Patent Application
20080184828
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear actuator, and more particularly to a linear actuator with a redundant structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to
However, since the motor 10 is driven by electrical power, once the power is off, the linear actuator and the driven mechanism will stop operation. At this time, the user has to disassemble the housing 30 and the outer casing of the gear box 20, in order to electrify the motor 10 with external electric power or to rotate the rotary shaft of the motor 10 with external force, otherwise the driving element 40 cannot be rotated. It is not only laborsome but also time consuming, and the linear actuator is likely to be damaged at the slightest carelessness.
Thereby, how to develop a linear actuator which can operate even in the case of a power outage has become an important issue for the manufacturers.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a linear actuator with a redundant structure which can be driven by external force by an axis of a motor protruded out of the linear actuator.
A linear actuator with a redundant structure comprises a motor, an axis of the motor is protruded out of the linear actuator. The linear actuator can be driven by rotating the axis, so as to solve the conventional problem of unable to drive the linear actuator when lacking of electrical power, and to avoid the inconvenience of disassembling the outer casing.
In addition, a follower element can be assembled to the protruded end of the axis, and cooperates with a tool to rotate the axis, so as to drive the linear actuator. The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to
The gear box 60 is assembled to and driven by the motor 50, and an axis 51 of the motor 50 is protruded out of the gear box 60.
The housing 70 is assembled to the gear box 60.
The driving element 80 is inserted into the housing 70 and is driven by the gear box 60.
The follower element 90 is assembled to the axis 51 of the motor 50 and is protruded out of one end of the gear box 60, and in this embodiment, the follower element 90 is a nut.
In addition, a pad A can be further assembled to the gear box 60, and the axis 51 is passed through the pad A. The pad A is located between the follower element 90 and the gear box 60 for connecting to the axis 51, such that the axis 51 can be more stable when rotating.
The follower element 90 can be covered with a cover B for prevention of dust and water.
In normal conditions, the motor 50 of the present invention is driven by electrical power, and the gear box 60 is driven by the motor 50 to move the driving element 80, enabling the driving element 80 to move linearly in the housing 70 to rotate the driven mechanism. Referring to
Further, the axis 51 of the motor 50 also can be rotated by the tool directly. For example, the protruded end of the axis 51 is defined with a through hole 511 for insertion of a tool S to rotate the axis 51 (as shown in
To summarize, a linear actuator with a redundant structure comprises a motor, an axis of the motor is protruded out of the linear actuator. When the linear actuator is stopped operation because of lacking power source, the linear actuator can be driven by rotating the axis, so as to solve the problem of unable to drive the linear actuator when lacking of electrical power.
While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
