Remote winch clutch system
AssigneeWarn Industries, Inc.
InventorsBryan M. Averill, Oliver Heravi, Jeff Walston, Garrett F. Pauwels, Kevin M. Christensen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A winch is provided including a rotatable drum and a gear train drivingly connecting a motor to the rotatable drum. The gear train includes a clutch that is operable to be disengaged to allow the rotatable drum to free spool. A clutch actuator is provided for disengaging the clutch and the clutch includes a pivoting pawl having a first end that engages a clutch dog of a planetary ring gear and the clutch actuator includes an electro-magnetic solenoid having a plunger that engages a second end of the pivoting pawl.
Claims20
A winch, comprising:
- a rotatable drum;
- a motor;
- a gear train drivingly connecting the motor to the rotatable drum and including three stages, wherein the rotatable drum is positioned between the motor and the gear train;
- a remote activated clutch operable to be disengaged to allow the rotatable drum to free spool via a clutch actuator, wherein the remote activated clutch actuator includes a solenoid, the solenoid including a plunger that engages the remote activated clutch, a first, high power coil, and a second, lower power coil, the first coil being operated along with the second coil to retract the plunger and the plunger being held in a retracted position by only the second coil;
- a controller operable to provide control signals to the motor and the remote activated clutch actuator;
- and
- a remote control device in communication with the controller and including a free-spool button, wherein the free-spool button is configured to send a signal to the controller to activate the clutch actuator to shift the gear train to free-spool mode when the free-spool button is pressed on the remote control device.
A winch, comprising:
- a rotatable drum;
- a motor;
- a gear train drivingly connecting the motor to the rotatable drum;
- a clutch operable to be disengaged to allow the rotatable drum to free spool via a clutch actuator including a solenoid with a plunger that engages the clutch, a first, high power coil, and a second, lower power coil, the first coil being operated along with the second coil to retract the plunger and the plunger being held in a retracted position by only the second coil;
- a controller operable to provide control signals to the motor and the clutch actuator;
- and
- a wireless remote device in communication with the controller and including a plurality of buttons.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.