Planetary gear drive
Granted: June 13, 2006
Patent Number:
7059996
A planetary gear drive includes a thin, elastically resilient internal gear arranged within an annular housing, in which there is also a carrier that is rotatably supported by a pair of tapered roller bearings. A sun gear located concentrically within a cylindrical portion of the carrier is arranged so that the sun gear is capable of floating movement perpendicular to the drive axis. Any uneven meshing caused by error in the assembly or manufacture of the gears is automatically cancelled…
Component of an harmonic drive actuator
Granted: June 6, 2006
Patent Number:
D522548
Component of a flat harmonic drive actuator
Granted: May 30, 2006
Patent Number:
D522029
Projection encoder with moving side gratings and fixed side gratings
Granted: May 30, 2006
Patent Number:
7053361
A projection linear encoder has an SOQ substrate formed with transmission gratings and grid-like photodiode groups, and a reflecting grating plate with reflecting gratings that are formed facing thereto. A light-blocking film composed of a metal thin film or the like is formed on a surface of a glass substrate of the SOQ substrate, and the transmission gratings are formed by patterning the light-blocking film. The photodiodes are integrally formed by epitaxial growth on the silicon layer…
Rotational angle detecting device for a wave gear device
Granted: April 25, 2006
Patent Number:
7032465
A driving mechanism includes a motor and a wave gear device. Three sets of torque sensors are attached at intervals of 120° on a diaphragm of a flexible external gear of the wave gear device. In the rotational angle detecting part of the signal processing circuit, signal components that are included in the outputs of the torque sensors, that vary in the form of two cycles of a sine wave per rotation of the wave generator and are synchronous with a rotational angle of the wave generator…
Hybrid synchronous electric machine
Granted: April 25, 2006
Patent Number:
7034425
A hybrid synchronous electric machine driven by the transverse magnetic flux has a rotor and a stator, the rotor armature has a massive cogged iron rings (12) in close vicinity of active parts of the motor, and cogged iron rings (14, 15) as component parts of the rotor are provided with cross-cut insulating gaps. Eddy current losses are low because eddy currents in cogged iron rings are impeded by cross-cut insulating gaps therein. Eddy currents in all passive parts of the motor (rotor…
Angle detection device for rotational body
Granted: April 11, 2006
Patent Number:
7026605
In an angle detection device for a rotational body, an external peripheral surface of an arc-shaped fluorescent fiber is scanned by a scanning beam from a scanning mirror fixed to the rotational shaft of a swing motor. Fluorescence is generated at a position in the fluorescent fiber scanned by the scanning beam, the fluorescence is propagated to both ends thereof, and the received luminous energy corresponding to the scanning position is detected by photodiodes. A signal processing…
Absolute magnetic encoder
Granted: April 4, 2006
Patent Number:
7023203
The encoder rotor of an absolute magnetic encoder mounted on a servomotor shaft has a first drum of a bipolar magnet, and a second drum with a Q-bit multipolar magnetic pole track and a reference track. A signal processor generates absolute signals on the basis of detected signals, which differ in phase by 90° and in which a single rotation represents a single period, from X-phase and Y-phase magnetic sensors disposed facing the first drum, and on the basis of A- and B-phase signals,…
Tactile sensing method and system
Granted: January 24, 2006
Patent Number:
6990435
A system for detecting tactile information includes strain-gauge touch sensors and a controller. Based on the sum output from each of tough-sensor sensor units, an analyzer in the controller calculates touch force Fi(t) at each measurement point. An automatic gain control adjusts the voltage amplitude Ai(t) of a sine wave of frequency fi applied to the sensor units at each measurement point to bring the voltage amplitude measured at each measurement point in line with a target voltage.…
Lightweight bearing and wave gear drive
Granted: November 29, 2005
Patent Number:
6968755
A lightweight bearing and wave gear drive are provided. An outer or inner bearing ring of the bearing has fixing holes to enable the ring to be attached to another member. The parts of the bearing on which raceway surfaces are formed are made of an iron-based material, while the main bearing ring member is formed of a lightweight material that is lighter than the iron-based material. Surface portions that constitute fixing bolt seats are plated to increase the strength of such portions.…
Torque detection device for wave gearing
Granted: November 8, 2005
Patent Number:
6962088
The torque detection device for a wave gearing comprises a strain gauge unit having a strain gauge pattern. The strain gauge pattern includes circular-arc shaped detection segments A and B, and three terminal portions for external wiring with one being formed between the detection segments and the others at opposite ends thereof. The strain gauge unit having the strain gauge pattern can be mounted on the diaphragm of a flexible external gear by a simple operation of positioning the…
Multi-stage cross roller bearing
Granted: September 27, 2005
Patent Number:
6948855
A two-stage cross roller bearing (1) includes a first cross roller bearing (10) and a second cross roller bearing (20) that are disposed concentrically along a plane that is perpendicular to the bearing axis 1a. The inner ring of the first cross roller bearing (10) and the outer ring of the second cross roller bearing (20) are formed of a single ring-shaped member (14), with an inner ring-side raceway groove (13) of the first cross roller bearing being formed on the circular outer…
Encoder signal interpolation divider
Granted: September 27, 2005
Patent Number:
6950769
In an encoder signal interpolation divider (1) that automatically corrects errors in the offset and gain of an input signal at a high speed with a low cost circuit configuration, and can accurately generate an encoder signal having a predetermined resolution by interpolation division, analog input signals (A1, B1) are subjected to offset correction by a 0-point correction circuit (13) in adders (4, 5) prior to being digitally converted by A/D converters (8, 9), and are subjected to gain…
Method of manufacturing a rigid internal gear of a wave gear device
Granted: April 5, 2005
Patent Number:
6874231
A rigid internal gear 2 of the wave gear device is composed by integrating a tooth-forming ring 12 formed with internal teeth, and a main gear ring 11 into a single body. The tooth-forming ring 12 is manufactured from a ferrous or copper material that has superior strength and abrasion resistance, while the main gear ring 11 is manufactured from a lightweight material, such as an aluminum alloy. The outer circumferential surface of the tooth-forming ring 12 is aluminized to form a…
Magnetic encoder for powered window covering
Granted: March 22, 2005
Patent Number:
6870338
A small permanent magnet is affixed to the protruding portion of a rotor of a motor that is coupled to gears in a gear enclosure. The rod of a window covering is coupled to the gears such that when the motor is energized by a user command signal, the window covering moves. At least one pick-up coil is affixed to the receptacle of the gear enclosure, such that when the motor with magnet turns, the pick-up coil senses magnetic pulses that can be used to determine the speed, position, and…
Planetary gear device
Granted: March 15, 2005
Patent Number:
6866608
A planetary gear device includes a first, a second, and a third ring-shaped member that are concentrically arranged in that order from the inside. A sun gear is coaxially fixed to an end surface of the first ring-shaped member, planet shafts of planet gears are supported on an end surface of the ring-shaped member, and an internal gear is coaxially fixed to an end surface of the third ring-shaped member. A first cross roller bearing is formed between the first and second ring-shaped…
Head rail-mounted actuator for window coverings
Granted: February 1, 2005
Patent Number:
6850017
A mini-blind actuator has a motor and a housing that holds the motor and a dc battery. The rotor of the motor is coupled to the baton of the mini-blind for rotating the baton and thereby opening or closing the slats of the mini-blind. Alternatively, the rotor is coupled to the tilt rod of the blind to rotate the tilt rod and thereby open or close the slats of the mini-blind. A control signal generator generates a control signal for completing the electrical circuit between the battery…
Silk hat shaped wave gear device
Granted: January 25, 2005
Patent Number:
6845689
A flexible external gear of a silk hat shaped wave gear device has an annular body, external teeth formed on an outer circumferential portion of a first opening of the body, a circular diaphragm connected to a second opening portion of the body, and a circular boss connected to an outer circumferential end of the diaphragm. The shape of a connected portion of the diaphragm and the body is defined by a curved portion whose diameter decreases gradually from the diaphragm toward the body…
Wave gear device torque detection method
Granted: January 11, 2005
Patent Number:
6840118
A wave gear device torque detection method in which the gain of the output of each of a plurality of strain gauge sets affixed to the diaphragm of a flexible external gear is amplified and the outputs are then combined to form a detection signal. Adjusting the gain of each of the strain gauge outputs makes it possible to compensate for rotational ripple included in the output. Compensation of up to n order ripple components is possible by using at least (2n+1) strain gauges.
4-point contact ball bearing
Granted: January 4, 2005
Patent Number:
6837623
A 4-point contact ball bearing includes four ring-shaped contact surfaces for forming a ring-shaped raceway between them, each ring-shaped contact surface has a sectional profile defined by a concave curve when cut along a plane including a central axis of rotation of each ball and a central axis of rotation of the ring-shaped raceway. The concave curve is shaped so that it circumscribes the balls and that a curvature thereof is largest at a ball-contact point and is gradually decreased…
