Automatic free-coasting freewheel apparatus

A method of operating an automatic free-coasting freewheel (AFF) having:

• a free-coasting state;
• an engaged state;
• and a freewheeling state, The AFF comprising:
• a driving member;
• an inertial unit having lag/inertial characteristics;
• a driven member having at least one engagement surface;
• a freewheeling biasing member;
• and
• an axis of rotation defining an axle, the axis having an axial and a rotation direction;
• wherein the driving member, driven member, and inertial unit are respectively coaxially mounted onto the axle and are rotatable thereupon, the driving member configured to controllably rotate relative to the inertia unit in the rotation direction, depending upon the free coasting, engaged, and freewheeling states;
• the driving and driven members respectively having respective angular velocities:
• ωDRIVING and ωDRIVEN;
• and respective angular accelerations αDRIVING and αDRIVEN;
• and
• wherein the inertial unit is positioned between the driving member and the driven member, the inertial unit further comprising a suspension member configured with at least one set of:
• i. a locking member having a locking member shape and configuration, the locking member displaceable to engage and disengage the at least one engagement surface;
• and
• ii. a free-coasting biasing member acting on the locking member to shift it away from the engagement surface;
• wherein the inertial unit interacts between the driving and the driven member and controllably maintains and automatically shifts between the free-coasting, engaged, and freewheeling states, depending upon αDRIVING versus a threshold driving member angular acceleration value (αMIN) and ωDRIVEN and ωDRIVING, according to the following steps:
• shifting from the free-coasting state to the engaged state when αDRIVING≥αMIN and when ωDRIVEN≤ωDRIVING;
• shifting from the free-coasting state to the freewheeling state when αDRIVING≥αMIN and when ωDRIVEN>ωDRIVING;
• shifting from the engaged state to the freewheeling state when ωDRIVEN>ωDRIVING and αDRIVING≥αMIN;
• shifting from the freewheeling state to the engaged state when αDRIVEN≤ωDRIVING and αDRIVING≥αMIN;
• shifting from the engaged state to the free-coasting state when αDRIVING≤αMIN and ωDRIVING<ωDRIVEN;
• and
• shifting from the freewheeling state to the free-coasting state when αDRIVING<αMIN and ωDRIVING<ωDRIVEN;
• and
• whereby the freewheeling biasing member biases the locking member and the engagement surface away from each other in the freewheeling state.