Eddy current brake assembly

An eddy current brake for braking the rotation of a rotating shaft driven by an eddy current drive about an axis of rotation, said rotating shaft extending from a housing which surrounds said eddy current drive, said eddy current brake comprising:

• (a) a rotatable inductor drum member connectable to said driven shaft for rotation therewith, said inductor drum being a stamped member including a radially extending portion and an axially extending portion spaced apart from and substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said driven shaft;
• (b) a non-rotatable pole assembly rigidly attached to said housing of said drive, said pole assembly disposed substantially within a volume defined by said inductor drum member;
• (c) said pole assembly including a pair of non-rotatable pole members and a non-rotatable coil which when energized establishes a flux path which sequentially passes from said coil through one of said pole members, through said axially extending portion of said inductor drum, through the other of said pole members and back to said coil to magnetically couple said rotatable inductor drum member and said rigidly supported non-rotatable pole assembly to brake rotation of said driven shaft of the drive;
• (d) each of said pair of pole members including a plurality of peripheral poles, each pole defining a surface located in confronting, close proximity to but spaced apart from an inside surface of said axially extending portion of said inductor drum member such that said inductor drum member is located outside of said pole members so that thermal expansion of said inductor drum does not interfere with relative rotation between said inductor drum member and said pole members.

A drive package comprising a housing, an eddy current coupling located in said housing, an eddy current brake, said eddy current coupling including a driven input shaft, an output shaft, a cup shaped inductor drum connected to said input shaft for rotation therewith, a pole assembly connected to said output shaft for rotation therewith and a field coil for establishing a flux path for coupling said inductor drum and said pole assembly, said pole assembly including a pair of pole members each of which include a plurality of peripheral poles, each pole defining a surface located in confronting, close proximity to but spaced apart from an inside surface of said cup shaped inductor member, said eddy current brake including a cup shaped brake inductor drum connected to said output shaft for rotation therewith, a pair of brake pole members each of which includes a plurality of peripheral brake poles, each brake pole defining a surface located in confronting, close proximity to but spaced apart from an inside surface of said brake inductor member, and a brake field coil for coupling said brake inductor drum and said pair of pole members, said cup shaped brake inductor member having a configuration substantially identical to said cup shaped inductor drum of said eddy current coupling, and wherein at least one of said pair of brake pole members of said eddy current brake is a member having a configuration substantially identical to the configuration of one of the pole members of the eddy current coupling.