Extended life solenoid
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsDaniel L. Carter, Geoffrey C. Williams, Philip A. Billings
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and solenoid assembly for extending the wear life of the solenoid. These include: enabling rotation of the solenoid plunger within the solenoid housing to expose a new solenoid plunger surface when solenoid plunger surface reaches a failure mode; reducing and/or eliminating side load on the solenoid; reducing the clearance or tolerance between the solenoid housing and the solenoid plunger to reduce solenoid wear; and a stop feature improvement with less stress concentration.
Claims16
A solenoid assembly comprising:
- a solenoid plunger having at least two surfaces including a first surface and a second surface, said solenoid plunger having positions including a first position and a second position being movable between the first surface and the second surface, respectively;
- means for holding said solenoid plunger, said holding means being operable between said first position and said second position;
- and
- a rotating mechanism being adjacent to said solenoid plunger having an angle therebetween, the angle being equal to the inverse tangent of a coefficient of friction between said solenoid plunger and said rotating mechanism and the angle maintaining constant contact of the angle between said solenoid plunger and said rotating mechanism to remove a source of side loading from the solenoid assembly.
A method for extending wear life of a solenoid assembly having a surface of a solenoid plunger and a solenoid housing having contact therebetween, the solenoid plunger having multiple surfaces and the solenoid housing having a mating end for coupling with a mounting plate, comprising:
- machining a locating key circumference about the mating end of the solenoid housing;
- inserting the mating end of the solenoid housing to the mounting plate having an accommodating mounting hole enabling rotation to multiple locking positions;
- rotating the solenoid assembly from one locking position to another locking position to allow contact between the solenoid housing and another surface of the solenoid plunger surface, extending the life of the solenoid assembly;
- and
- removing side loads from the solenoid assembly by rotating an actuator adjacent to the solenoid plunger having an angle therebetween, the angle being equal to the inverse tangent of a coefficient of friction between the solenoid plunger and the actuator and maintaining constant contact of the angle between the solenoid plunger and the actuator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.