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US 12,009,721 B2Granted
Eddy current brake configurations
AssigneeEddy Current Limited Partnership
InventorsChristopher James Allington, Andrew Karl Diehl, Kevin A. Wright, Weston Hill, Dave Walters
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Abstract
Described herein are eddy current brakes and associated methods of their use, particularly configurations that have a kinematic relationship with at least two rotational degrees of freedom used to tune operation of the brake or apparatus in which the brake is located.
Claims12
An eddy current brake, comprising:
- a shaft with a first rotation axis;
- and
- two opposed electrical conductor members, each electrical conductor member being linked to the shaft via a respective link and a respective spring, the electrical conductor members, links and springs rotating with the shaft about the first rotation axis when the shaft rotates about the first rotation axis;
- wherein the electrical conductor members interact with an adjacent magnetic field and, when relative movement between the electrical conductor members and magnetic field occurs, eddy current drag forces are induced slowing relative movement between the electrical conductor members and magnetic field;
- wherein a respective attachment point of each link to the shaft defines a second rotation axis for each respective link, wherein the second rotation axis is not parallel to the first rotation axis;
- wherein, when no shaft rotation about the first rotation axis occurs, each of the electrical conductor members is biased by the respective spring to rotate about the respective second rotation axis away from the magnetic field, and, when shaft rotation about the first rotation axis occurs, each of the electrical conductor members is urged by centrifugal forces to rotate about the respective second rotation axis against the bias of the respective spring toward the magnetic field thereby causing an eddy current brake force to be induced.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.