Planetary tubing cutter
AssigneeAxon Corporation
InventorKuo-Raid Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The planetary tubing cutter of the invention provides a gearing assembly having a pair of ring gears and a number of pinions with a blade affixed to each pinion. The ring gears are parallel to one another and are individually driven. The pinions are rotatably mounted to a side surface of one ring gear and engage a sun gear assembled to the other ring gear. When the ring gears rotate at the same speed, the pinions and blades do not revolve around their respective axes, and when one ring gear rotates at a speed different from the other ring gear, the pinions and blades revolve about their respective axes, intercepting and cutting a tube passing through an axial passage through the ring gears.
Claims12
A planetary tubing cutter, comprising:
- a. a substantially planar plate rotatably mounted about an axis and having a central passage therethrough;
- b. a plurality of blades rotatably mounted on a planar surface of the plate;
- c. means to rotate the plate continuously;
- and
- d. means to rotate the blades intermittently with relation to the plate so as to intercept and cut a tube conveyed through the passage.
A planetary tubing cutter, comprising:
- a. a first rotational drive element having a passage axially through the center thereof;
- b. a second rotational drive element having a passage axially through the center thereof and being mounted coaxially with the first rotational drive element;
- c. means for causing the first and the second drive elements to rotate;
- d. a plurality of rotationally driven elements mounted to engage the first and the second drive elements such that when the first and second drive elements rotate synchronously, the driven elements do not rotate relative to the first and second drive elements, and when the first and second drive elements rotate non-synchronously, the driven elements rotate relative to the first and second drive elements;
- and
- e. a blade fixedly mounted to each of the driven elements and residing in a plane substantially perpendicular to the passage.
A method for cutting tubing, comprising the steps of:
- a. causing a first drive element, having a passage formed axially therethrough, to rotate at a first selected speed in a selected direction;
- b. causing a second drive element, having a passage formed axially therethrough, to rotate at a second selected speed in the selected direction, wherein the first and the second drive elements are coaxial;
- c. mounting a plurality of driven elements in rotational engagement with the first and second drive elements such that when the first and second selected speeds are synchronous, the driven elements do not rotate relative to the first and second drive elements, and when the first and second selected speeds are non-synchronous, the driven elements rotate relative to the first and second drive elements;
- d. providing a blade affixed to each of the plurality of driven elements;
- e. causing the first and second drive elements to rotate at synchronous speeds for a first time interval;
- f. causing the first and second drive elements to rotate at non-synchronous speeds for a second time interval;
- and
- g. causing the first and second drive elements to rotate at synchronous speeds for a third time interval.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.