The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Other

The United States of America As Represented by the United States

Northeastern University

Government of the United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Commerce

The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator

The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of

John M Vranish

Joseph P Teter

Constantinos Mavroidis

Brian Weinberg

Robert L McConnell

Eugene Mitchell

Wayne R Bunch

Wadi Rahim

William L Johns

Charles E Maggelet

Robert DeMoyer

A gear bearing drive provides a compact mechanism that operates as an actuator providing torque and as a joint providing support. The drive includes a gear arrangement integrating an external rotor DC motor within a sun gear. Locking surfaces maintain the components of the drive in alignment and provide support for axial loads and moments. The gear bearing drive has a variety of applications, including as a joint in robotic arms and prosthetic limbs.

Gear bearing drive

A Linear Tape Motors sequentially bends flexures to precisely position a payload within a large, linear range. Movement is backlash free. Flexure bending is also used to drive large forces, using efficient mechanical advantage, anchor the Tape Motor against back-slipping and prevent sticking and jamming malfunctions. Existing permanent magnet motor drive technology can be easily adapted to energize and control the flexure bending motions. Combining flexures with rare earth permanent magnets, provides ultra compact Linear Tape Motors with very high power and force densities that hold position with power off. Their operating range can be is as long as required. Thus, Linear Tape Motors are attractive for space science instruments, where precision positioning in ultra cold operating conditions is required and where low mass and low power are premium. But, they will be attractive to many other applications as well, especially where long range, safe, precise movements of large force payloads are required, where simplicity and reliability are important, where speeds are moderate to low and where operating temperatures are not so extreme as to demagnetize the permanent magnets. The Linear Tape Motor concept is novel but, it is simple and is easily adapted to modern permanent magnet motor technology, both the hardware materials and construction methods and the electronics and computer technology that controls the hardware. Development should be short and inexpensive, with high prospects of success.

Linear tape motor

A partial gear bearing including an upper half, comprising peak partial teeth, and a lower, or bottom, half, comprising valley partial teeth. The upper half also has an integrated roller section between each of the peak partial teeth with a radius equal to the gear pitch radius of the radially outwardly extending peak partial teeth. Conversely, the lower half has an integrated roller section between each of the valley half teeth with a radius also equal to the gear pitch radius of the peak partial teeth. The valley partial teeth extend radially inwardly from its roller section. The peak and valley partial teeth are exactly out of phase with each other, as are the roller sections of the upper and lower halves. Essentially, the end roller bearing of the typical gear bearing has been integrated into the normal gear tooth pattern.

Partial tooth gear bearings

The invention relates to a driven ground electrical circuit. A driven ground is a current-measuring ground termination to an electrical circuit with the current measured as a vector with amplification. The driven ground module may include an electric potential source Vdriving an electric current through an impedance (load Z) to a driven ground. Voltage from the source Vexcites the minus terminal of an operational amplifier inside the driven ground which, in turn, may react by generating an equal and opposite voltage to drive the net potential to approximately zero (effectively ground). A driven ground may also be a means of passing information via the current passing through one grounded circuit to another electronic circuit as input. It may ground one circuit, amplify the information carried in its current and pass this information on as input to the next circuit.

Device, system and method for a sensing electrical circuit

A gearing system using modular gear bearing components. Each component is composed of a core, one or more modules attached to the core and two or more fastening modules rigidly attaching the modules to the core. The modules, which are attached to the core, may consist of gears, rollers or gear bearing components. The core orientation affects the orientation of the modules attached to the core. This is achieved via the keying arrangement of the core and the component modules that attach to the core. Such an arrangement will also facilitate the phase tuning of gear modules with respect to the core and other gear modules attached to the core.

Modular gear bearings

A gear bearing having a first gear and a second gear, each having a plurality of teeth. Each gear operates on two non-parallel surfaces of the opposing gear teeth to perform both gear and bearing functions simultaneously. The gears are moving at substantially the same speed at their contact points. The gears may be roller gear bearings or phase-shifted gear bearings, and may be arranged in a planet/sun system or used as a transmission. One preferred embodiment discloses and describes an anti-backlash feature to counter 'dead zones' in the gear bearing movement.

Anti-backlash gear bearings

The present invention relates to a conformal gripping device. In an embodiment of the present invention a conformal gripper device may be disclosed comprising a frame that includes an array of movable pins. The device may also include a roller locking and unlocking system within the frame. The system may comprise a pair of locking rollers for each row of gripper pins to facilitate locking and unlocking the array of gripper pins on a column-by-column basis. The system may also include a striker element that may force the locking rollers to roll along an angled roll surface to facilitate unlocking of the array of pins on a column-by-column basis. The system may further include an electromagnetic actuator or solenoid and permanent magnets to facilitate movement of the striker element and the locking rollers.

Conformal gripping device

An actuator for moving a load has a frame forming a race between two surfaces thereof, at least two elements joined together by at least one flexible member, the elements and the at least one flexible member being disposed between the two surfaces of the frame that forms a race, one of the elements further joined to the load by a portion of the at least one flexible member, wherein when an element comes into contact with a surface of the frame it will stick thereto absent a repelling force, and moving means disposed to selectively attract or repel a corresponding element towards or away from one or the other of the two surfaces of the frame that forms the race. The actuator effects movement of the load in a direction towards or away from the elements, by changing a position of at least one of the elements on a surface of the frame that forms the race.

Stepping flexures

A thrust roller bearing system comprising an inner rotating member, an outer rotating member and multiple rollers coupling the inner rotating member with outer rotating member. The inner and outer rotating members include thrust lips to enable the rollers to act as thrust rollers. The rollers contact inner and outer rotating members at bearing contact points along a contact line. Consequently, the radial/tilt and thrust forces move synchronously and simultaneously to create a bearing action with no slipping.

Thrust rollers

A tool comprises a first handle and a second handle, each handle extending from a gripping end portion to a working end portion, the first handle having first screw threads disposed circumferentially about an inner portion of a first through-hole at the working end portion thereof, the second handle having second screw threads disposed circumferentially about an inner portion of a second through-hole at the working end portion thereof, the first and second respective through-holes being disposed concentrically about a common axis of the working end portions. First and second screw locks preferably are disposed concentrically with the first and second respective through-holes, the first screw lock having a plurality of locking/unlocking screw threads for engaging the first screw threads of the first handle, the second screw lock having a plurality of locking/unlocking screw threads for engaging the second screw threads of the second handle. A locking clutch drive, disposed concentrically with the first and second respective through-holes, engages the first screw lock and the second screw lock. The first handle and the second handle are selectively operable at their gripping end portions by a user using a single hand to activate the first and second screw locks to lock the locking clutch drive for either clockwise rotation about the common axis, or counter-clockwise rotation about the common axis, or to release the locking clutch drive so that the handles can be rotated together about the common axis either the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction without rotation of the locking clutch drive.

Screw-locking wrench

A three-dimensional (3-D) interactive display and method of forming the same, includes a transparent capaciflector (TC) camera formed on a transparent shield layer on the screen surface. A first dielectric layer is formed on the shield layer. A first wire layer is formed on the first dielectric layer. A second dielectric layer is formed on the first wire layer. A second wire layer is formed on the second dielectric layer. Wires on the first wire layer and second wire layer are grouped into groups of parallel wires with a turnaround at one end of each group and a sensor pad at the opposite end. An operational amplifier is connected to each of the sensor pads and the shield pad biases the pads and receives a signal from connected sensor pads in response to intrusion of a probe. The signal is proportional to probe location with respect to the monitor screen.

Three dimensional interactive display

Linear output motion of a substantial distance is imparted to the top plate of an actuator by forces produced within layers respectively formed by interconnectors on which magnetostriction material slabs are positioned in engagement with end retainers of the interconnectors through which such forces are transferred in sequence to produce the output motion in response to applied magnetic fields, inducing maximized magnetostriction in a direction perpendicular to such output motion. The magnetic fields are generated by electric current conducted through wiring coils extending through the magnetostriction material slabs maintained assembled in the layers under a prestress arrangement accommodating relative displacements resulting from the output motion.

Linear magnetostrictive actuator

A one-way bearing is provided having sprags and rolling bearings both disposed between an inner and an outer race. The sprags may comprise three-dimensional sprags for preventing rotation in a non-preferential direction. The rolling bearings may comprise thrust rollers for transmitting axial, tilt, and radial loads between the inner and outer races.

1-way bearing

A gear bearing having a first gear and a second gear, each having a plurality of teeth. Each gear operates on two non-parallel surfaces of the opposing gear teeth to perform both gear and bearing functions simultaneously. The gears are moving at substantially the same speed at their contact points. The gears may be roller gear bearings or phase-shifted gear bearings, and may be arranged in a planet/sun system or used as a transmission.

Gear bearings

Actuator elements of a motor system are cyclically expanded magnetostrictively by energization of excitation coils to impart driving forces directly to a driven load through roller sprag means under preload bias in locking contact with a race formation in the driven load, to impart unidirectional movement to the driven load in one direction selected by generated Lorentz forces through magnetic field controlling means, as well as to provide power-off braking.

Growing community of inventors

Crofton, MD, United States of America

John M Vranish