4

How can I power a wheel but let it spin freely when not under power?

I saw the question How can I modify a low cost hobby servo to run 'freely'? but I'm more interested in knowing if there is some sort of gearbox that disengages ( moves to 'neutral' ) when no torque is being applied to it.

Two ideas that come to mind are:

  1. A drive gear on a spring loaded arm with a nominal amount of resistance before engaging. Perhaps when under power it would first use power to move in one direction, then it would engage with another gear, but without power the spring would return it to a non-engaged position

  2. A centrifugal clutch - although I'd like something that works at low RPMs as well

The idea is to create a small bot that can move up and down a track, but if someone interacts with it when not under power it will just roll and won't damage the gearbox.

Community
  • 1
cwd
  • 143
  • 1
  • 4
  • Gas ("nitro") powered radio-controlled cars need something like this too. They usually use a centrifugal clutch mounted directly on the engine's crankshaft. The clutch bell then has the first drive gear mounted on it. This means higher RPMs for the clutch than if it were downstream, which is probably an advantage for the clutch to work well...it should be the same case with an electric motor. – John Zwinck Dec 23 '14 at 03:52
  • Thanks. I have also found some Electro-Magnetic Clutches via eBay that may work for this purpose. They look to be used in laser copiers. But I think there must be other solutions, too – cwd Dec 23 '14 at 03:55
  • Another idea is a regular slipper clutch (also used in gas R/C), to limit the torque that can feed back through the gearbox if someone pushes the robot. – John Zwinck Dec 23 '14 at 04:28
  • One way bearing, used often for helicopter drive gears so the rotor can spin/coast when power is not applied. – Spiked3 Dec 23 '14 at 05:50
  • Thanks - both of those are good ideas. Post as an answer and I can upvote / mark as correct. Still open to other options if they exist. – cwd Dec 23 '14 at 07:59
  • I would be very interested to learn how the photocopy clutches you saw on ebay work. I dismantled a copier myself recently and ended up with 3 units that look like small motors but are labelled "Step Clutch". They have 2 wires like regular DC motors so are not steppers. When connected to a power supply they just make a clicking noise. When rotated freely by hand, there is a certain amount of free play and then resistance is encountered. Image is here Imgur – Galahad II Dec 25 '14 at 22:38
  • @Galahad - I found this - http://www.maccon.de/en/electromechanics/clutches/ec.html – cwd Dec 29 '14 at 03:55
  • @cwd Thanks. Maybe the units I tried were faulty because they just "click" move a little and then stop. I will need to delve deeper into the subject. Will report any findings here. – Galahad II Dec 29 '14 at 10:33

1 Answers1

2

You can use a magnetic clutch. When the strain on the horn passes a particular mark, it overpowers the pairs of magnets holding the clutch plates causing it to slip without damaging the gears. You can easily make them, and here is a company selling them http://robosavvy.com/store/dagu-magnetic-servo-clutches-for-miniature-servos.html

If you want to use an off the shelf one there are clutches designed for r/c cars that you maybe able to use. There is a description of one here http://nitrorc.com/articles/clutch.html and here is a company that sells them http://www.bukupower.com/clutch.aspx .These are designed for use with gas vehicles so some modification to your design maybe required.

It may also not be too hard to make a gear train disengagement mechanism you can control using a servo.

Ali
  • 251
  • 1
  • 6