Worm gear
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMichael Georg Figura, Erik Jürgen Stumpf, Thomas Marotzke, Fabian Wendt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A worm gear has a worm wheel, a drive shaft, and a flexible shaft. The worm wheel meshes with a worm shaft, which is driven by the drive shaft. The flexible shaft can be arranged in the drive shaft with a radial gap between at least a portion of the flexible shaft and the drive shaft. The flexible shaft can be coupled to the drive shaft such that a first spring constant is provided for displacement of the flexible shaft in a radial direction within a first range and a second spring constant is provided for displacement of the flexible shaft in the radial direction within a second range.
Claims10
A worm gear comprising:
- a worm wheel that meshes with a worm shaft, the worm shaft comprising a supported end and an unsupported end;
- a drive shaft that drives the worm shaft;
- a flexible shaft having an end permanently fixed within a recess of the drive shaft such that the recess forms a radial gap between the flexible shaft and the drive shaft, wherein the flexible shaft comprises a fixing portion that couples the flexible shaft to the drive shaft, a middle portion spaced from the drive shaft by said radial gap, and a bearing portion disposed outside the drive shaft and supported by a first bearing;
- wherein the bearing portion of the flexible shaft has an outer diameter that is the same as an outer diameter of the drive shaft supported by a second bearing.
A worm gear comprising:
- a shaft comprising:
- a drive portion coupled to a worm shaft;
- and
- a flexible portion comprising a fixing portion that couples the flexible portion to the drive portion, a middle portion spaced from the drive portion by a radial gap, wherein the fixing portion has a greater diameter than the middle portion;
- wherein the flexible portion further comprises a bearing portion disposed outside the drive portion and supported by a first bearing and a second bearing, wherein the bearing portion of the flexible portion has an outer diameter that is the same as an outer diameter of the drive portion supported by said second bearing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.