Back to results
US 2026/0098567 A1Published application
Electromagnetic clutch
AssigneeZpe Licensing Inc.
InventorAndrew Jason Zimmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pulley assembly having a body, a shaft mount and a plurality of bolts is disclosed. The body is aligned to the shaft mount by providing a tight tolerance between a shoulder portion of the bolt and a neck portion of a counter sunk hole formed in the body. Additionally, an outer surface of the body may have a pattern of friction lines or patches formed by fusing particulate matter to the outer surface with heat generated by a laser beam.
Claims21
A clutch comprising:
- a shaft attachable to a motor for imparting rotation to the shaft;
- a rotor fixedly attached to the shaft so that the rotor rotates in sync with the shaft, the rotor having a laser induced friction engaging surface, the laser induced friction engaging surface being flat and formed as a pattern;
- an armature biased to a disengaged position, the armature having an engaging surface which is disposed parallel to the laser induced friction engaging surface of the rotor, in the disengaged position, a gap exists between the engaging surface of the armature and the laser induced friction engaging surface of the rotor so that the armature remains stationary while the rotor is rotating, the armature being traversable to an engaged position wherein the engaging surface of the armature is in frictional engagement with the laser induced friction engaging surface of the rotor so that the armature rotates in sync with the rotor;
- a pulley attached to the armature so that the pulley rotates in sync with the armature, the rotor being rotatable while the pulley remains stationary when the armature is in the disengaged position, the pulley rotates in sync with the rotor when the armature is in the engaged position;
- an actuator configured to selectively traverse the armature between an engaged position and a disengaged position, in the engaged position, the actuator traverses the armature to the engaged position and transmits power from the rotor to the pulley and rotates the pulley.
2 more elements
(canceled)
A clutch comprising:
- a shaft attachable to a motor for rotating the shaft;
- a pulley rotatable to the shaft, the pulley being selectively rotatable in sync with the shaft, the pulley having an engaging surface;
- an armature fixedly attached to the shaft so that the armature rotates in sync with the shaft, the armature having a laser induced friction surface which is disposed parallel to the engaging surface of the pulley and formed as a pattern, the armature biased to a disengaged position, the armature being traversable to an engaged position;
- an actuator configured to selectively traverse the armature between an engaged position and a disengaged position, when the armature is in the engaged position, the armature transmits power from the armature to the pulley and rotates the pulley;
- wherein the laser induced friction surface of the pulley and the engaging surface of the armature are parallel to each other and has a gap when the armature is in the disengaged position.
2 more elements
(canceled)
A method of operating a clutch, the method comprising steps of:
- providing the clutch attached to a motor;
- traversing the armature closer to a flat laser induced friction surface of a rotor, the laser induced friction surface formed as a pattern;
- contacting an engaging surface of the armature with the flat laser induced friction surface of the rotor to rotate the pulley;
- traversing the armature to a disengaged position to form a gap between the engaging surface of the armature and the flat laser induced friction surface of the rotor to stop rotation of the pulley.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.