Anti-lash gear assembly
AssigneeCummins Engine Company, Inc.
InventorsCharles E. Long, Ilya L. Piraner, Dennis R. Tibbetts
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An engine system with a gear train to provide engine timing. A technique to minimize backlash and noise caused by the gear train is included. An anti-backlash gear assembly useful to reduce backlash in the gear train is also disclosed. One disclosed gear assembly has at least two gear wheels with the circular thickness of the teeth of one gear wheel being less than the circular thickness of the other gear wheel. A gear assembly is also disclosed that has a bias torque of at least about 100 foot-pounds. A device carried on an anti-lash gear assembly to generally align teeth of the assembly for installation is also provided.
Claims22
An anti-lash gear assembly, comprising:
- (a) a first gear wheel including a first number of teeth;
- (b) a second gear wheel engaging said first wheel, said second wheel including a second number of teeth each paired to a corresponding one of said first teeth to provide a number of composite teeth each having a variable size to reduce backlash when engaged in a mesh;
- (c) one or more springs positioned between said first wheel and said second wheel to provide a spring bias to yieldingly rotate said first and second wheels relative to each other;
- and
- (d) an adjustment device including a stem coupled to said first wheel and a head engaged to said second wheel in a bearing relationship in opposition to said spring bias, said head being selectively positionable to change alignment of said first and second teeth relative to each other.
An anti-lash gear assembly, comprising:
- a first gear wheel defining a first number of teeth and a first number of splines;
- a second gear wheel defining a second number of teeth and a second number of splines, said first and second splines engaging each other and being inclined relative to a rotational axis to rotate said first and second wheels relative to each other about said axis, said second teeth each being paired to a corresponding one of said first teeth to provide a number of composite teeth which vary in size with rotation of said first and second wheels relative to each other;
- and
- one or more springs positioned between said first wheel and said second wheel to provide a spring bias configured to yieldingly rotate said first and second wheels relative to each other about said axis.
A method, comprising:
- providing a scissor gear including an adjustment device and a first wheel engaged to a second wheel with one or more springs positioned between the first wheel and the second wheel to yieldingly rotate the first and second wheels relative to each other about an axis, the first wheel including a first number of teeth and the second wheel including a second number of teeth, the adjustment device including a threaded stem engaging a threaded opening defined by the first wheel and a head engaging the second wheel in a bearing relationship in opposition to a bias provided by the one or more springs;
- rotating the stem a first rotational direction to increase overlap between adjacent pairs of the first teeth and second teeth to install the scissor gear;
- forming a mesh between the scissor gear and a different gear after said rotating;
- turning the stem in a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction after said meshing to decrease overlap between said adjacent pairs to reduce backlash of the mesh;
- and
- driving one of the scissor gear and the different gear with another of the scissor gear and the different gear after said turning, the scissor gear carrying the alignment device during said driving.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.