with two bearing bores positioned at right angles to one another. The second end of input shaft 1 is journaled through the first bearing bore of orbital alignment support 9 and attached to input transfer gear 11.
Sliding orbital drive shaft 15 has a milled longitudinal keyway, and is journaled through the second end of bearing bore of orbital alignment support 9. Input receiving gear 13 is centrally bored and connected in a driven relation with input transfer gear 11, and a driving and horizontal sliding relation with orbital drive shaft 15: utilizing a key within its central bore to slide within the shaft 15 keyway. Centrally bored orbital drive gear 17 is attached near one end of orbital drive shaft 15.
Variable orbital driver arm 21 has a first end extending around orbital drive gear 17; the end horizontally bored to journal orbital drive shaft 15. Linkage mount 8 is attached to the top of the end of variable orbital arm 21. Oblong sliding driver 22 is attached to, and shares a contiguous vertical central bore with the base of the second end of variable orbital driver arm 21.
Disk gear shaft 20 is journaled through the contiguous central bores of variable orbital driver arm 21 and sliding driver 22. Variable orbital disk gear 19 is connected in a driven relation with orbital drive gear 17, and its central bore is attached to the first end of disk gear shaft 20. The second end of disk gear shaft 20 is attached to universal joint 42.
Central core gear 30 is attached to bearing race 23 on its first side, and attached to bearing race 27 on its second side to form the core unit. The core unit of parts 30, 23 & 27 rotates within framework 32 upon bearings 25. Two core drive shafts 38 are attached to, and depend from the second side opposing ends of the core unit of parts 30, 23 & 27. The core unit parts 30, 23 & 27 share a contiguous slot vertically bored through the core unit between the two core drive shafts 38. Sliding driver 22 laterally slides within this slot. The two ends of the first side of output shaft support 56 are attached to the second ends of core drive shafts 38. Low speed output shaft 58 is positioned at the mechanism's central axis (C/L) and attached to the center of the second side of output shaft support 56.
Output receiving gear 34 is connected in a driven relation with central core gear 30. High speed output shaft 36 is attached to the second end of output receiving gear 34.
Planetary ring gear 46 is centrally positioned around the mechanism central axis (C/L) and attached to supporting framework with planetary gear mount 48. Centrally bored sun gear 54 is positioned within ring gear 46 at the mechanism central axis (C/L). Sun gear shaft 52 is positioned at the mechanism central axis (C/L), attached to universal joint 44 on its first end, and attached to the sun gear 54 on its second end. Telescoping shaft 40 is attached to universal joint 42 on its first end and universal joint 44 on its second end. Two centrally bored planet gears 50 are each journaled about the second ends of core drive shafts 38, and connected in a driven relation with sun gear 54, and a driving relation with ring gear 46.
The first end of linkage 7 is pivotally attached to linkage mount 6, and its second end is pivotally attached to linkage mount 8, wherein: movement of transition actuator 3 repositions the variable orbital driver arm 21 and disk gear 19 between low speed output alignment with the mechanism central axis (C/L) at “A”, and high speed output at “B” during all operating configurations.
While
During construction of the transmission's interconnected bidirectional mechanism positioned outside the transmission of
Connecting shaft 126 is attached to variable drive gear 116 on its first end, and to variable speed transfer gear 124 on its second end. Variable speed transfer gear 124 is connected in a driven relation with the central core gear 30.
Two bidirectional transfer gears 114 are each journaled to rotate around opposite ends of bidirectional idler shaft 117, and are connected in a driven relationships with both the input drive gear 112, and variable drive gear 116. Each end of bidirectional idler shaft 117 is journaled within opposing internal diameter bearings laterally b red within the bidirectional output gear 118; wherein unequal counterrotation of input drive gear 112 and variable drive gear 116 causes driving rotation of the bidirectional output gear 118 through both bidirectional transfer gears 114. Output receiving gear 120 is attached to bidirectional output shaft 122, and connected in a driven relation with the bidirectional output gear 118.
During construction of the transmission's interconnected bidirectional mechanism positioned within the transmission of FIG. 6, bidirectional input drive gear 150 is attached to input shaft 1. Bored variable drive gear 162 is attached to, and shares a contiguous central bore with variable receiving gear 160 for journaled rotation around the input shaft 1, and positioned below the bidirectional input drive gear 150. Variable transfer gear 164 is connected through a gear train (not shown) in a driven relation with the central core gear 30, and a driving relation with the variable receiving gear 160.
Vertically bored bearing 156 of
During operation of the positively infinitely variable transmission of
When the variable orbital disk gear 19 rotates in alignment with the mechanism central axis (C/L) at “A”, the orbital drive gear 17 tracks the actual variable orbital disk gear 19 diameter as depicted in
With user-actuated movement of control lever 5, variable orbital driver arm 21, attached sliding driver 22, and disk gear 19 are laterally repositioned about the core unit (parts 30, 23 & 27) away from the mechanism central axis (C/L). The driving of variable orbital disk gear 19 by the orbital driver gear 17 commences to track a smaller circular orbital path around the mechanism central axis (C/L) while the disk gear 19 commences progressive concentric orbiting as depicted in
The concurrent disk gear 19 driving of sun gear 54 orbits planet gears 50, core drive shafts 38, core unit (parts 30, 23 & 27) around the mechanism central axis (C/L). This compels driver arm 21 to orbit orbital drive gear 17 during its driving of disk gear 19. As orbital driver gear 17 continues to drive disk gear 19 around the smaller circular orbital path, a second motion not previously present is induced by the commencement of the concentric orbiting of disk gear 19 around the mechanism central axis (C/L).
This second induced motion is defined as concentric disk gear 19 swing. The t1 of
This continual induced swing is isolated, extracted, and transferred as additional rotation through enhanced swing rotation of the variable orbital arm 21, and attached sliding driver 22 to drive the core unit (parts 30, 23 & 27). Rotation of the core unit (parts 30, 23 & 27) concurrently accelerates the disk gear 19 rotation in addition to its driving by orbital drive gear 17. This adds the induced disk gear 19 swing rotation to the orbital drive gear 17 rotation through the planet gears 50, sun gear 54, telescoping shaft 40, universal joints 42 & 44, and shafts 20 & 52. As this added motion increases the rotational speed of the disk gear 19 and variable orbital driver arm 21, it perpetuates and continues the generation of induced swing motion, increasing the speed of output shafts 36 and 56, until the disk gear 19 is repositioned to the mechanism central axis (C/L).
During operation of the interconnected bidirectional mechanism positioned outside the transmission of
Variable speed transmission output from the central core gear 30 drives the variable drive gear 116 through the variable transfer gear 124, and connecting shaft 126, to counterrotate the variable drive gear 116 in a second opposite direction to the rotation of input drive gear 112.
Equal counterrotation of input drive gear 112, and variable drive gear 116, equally counterrotate both bidirectional transfer gears 114 to retain bidirectional idler shaft 117, bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 120, and output shaft 122 in a geared-neutral, non-rotating position.
Variable drive gear 116 rotation exceeding the rotational velocity of input drive gear 112, drives the bidirectional idler shaft 117, bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 120, and output shaft 122 in first directions.
Variable drive gear 116 rotation less than the rotational velocity of input drive gear 112 drives the bidirectional idler shaft 117, bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 120, and output shaft 122 in second opposite directions.
During operation of the interconnected bidirectional mechanism positioned within the transmission of
Equal counterrotation of the bidirectional input drive gear 150 and the bored variable drive gear 162, equally counterrotates both bidirectional transfer gears 114 to retain the bored bearing 156 & attached transfer shafts 155, bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 166, and output shaft 168 in a geared-neutral, non-rotating position.
Bored variable drive gear 162 rotation exceeding the rotational velocity of bidirectional input drive gear 150, drives the bored bearing 156 & attached transfer shafts 155, the bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 166, and bidirectional output shaft 168 in first directions.
Bored variable drive gear 162 rotation less than the rotational velocity of bidirectional input drive gear 150 drives the bored bearing 156 & attached transfer shafts 155, the bidirectional output gear 118, output receiving gear 166, and output shaft 168 in second opposite directions.
The invention has applicability to most mechanical mechanisms which produce or utilize rotary motion, or would benefit from variable speed rotational motion. The prominent period urgent applications for the invention are: the replacement of conventional multi-step manual and hydraulic shifting transmissions to permit smaller energy efficient fossil-fueled motors to operate at higher peak power speeds conserving the fuel and operating with a more efficient angular velocity variation and transfer, eradicating conventional transmission limitations of mechanical complexity and energy waste; the opening of new industrial and vehicular applications for variable speed changing applications which are unable to utilize multi-step shifting transmissions, but could benefit from this device, such as aviation and marine drives, water and wind electric generating drives, endless conveyor belts, home appliances, etc. Additional examples of existing applications for the invention include the replacement of all conventional motorized vehicular, machine tool, and industrial drive transmissions. Additional examples of new applications for the invention include conventional electric generation, pneumatic, and hydrostatic drive transmissions. The invention will replace processes not utilizing variations of input speed such as industrial machinery and inorganic drilling and cutting equipment. This will permit smaller energy efficient driving motors to operate at their maximum power generating speed with the transmission producing continuously engaged variation of operating, drilling or cutting speed. Fabrication of the invention is straight-forward, utilizing existing geared mechanism designing and making equipment employed for the production of conventional transmissions. The invention is structurally strong capable of varying large torque loading, and is controllable either through direct manual actuation or existing computer-controlled electrical-mechanical servomotor interfaces employed in CVT mechanisms.
