WO2009058040A1

WO2009058040A1 - Force multiplying system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2009058040A1
Application number: PCT/PT2008/000030
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jerónimo de Albuquerque PAIS DE FARIA
Original assignee: Pais De Faria Jeronimo De Albuquerque
Priority date: 2007-11-02
Filing date: 2008-08-06
Publication date: 2009-05-07
Also published as: PT103871B; PT103871A

Abstract

This invention relates generally to a force multiplying system and method and more particularly to a mechanical system for multiplying the force of a motor, the main shaft rotations of said motor being geared down by means of a gear train (3) connected to a drive shaft (4), and characterized in that said drive shaft (4) supports an assembly (5) of impact wheels (13a-13d) conveying the rotation of said drive shaft (4) to a lever assembly (6), each one of said levers (15a-15d) having on its distal end relatively to the assembly (5) of impact wheels (13a-13d) a gear rack (17) that engages in another gears/disk/latch assembly (23) fixed to an output shaft (7) therefore causing, by the sequential drive resulting from the assembly (5) of impact wheels (13a-13d) impact over levers (15a 15d), and from levers (15a-15d) over a gears/disk/latch assembly (23), a multiplication of force.

Description

DESCRIPTION

"FORCE MULTIPLYING SYSTEM AND METHOD"

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a force multiplying system and method and more particularly to a mechanical system for multiplying the force of a motor in accordance to the preamble of claim 1 and method for operating the same in accordance to the preamble of claim 25.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly and generally, the present invention relates to a force multiplying mechanical system comprising a motor driven by a power source, the main shaft rotations of said motor being geared down by means of a gear train so that said shaft rotation can be reduced and said motor force can be increased. To further increase the force of said main shaft, the above mentioned gear train is connected to a drive shaft to which an assembly of impact wheels conveying the rotation of said drive shaft to a lever assembly is fixed. Each one of said levers has, in its distal end relatively to the impact wheels assembly, a gear rack that engages in another gears/disk/latch assembly fixed to a output shaft and therefore causing an increase of force by the sequential drive resulting from the impact wheels assembly impact over the levers and the levers coupling to a gears/disk/latch assembly.

The force multiplying mechanical system can be presented as a block which can be mounted vertically therefore occupying the least possible volume. Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings illustrating the invention characteristics only by way of example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a force multiplying mechanical system of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a gearing down assembly connected to a motor of the system of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a side view of an impact wheel with five arms of the present invention system;

Fig. 4 is a front view of an impact wheel of the present invention showing in detail its attachment method to the drive shaft;

Fig. 5 is a side view of a lever, a gear rack and a coupling, adjusting and fixing casing of the gear rack of the present invention system;

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the gear rack, from back of the gear rack and coupling, adjusting and fixing casing in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a schematic and detailed cross section view of an output shaft and a ratchet assembly in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a enlarged side view of a latch of the present invention; Fig. 9 is a side view showing in detail the coupling of the gear rack to the fixed gear of the ratchet assembly disk;

Fig. 10 is a side view of the assembly comprised by the disk, latch spring, latch and saw-toothed gear in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 11 is a front view showing the ratchet assembly in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 12 is a schematic and detailed side view showing the contact between one of the impact wheels and the proximal end of a lever of the mechanical system of the present invention;

Fig. 13 is a schematic and detailed side view showing a preferred embodiment of the mechanical system of the present invention;

Fig. 14 is a detailed top view showing a preferred embodiment of the mechanical system of the present invention;

Fig. 15 is a schematic side view showing another preferred embodiment of the mechanical system of the present invention; and

Fig. 16 shows schematically a mode of use of a number of associated mechanical systems in accordance with the present invention.

In the following description, identical numbers denote identical parts.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to figures 1-14, a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of the force multiplying mechanical system 1 is shown, in which a motor 2 (see Fig. 1 , 2, 14), that could be a weak electric motor (powered by batteries or by the electrical network itself) is connected by means of its main shaft to a gear train 3 to gear down motor 2 rotation and to multiply the motor 2 force. Said gear train 3 comprises at least three wheel/gear groups 9, 10, 11 that perform the rotation gearing down of said main shaft and that, in turn, are connected to a drive shaft 4 that will rotate with less motion and with a greater force.

Said drive shaft 4 is connected by its proximal end to the at least three wheel/gear groups 9, 10, 11 and its distal end rotates on a bearing integrated on a frame 27 (see Fig. 13). In this preferred embodiment such drive shaft 4 is fitted with at least four star- shaped impact wheels 13a-13d each one having five arms 14. Additionally, in this embodiment said impact wheels 13a-13d are fixed to drive shaft 4 by crimping points (see Fig. 4). It should be noted that although the ideal number of arms is five, such a number could be lower.

Said impact wheels are arranged on drive shaft 4 so that they are in a spaced and equidistant relationship to one another and with its symmetry axis 12 centred on drive shaft 4 and positioned so that each arm, in rotation, contacts the proximal end of a lever 15 (see Fig. 12, 13 and 14) at the precise moment its movement starts, so that a synchronism could be obtained on the rotation of the output shaft 7.

The number of levers 15 is equal to the number of impact wheels 13. That is, for each full rotation of an impact wheel 13 the lever 15 will be displaced five times. The positioning of impact wheels 13a-13d allows its arms 14 to contact each lever 15a-15d in a sequential way. Thus, the impact wheels 13a-13d are arranged so that the levers 15a-

15d displacement sequence is as follows:

- One arm 14 of first impact wheel 13a (the nearest to the proximal end of the drive shaft 4) contacts first lever 15a causing its displacement at a displacement angle 31. - One arm 14 of second impact wheel 13b contacts second lever 15b when the first lever 15a is about to reach its stroke end.

- One arm 14 of third impact wheel 13c contacts third lever 15c.

- One arm 14 of fourth impact wheel 13d contacts fourth lever 15d.

- Second arm of first impact wheel 13a makes another contact with the first lever 15a.

- Second arm of second impact wheel 13b makes another contact with the second lever 15b and so on. It should be noted that all levers 15a-15d are displaced at the same displacement angle 31.

Sizing of arms 14 of impact wheels 13 must allow contact of said arms edges with the proximal end of each one of the levers 15. The contact region between arm 14 edge and the proximal end of lever 15 depends on the lever length to displace, on the lever cross section and the weigh thereof, thus depending also on the materials to be used in the manufacture of the impact wheels and levers. For example, the width of each one of said arms 14 is identical to the circular cross section diameter of the levers 15 when they present a circular shaped cross section.

To reduce the system noise, the contact region between the impact wheels 13 arms and the levers 15, both on arms and on proximal end of levers, can be coated with a sound insulation material, such as rubber, as known by the person skilled in the art.

Levers 15a-15d are fixed, near its distal end, to a support axis 29 (see Fig. 14) passing through the fulcrum (support point) of all levers 15a-15d. Such axis 29 is fixed and supported on both ends by said frame 27. Said fulcrum comprise bearings 16 (see Fig. 5 e 9) to prevent friction between said levers and the support axis 29 thereof. A first force multiplication is determinated by the lever length from the fulcrum to the proximal end of said levers.

So that the levers 15a- 15d could return to their original position, upon displaced by the contact with arms of said impact wheels 13a- 13d they have to be biased by resilient members 30 (for example springs). These resilient members 30 exert their action over levers 15a-15d close to the fulcrum towards a proximal end thereof. The length of said members and the spring constant thereof depend on the levers 15a-15d length and weight thereof and, as such, they have to be calculated by a person skilled in the art.

On distal end of each one of said levers 15 (see Fig. 5, 6, 9, 13 and 14) there is provided a semicircular shaped gear rack 17 combined with a coupling, adjusting and fixing casing 18 thereof. Coupling of gear rack 17 on lever 15 by means of said coupling, adjusting and fixing casing allows adjusting gear rack 17 by means of a screw 19 so that a perfect coupling between gear rack 17 teeth and a respective gear 21 (see Fig. 8) existing on output shaft 7 of the force multiplying mechanical system could be done. Joining the gear rack/ coupling, adjusting and fixing casing assembly is performed prior the positioning of output shaft 7 so that further adjusting and fixing of the same could be allowed.

Based on the above mentioned, it has been found that the contact of arms 14 of impact wheels 13 on levers 15, fixed at one fulcrum thereof by means of a bearing 16 placed over an shaft 29, causes an oscillatory movement of gear rack 17 over the levers 15 distal end. In accordance with the present invention such oscillatory movement is transformed into a rotational and synchronized movement causing a greater force than said original force. Transformation of gear racks 17 oscillatory movement into a rotational movement is as follows: the gear rack 17 of each lever 15a-15d drives a gear 21 that rotates on a output rotational shaft 27 by means of a bearing 22 snap fitted on said gear fixed to a lock disk 23 of a latch spring 26 of a latch 24, wherein such disk 23, being driven by said gear, drives latch 24 on a saw-toothed gear 25 fixed to output shaft 7 by means of a pin or screw, transforms lever 15 oscillatory movement into rotational movement of said output shaft. That is, action of latch 24 over saw-toothed gear 25 is similar to a ratchet operation, and from now on such gear/disk/latch assembly will be referred as ratchet 20. Output shaft 7 will continue the rotation due to the same process performed on remaining levers and due to such a movement latch 24 will pass freely over saw-toothed gear 25 returning to its original position so that it could be engaged again on said saw-toothed gear 25 due to latch spring 26 bias. Such operating method is the same for all system levers 15a-15d. The movement arrangement of the four levers 15a-15d establishes the movement synchronism of said output shaft 7. Both gear rack and said gears will have the same teeth pitch and a small diameter.

Thus, said gear racks causes a second multiplication of system forces due to having a larger radius than the gears radiuses where they are engaging and the gears radiuses driven by the latter.

Both arm 14 of the lever 15 and gear rack 17 radiuses will be calculated according to both the material to be used and the applying force and according to diameter and teeth number of output shaft 7 gear. The lever 15 distal end movement driven by impact wheels 13 is determinated by the stroke performed by gear rack 17 on ratchet gear 21 in order to each ratchet rotates output shaft 7 by a 14 rotation (leaving two gear rack 17 teeth off engagement, as a security margin) so that said output shaft makes a continuous rotation movement without stoppages.

Additionally, latch 24 in accordance with the present invention (see Fig. 8 and 10) is a component sized to engage over saw teeth of the gear 25 thereof by means of one of its edges, the other edge being fixed by means of a fixing component to said disk. Moreover, to allow that latch 24 passes freely over said saw teeth up to reach its new engagement position over the same, latch 24 is supported by a latch spring 26 fixed to disk 23 of ratchet 20. One of output shaft 7 ends is provided with a bearing supported on a frame 27 and the other end rotates freely, also supported on a bearing, and it can be applied to all kinds of components which are able to operate based on a shaft rotation.

In other embodiment as shown in Fig. 15 the levers duplication can be made, maintaining their length in order to achieve a substantial increase of force. The linkage between levers is done by means of a lever 15' control tie rod 28, there being a support 32 connected to frame 27 able to allow fixing of lever 15' fulcrum and a support 33 to allow fixing of lever 15 fulcrum and lever 15' guide. The force multiplication achieved with such an arrangement is higher than the one that would be achieved using a lever which length was equal to the sum of the length of these two levers 15, 15'. Furthermore, such an arrangement is lesser cumbersome. Due to the existence of two fulcrums, one on each lever 15, 15' , a force multiplication created by first lever 15 on second lever 15' is achieved.

It should be noted that all parts rotating on axles are provided with bearings so that the friction could be minimized.

Next, some examples that allow a better understanding of the force multiplication which is the purpose of the present invention will be described.

Example 1:

As an example, a 1/8 hp electric motor 2 with a current drain of 0,187 A at 1 ,500

RPM is used. Upon gearing down made by wheel/gear groups 9, 10, 11, rotation of drive shaft 4 is reduced to 180 RPM which corresponds to an increase of power to 0.9 hp. Such a power is afterwards conveyed by means of impact wheels assembly 5 to lever set 6 comprising levers 15 with 1 m in length from distal end up to the fulcrum which multiplies power 100 times, causing the output shaft 7 to generate a 90 hp power if there are no energy losses. It is assumed that energy losses of such a mechanical system are about 18% of total gain giving 16.2 hp. Thus, the force multiplying mechanical system of the present invention achieves a gain of 90 - 16.2 - 0.125 = 73.675 hp.

Example 2:

To achieve a more enhanced force multiplication, the mechanical system of the present invention can be connected to other identical mechanical systems (see Fig. 16) obtaining really considerably final values. Thus, considering three systems connected to each other by means of respective output shafts it will be possible to obtain the following results:

Using 1 m levers

1st system: Motor - 2 hp with 1500 RPM; current drain - 3 A; power achieved -

60 hp

2nd system: Motor - 4 hp; current drain - 6 A; receives 60 hp from 1st system output shaft 7 and generates 1,800 hp

3rd system: Motor - 6 hp; current drain - 9 A; receives 1800 hp from 2nd system output shaft 7 and generates 54,000 hp

Using 1,5 m levers

If there is provided a 7 hp motor with a current drain of 10 A, intensifying the successive systems with a motor which delivers a power always superior in 2 hp (for example, 2nd system would have a 9 hp motor and 3rd system a 11 hp motor) the output of 3rd system would be 182,250 hp. Using 2 m levers

If there is provided a 12 hp motor with a current drain of 48 A, the output of 3rd system would be 324,000 hp.

Using 3 m levers

If there is provided a 18 hp motor with a current drain of 72 A the output of 3rd system would be 1 ,994,000 hp, etc.

The present invention can be subject of many variations and modifications which can be obtained from the description above by a person skilled in the art. All such variations and modifications are within the scope and spirit of the present invention as stated in the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURE COMPONENTS

1 - Mechanical system

2 - Motor

3 - Gear train

4 - Drive shaft 5 - Impact member assembly

6 - Lever assembly

7 - Output shaft

8 - Drive shaft gear

9 - 1st wheel/gear group 10 - 2nd wheel/gear group

11 - Toothed wheel of drive shaft (3rd group) 12 - Impact member axis 13, 13a- 13d - Impact members 14 - Impact member arm 15, 15a-15d - Lever 15'- Additional lever

16 - Bearing on fulcrum

17 - Gear rack

18 - Coupling, adjusting and fixing casing

19 - Casing screw 20 - Ratchet assembly

21 - Ratchet assembly gear

22 - Gear 21 bearing

23 - Disk

24 - Latch 25 - Saw-toothed gear

26 - Latch spring

27 - Frame

28 - Lever 15' control tie rod

29 - Support axis of lever fulcrums 30 - Resilient member

31 - Lever displacement angle

32 - Fulcrum support

33 - Support to lever 15 fulcrum and lever 15' guide.

Claims

1 . A force multiplying mechanical system (1) comprising a motor (2) driven by a power source, the main shaft rotations of said motor being geared down by means of a gear train (3) so that said shaft rotation can be reduced and said motor force can be increased, the above mentioned gear train (3) being connected to a drive shaft (4), and characterized in that said drive shaft (4) supports an assembly (5) of impact wheels (13a- 13d) conveying the rotation of said drive shaft (4) to a lever (15a-15d) assembly (6), each one of said levers (15a-15d) having in its distal end relatively to the impact wheels (13a- 13d) assembly (5) a gear rack (17) that engages in another gears/disk/latch assembly (23) fixed to an output shaft (7) and therefore causing, by the sequential drive resulting from the impact wheels (13a- 13d) assembly (5) impact over levers (15a-15d), and the levers (15a-15d) coupling to a gears/disk/latch assembly (23), a multiplication of force.

2. The mechanical system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said gear train (3) comprises at least three wheel/gear groups (9, 10, 11) that perform the rotation gearing down of said main shaft (2).

3. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 3, characterized in that said gear train (3) further comprises a drive shaft (4) that will rotate with less motion and with a greater force.

4. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 3, characterized in that said drive shaft (4) is connected by its proximal end to the at least three wheel/gear groups (9, 10, 11) and its distal end rotates on a bearing integrated on a frame.

5. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 3, characterized in that said drive shaft (4) comprises an impact wheel assembly (5) comprising at least four star shaped impact wheels (13a- 13d).

6. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 3, characterized in that each one of said impact wheels (13) is shaped as a star having three or five arms (14).

5 7. The mechanical system according to claim 1 , 5 and 6, characterized in that impact wheels (13a- 13d) are fixed on the drive shaft by crimping points or by any other similar attachment means.

8. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 7, characterized in that said

10 impact wheels (13a-13d) are arranged on said drive shaft (4) so that they are in a spaced and equidistant relationship to one another and with its symmetry axis (12) centred on drive shaft (4) and positioned so that each arm (14), in rotation, contacts the proximal end of a lever 15.

! 5 9. The mechanical system according to claim 1, characterized in that the number of levers (5) is the same as the number of impact wheels (13).

10. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 8, characterized in that the arms (14) of the impact wheels (13) are sized so that the edges of each one of said arms 0 (14) will be able to contact the proximal end of each one of said levers (15).

11. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 9, characterized in that the contact region between arm (14) edge and the proximal end of lever (15) depends on the lever (15) length to displace, the lever (15) cross section and the weigh 5 thereof.

12. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 11 , characterized in that the contact region between the impact wheels (13) and levers (15), both on impact wheels (13) and on proximal end of levers (15), can be coated with a sound 0 insulation material.

13. The mechanical system according to claim 1 , characterized in that levers (15) are fixed, near to its distal end, on an axis supported on both ends by a frame, said axis passing through the fulcrum of all levers (15).

14. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 13, characterized in that said fulcrums comprises bearings.

15. The mechanical system according to claim 1, characterized in that, in order to the levers (15a-15d) return to their original position, upon displaced by the contact with arms (14) of said impact wheels, they have to be biased by resilient members

(30) that exert their action close to the fulcrum towards a proximal end of said levers (15a-15d).

16. The mechanical system according to claim 1, characterized in that the distal end of each one of said levers is engaged in a semicircular gear rack (17) combined to a coupling, adjusting and fixing casing (18) thereof.

17. The mechanical system in according to claim 1 and 16, characterized in that the gear racks (17) have a radius superior to gears (21) radiuses and gears (23, 25) radiuses driven by the latter.

18. The mechanical system in according to claim 1 and 17, characterized in that the gears/disk/latch assembly (23) forms a ratchet.

19. The mechanical system in according to claim 1 , 16 and 17 characterized in that lever (15) distal end movement driven by impact wheels (13) is determinated by the stroke performed by gear rack (17) on ratchet gear (21) in order to each ratchet rotates output shaft (7) by a ¹A rotation (leaving two gear rack teeth off engagement as a security margin).

20. The mechanical system in according to claim 1, 16 and 17 characterized in that said latch (24) is a component sized to engage on saw teeth of gear (25) thereof by means of one of its edges, the other edge being fixed by means of a fixing component to said disk.

21 . The mechanical system according to claim 1 , characterized in that one of output shaft (7) ends is fitted with a bearing supported on a frame, the other end rotating freely on a bearing.

22. The mechanical system according to claim 1 , characterized in that the force multiplying mechanical system (1) is presented as a block that is able to be mounted vertically.

23. The mechanical system according to claim 1, characterized in that the duplication of each lever (15) to two (15, 15') is made maintaining the respective length to obtain a substantial increase of force.

24. The mechanical system according to claim 1 and 23, characterized in that the linkage between levers is made by means of a lever (15') control tie rod (28).

25. A force multiplying method, wherein the main shaft of said motor (2) rotates gear train (3) in order to slow down said main shaft rotation and increases the respective force, driving drive shaft (4) that rotates impact wheels assembly (5), characterized in that each full rotation of a impact wheel (13) causes displacement of lever (15) at a displacement angle (31) as many times as the number of arms, and in that the impact wheels (13a- 13d) positioning allows its arms (14) to contact sequentially each one of the levers (15a-15d), so that the displacement sequence is as follows:

- One arm (14) of first impact wheel (13a) (the nearest to the proximal end of the drive shaft (4) contacts first lever (15a); - One arm (14) of second impact wheel (13b) contacts second lever (15b) when the first lever (15a) is about to reach its stroke end;

- One arm (14) of third impact wheel (13c) contacts third lever (15c);

- One arm (14) of fourth impact wheel (13d) contacts fourth lever (15d);

- Second arm (14) of first impact wheel (13a) makes another contact against fir st Ie ver ( 15a) ;

- Second arm (14) of second impact wheel (13b) makes another contact with the second lever (15b) and so on;

and further in that the transformation of gear racks (17) oscillatory movement to a rotational movement is as follows:

- the gear rack (17) of each lever (15) drives the gear (21) that rotates on output rotational shaft (7) by means of a bearing snap fitted on said gear (21) that is fixed to a lock disk of a latch spring (26) of latch (24), wherein such disk, being driven by said gear (21), drives latch (24) on a saw-toothed gear (25) that, being attached to output shaft (7) by means of a pin or screw, transforms lever (15) oscillatory movement to rotational movement of said output shaft(7), output shaft (7) maintaining rotation due to the same process performed on remaining levers (15) and due to such a movement, latch (24) will pass freely over saw-toothed gear (25) returning to its original position so that it could again be engaged on said saw-toothed gear (25), being this method of working the same for all levers (15) of system (1), the movement synchronism of said output shaft (7) being defined by the movement arrangement of said four levers (15).