The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 29, 2018
Filed:
Jul. 09, 2013
Solarcity Corporation, San Mateo, CA (US);
Daniel I. Fukuba, San Francisco, CA (US);
Benjamin D. Sumers, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Jeremy P. Dittmer, Mountain View, CA (US);
Merritt J. Jenkins, Redwood City, CA (US);
Kevin C. Chu, Mountain View, CA (US);
Vayardo L. Ruiz, Santa Clara, CA (US);
SolarCity Corporation, San Mateo, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to transferring torque between a first unit, which is typically a mobile machine or a robot, and a second unit, which is typically a fixed or stationary machine. The units are arranged such that a drive coupler of the first unit designed for delivering torque about a drive axis can engage the driven coupler, which belongs to the second unit and has a driven axis, along an engagement direction that is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the driven axis. A lateral displacement mechanism in provided is the first unit to achieve a first-order coaxial alignment between the drive and driven axes. Additional measures such as compliance mechanisms are provided for improving engagement, coupling and reducing the level of axial misalignment in the apparatus and methods of the invention.