An Amazing Mechanical Innovation

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
Neat but looks like a maintenance nightmare as parts wear and start to bind from excess slop and hard-stop stresses.
Along the lines of what Yaakov said, i imagine there will be issues but i would think the size/strength could be scaled up when needed. As with other types of gear mechanisms it would have to be protected from dust and dirt but at the heart of it it is just a gear mechanism so it should fit in somewhere. I'd love to do a control algorithm/program for that thing.

There have been other things that have not caught on too well either and one very similar to this. That is the "Cone Gear" where one of the mating gears is shaped like a cone and so when the idler gear is shifted down the length of it the gear ratio changes and does so gradually so there are a lot of ratios to choose from unlike most transmissions. It was a big deal when i first heard about it many years ago but i think it was only used in a few automobiles. Havent kept up on it over the years though.

Oh i just did a search and i think they might still be using them in some cars.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
Along the lines of what Yaakov said, i imagine there will be issues but i would think the size/strength could be scaled up when needed. As with other types of gear mechanisms it would have to be protected from dust and dirt but at the heart of it it is just a gear mechanism so it should fit in somewhere. I'd love to do a control algorithm/program for that thing.

There have been other things that have not caught on too well either and one very similar to this. That is the "Cone Gear" where one of the mating gears is shaped like a cone and so when the idler gear is shifted down the length of it the gear ratio changes and does so gradually so there are a lot of ratios to choose from unlike most transmissions. It was a big deal when i first heard about it many years ago but i think it was only used in a few automobiles. Havent kept up on it over the years though.

Oh i just did a search and i think they might still be using them in some cars.
I work on several types of 3DOF robotic systems where dust and dirt are not a problem. Clean-room and inside high vacuum chambers. What we do have are requirements for high cycles rates with high precision 24/7 with millions of cycles per arm lifetime.

 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
Appeared to be unstable at certain points, which is understandable given the construction. I can see this manifesting every gear inefficiency known. Novel non the less.
 
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