WO2008048177A1

WO2008048177A1 - Winch drive assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2008048177A1
Application number: PCT/SE2007/050729
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ralph Skagerling
Original assignee: Ralph Skagerling
Priority date: 2006-10-16
Filing date: 2007-10-10
Publication date: 2008-04-24
Also published as: SE529512C2; EP2074049A1; SE0602166L

Abstract

The invention concerns a motor unit for winches, in particular winches that are used on sailing boats. The motor unit (1) comprises a protruding drive shaft (3) arranged to be inserted into a handle socket (4) in a winch (5), and, further, the motor unit (1) is coupled through a telescopic rod arrangement (7) with a fixture arrangement (9) that is designed such that it can be attached to a fixed point on a boat, such that the motor unit (1) is prevented from rotating.

Description

WINCH DRIVE ASSEMBLY

The present invention concerns a motor unit for winches, in particular winches that are used on sailing boats to manoeuvre sails, or to raise an anchor.

Winches of the type mentioned above are normally arranged attached to or on the superstructure of the sailing boat, and they are arranged such that they are able to draw on a line that has been placed around the winch, in order to be able to raise or sheet a sail or to raise an anchor. It is normal that the winch is operated with the aid of a detachable manual handle that acts as a crank handle in order to rotate the winch, where the winch comprises a handle socket into which the handle can be placed in order to rotate the winch. Sail- ing boats, including those that are used for leisure, are, however, becoming evermore larger, and thus also the sail on the sailing boat. This makes it evermore heavy to manoeuvre the sail manually with the aid of a manual handle. Larger sailing boats, for this reason, have started to be equipped with electrically powered winch arrangements in order to carry out the heavy work that previously has been carried out with the manual handle. These electrical winches, however, are expensive, and they require a large space. Furthermore, an electrically driven winch arrangement must be arranged at each location at which the aid of an electric motor is required for the manoeuvring of a winch, and this leads to a many-fold increase in the cost of these installations. Furthermore, they occupy, as has been mentioned above, a lot of space .

It has therefore been suggested, in, for example, WO-A- 9403390, to have a detachable electrically powered handle that can be attached, instead of the manual winch handles, in order to operate the winch. The electrically powered winch order to operate the winch. The electrically powered winch handle then comprises an electrical motor that rotates the winch, and the person who is operating the winch is compelled to hold onto the handle in order to prevent it from rotating with the winch. The power that is required to withstand the rotation of the handle when the electrical motor is activated can, however, be considerable, and may itself be far too large to allow such a motor-driven winch handle to be used on large sailing boats.

It is therefore one aim of the present invention to achieve a motor unit that solves the problems described above, with an electrically powered motor unit for winches on sailing boats.

The aim of the invention described above is solved with a motor unit, where the motor unit comprises a protruding drive shaft arranged to be inserted into a handle socket in a winch, and where the motor unit is coupled through a telescopic rod arrangement to a fixture arrangement that has been designed such that it can be attached to a fixed point on the boat, such that the motor unit is prevented from rotating.

According to one preferred embodiment, the fixed point into which the fixture arrangement is attached may be a handle socket in a neighbouring winch, such that the motor unit is prevented from rotating.

The invention will now be described in the form of a pair of non-limiting embodiments, illustrated with the aid of the attached drawings, where Figure 1 shows schematically a motor unit according to the invention for connection to a winch according to one preferred embodiment, and Figure 2 shows a corresponding view of a motor unit according to the invention equipped with a fixture for attachment to a fixed point on the boat.

The motor unit 1 according to the invention thus comprises an electrically driven motor 2 arranged within a housing, with a drive shaft 3 that protrudes from the housing. The drive shaft 3 is provided with external grooves, splines, in order to engage into a handle socket 4 for a winch 5. The motor unit 1 comprises at its upper part a rotating fixture 6 for a telescopic rod 7 that at its second end is attached to a corresponding rotating fixture 8 in a locking fixture 9. The locking fixture 9 constitutes a fixture. The locking fixture

9 comprises a protruding shaft 10, with grooves or splines, for its insertion into a handle socket 11 for a second, neighbouring winch 12.

Through the motor unit 1 being coupled with a fixture arrangement that is coupled to a fixed point on the boat, such as the locking fixture 9, through the telescopic rod 7, the motor unit 1 is prevented from rotating when the electrically powered motor 2 that is arranged within in the motor unit 1 is activated, and this ensures that the motor 2 can then transfer all of its power to the output shaft 3, which in turn ensures that the power is transferred in its entirety through the handle socket 4 to the winch 5.

Winches 5, 12 are often arranged at several locations on sailing boats, and it is then possible to insert the motor unit 1 into a freely chosen winch and then insert the locking fixture 9 into a second winch, preferably the winch that is the nearest neighbour to the winch. It is not necessary that the second neighbouring winch be braked or placed under load in any way, since the protruding shaft 10 of the locking fixture 9 is not caused to rotate: it is only the fact that it is not possible to displace the shaft 10 in a horizontal direction that ensures that the locking fixture 9 prevents, together with the telescopic rod 7, the motor unit 1 from rotating as a unit, and which in this manner ensures that the power from the driving motor can be transferred to the output shaft 3 and thus to the winch into which the motor unit has been inserted.

It is appropriate that the electrically driven motor 2 is a low voltage motor, such as a 12 V motor, which can be connected through a connecting wire 13 to the electrical system of the boat, to a suitable outlet of this system. It is appropriate that the motor 2 is an electrical motor with a fairly high output torque, and it is appropriate that it is possible to rotate this motor in two directions. It is also possible, where appropriate, that the motor is arranged such that it is possible to drive it at at least two speeds. It may be appropriate to lead the connecting wire 13, as is indicated on the drawing, through the telescopic rod 7, such that the connecting wire 13 is led away from the motor unit 1 and from the winch that is to be operated.

It is appropriate that a remote control unit 14 is arranged, as is shown in Figure 1, and that it is connected to the motor unit 1 through a control cable 15 for operating the driving motor, such that a solo sailor, for example, can readily operate the motor unit from the cockpit. It is obvious that the remote control unit 14 may alternatively be connected in a wireless manner to the motor unit 1 in any known manner.

It is not necessary that the motor unit 1 and the locking fixture 9 are equipped with rotating fixtures 6 and 8, respectively, for the connection to the telescopic rod 7, but this is appropriate, particularly if the winches on the boat are located at different levels, or if they do not have a fixed angle relative to each other.

Both the motor unit 1 and the locking fixture 9 may be provided with lock arrangements, 16 and 17 respectively, with which the output shaft 3 or the shaft 10 can be locked attached to the relevant winch 5 and 12, or to an anchor mechanism, such that the motor unit 1 or the locking fixture 9 do not fall out as a result of the location of the winch or anchor mechanism, or the tilt of the boat.

According to the second embodiment of the invention, shown in Figure 2, the telescopic rod 7 at its opposite end to that of the motor unit 1 is provided as an attachment arrangement with a fixing eye 18, which replaces the locking fixture 9, into which eye any appropriate fixture means, such as, for example, a carbine hook, may be introduced, and with which the fixing eye 18 can be attached to a suitable fixed point on the boat. Through the attachment of the end of the telescopic rod 7 that is provided with a fixing eye 18 to a fixed point on the boat, the motor unit 1 is prevented from rotating when the electrically driven motor 2 that is arranged within the motor unit 1 is activated, and this ensures that the motor 2 can then transfer all of its power to the output shaft 3, and this in turn ensures that the power is transferred in its entirety to the winch 5 through the handle socket 4, just as it was in the first embodiment.

It is appropriate that the telescopic rod 7 is manufactured from a stiff but light material, such as, for example, aluminium tubing, and it may comprise two or more sections that can be displaced relative to each other in order to prevent the motor unit 1 from rotating. It is not necessary that the telescopic rod 7 absorb any forces that act along its longitudinal direction, nor any rotational forces around its longitudinal direction, and it is for this reason not necessary that the telescopic rod 7 comprise any form of locking rela- B tive to each other of the sections that are parts of the telescopic rod.

As has been mentioned in the introduction, a motor unit according to the invention can be used to manoeuvre the sail of w sailing boats, and it can be used to manoeuvre an anchor. A motor unit according to the invention can also be used to facilitate the recovery of a person who has fallen overboard. It is easily possible for a weaker person to draw in and recover with the aid of the winch a heavier person, if a

15 lifeline is wrapped around a winch to which the motor unit has been connected, and in this manner the weaker person obtains aid from the power of the motor unit in order to draw in and recover the person back onboard the boat.

Claims

1. A motor unit for winches, in particular winches that are used on sailing boats, characterised in that the motor unit (1) comprises a protruding drive shaft (3) arranged to be inserted into a handle socket (4) in a winch (5), and in that the motor unit (1) is coupled through a telescopic rod arrangement (7) with an fixture arrangement (9, 18) that is designed such that it can be attached to a fixed point on a boat, such that the motor unit (1) is prevented from rotating.

2. The motor unit according to claim 1, characterised in that the telescopic rod arrangement (7) comprises at least two sections that can be displaced relative to each other.

3. The motor unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the telescopic rod arrangement (7) is connected by means of rotating attachments (6, 8) to the motor unit (1) and the fixture arrangement (9, 18), respectively.

4. The motor unit according to any one of claims 1-3, characterised in that the motor unit (1) comprises a low voltage motor (2) in order to rotate the drive shaft (3) .

5. The motor unit according to claim 4, characterised in that the low voltage motor (2) is arranged such that it can be connected to the electrical system of a boat.

6. The motor unit according to claim 5, characterised in that the low voltage motor (2) is connected to the electrical system of the boat through a connecting wire (13), whereby the connecting wire (13) passes along the inside of the telescopic rod arrangement (7) .

7. The motor unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the drive shaft (3) and the handle socket (4, 11) demonstrate splines for interac- tion.

8. The motor unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the fixture arrangement is designed as a locking fixture (9) arranged to be inserted into a handle socket (11) in a neighbouring winch (12) .

9. The motor unit according to claim 8, characterised in that the locking fixture (9) is provided with a protruding shaft (10) arranged to interact with a handle socket (11, 4) .

10. The motor unit according to claim 9, characterised in that the protruding shaft (10) and the handle socket (11, 4) demonstrate splines for interaction.

11. The motor unit according to any one of claims 1-7, characterised in that the fixture arrangement comprises a fixing eye (18) into which a locking means is attachable to a fixed point on the boat.

12. The motor unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the motor unit (1) is arranged such that it can be operated with the aid of a remote control unit (14) .