US 11,078,990 B2Granted

Planet lock

AssigneeWedgerock LLC

InventorThomas C. West

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A self-locking apparatus for a gear set permits forward-driving an input in clockwise or counterclockwise directions and substantially prevents an output from being driven in either or both of those directions. The device includes a gear set with planet gears arranged within a planet carrier within a fixed ring gear. Each of the planet gears is engaged with the planet carrier via a differentiating connector retained in an elongated slot in the planet carrier where it moves to the clockwise position when being forward driven in the clockwise direction and, when the planet carrier is back driven in the clockwise direction, the connector moves to the counter-clockwise position in the slot. This arrangement allows the gear set to be forward driven but not back driven. This differentiated action can engage/disengage with any form of unidirectional engage/disengage mechanism. The apparatus is useful in industrial applications requiring self-locking gear sets.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An apparatus for locking a gear set, wherein the apparatus is configured to be forward-driven at an input in either of a first direction and a second direction and for substantially preventing an output from being back-driven in either of the first direction and the second direction, the apparatus comprising:

one or more gears of the gear set engaged with the input and configured for forward-driven motion by the input in the first direction and the second direction;
a carrier coupled to the output and to the one or more gears, wherein the carrier includes one or more carrier slots, wherein each of the one or more carrier slots is elongated and has a first end and a second end;
one or more differentiating connectors coupled to respective ones of the gears, wherein each of the differentiating connectors is retained in a respective one of the carrier slots and arranged to move between the first end and the second end of the carrier slots;
one or more unidirectional engage/disengage components configured to permit forward-driven movement of the one or more gears and to prevent back-driven movement of the one or more gears;
and
wherein each differentiating connector is arranged to permit forward-driven movement in the first direction and to prevent back-driven movement of its respective gear when at or near the first end of its slot and to permit forward-driven movement in the second direction and to prevent back-driven movement of its respective gear when at or near the second end of its slot.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/616,236Filed 22 May 2018 · us provisional application
Priority: 23 May 2017
Published: US 2020/0124138 A123 Apr 2020
Granted: 3 Aug 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification15 codes

F16H 1/2863
With gears having orbital motion: arrangements for adjusting or for taking-up backlash
F16K 1/221
With axis of rotation crossing the valve member, e.g. butterfly valves: specially adapted operating means therefor
F16D 41/08
With intermediate wedging coupling members between an inner and an outer surface: with provision for altering the freewheeling action
F16H 1/36
With gears having orbital motion: with two central gears coupled by intermeshing orbital gears

Family

Application62/510,069Us provisional application · filed 23 May 2017
US 2020/0124138 A1Pre-grant publication · published 23 Apr 2020
US 11,078,990 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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