FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to driving rotary mechanical systems by a new concept and design implementation of drive shafts to impart substantial improvement in efficiency. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mechanical power transmission system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In today’s world typically rotary loads are driven by solid or hollow shafts with conventional design and construction connected to a conventional driver like electric motors, IC engines, turbines etc.

The rotary shaft plays a crucial role in transferring the mechanical energy to the load. Conventional shafts are hollow or solid depending upon load requirements. Further due to these shaft configurations driving forces are applied very near to the of axis of rotation, - thereby increasing the centripetal force requirement to achieve desired load application. Furthermore, forces originating from the power and load side induces torsional or twisting stress on the driving shaft thereby increasing weight of the shaft as well as power requirement for a given load.

These shafts, discussed above, require high initial torque to overcome the inertia of the connected load causing risk to the motor driver as well as to the shaft assembly of the driven load.

Mostly, majority of the rotary applications involves high centrifugal forces which ultimately results in high power requirement and demands high level of alignments as well as eccentricity for effective power transmission, which results in increased power requirements to drive a given load. Hence, there is a need for a mechanical power transmission system that overcomes above-mentioned disadvantages and shortcomings of the existing solutions.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanical power transmission system

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanical power transmission system to improve efficiency of a drive shaft.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load at higher efficiency.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load by utilizing driving element selected from rigid conical coil shafts, levers, lever arms etc.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load by utilizing flexible driving element.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load by utilizing driving element having high strength to weight ratio.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load by utilizing driving element with varying diameters, spiral in shape and conical in contour.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize any drive system to run a rotary mechanical load by utilizing conical coil shafts with increasing coil diameter of the conical coil towards the load end. Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize driving element connected at a larger radius from the axis of rotation of the load.

Yet another object of the present invention is to generate a tangential force rather than torsional moment on the driving element while running a given load.

Yet another object of the present invention is to use conical coil shaft as a rotor or a crank shaft in the driver assembly.

Yet another object of the present invention is to optimize length of both the end arms of the conical coil shaft to accommodate varying diameters of the conical coil at both ends.

Yet another object of the present invention is to substantially reduce design weight of the driving element.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize conical coil shaft wherein conical coil having less than half a turn to multiple turns.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize combination of solid/hollow shafts and conical coil shaft interconnected for a given application.

Yet another object of the present invention is to utilize vacuum chamber to house the driving element to minimize frictional and drag losses for a given application.

Yet another object of the present invention is to use multiple levers for connecting driving element at both driver and load ends for a given application. Yet another object of the present invention is to have a mechanical power transmission system comprising an input power source, a load and a driving element having a driver end and a load end.

Yet another object of the present invention is to configure the driving element to be connected between driver shaft of the input power source and load shaft of the load.

Yet another object of the present invention is to connect the driving element with the driver shaft of the input power source at the driver end.

Yet another object of the present invention is to connect the driving element with the load shaft of the load at the load end.

Yet another object of the present invention is to have distance of the driving element from the input power source less than or equal to a distance of driving element from axis of rotation of the load.

Yet another object of the present invention is to configure the driving element to transfer power from the input power source to the load at a greater distance from the axis of rotation of the driver shaft and load shaft.

Yet another object of the present invention is to configure the driving element to generate a tangential force, upon receiving the input power and transfer the tangential force to the load.

Yet another object of the present invention to use a driving element made of rigid metal or non-metal material in solid or hollow form.

Yet another object of the present invention to use a driving element made of flexible metal or non-metal material in solid or hollow form. Yet another object of the present invention to use a driving element configured to rotate at the same RPM as of input power source and rotate the load at the same RPM.

Yet another object of the present invention to use a driving element configured to reduce input power requirement for a given load in the range of 1 .5 to 1000 times of conventional input power requirement.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Embodiments of the present invention aim to provide a mechanical power transmission system for driving mechanical systems by providing a new concept and design implementation of load shafts to impart substantial improvement in efficiency.

The proposed invention realises the potential of drive shaft design and method in increasing the efficiency of driver and the load by decreasing the input power requirement. The system utilizes any drive mechanism, like Electric Motors, IC Engines, turbines etc which produces rotary motion on driving shaft to provide sufficient energy to drive the mechanical system.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the mechanical power transmission system comprises an input power source, a load and a driving element having a driver end and a load end. The driving element is configured to be connected between driver shaft of the input power source and load shaft of the load. Herein, the driving element is connected with the driver shaft of the input power source at the driver end and the driving element is connected with the load shaft of the load at the load end. Further, the distance of the driving element from the input power source is less than or equal to distance of driving element from axis of rotation of the load. Additionally, the driving element is configured to transfer power from the input power source to the load at a greater distance from the axis of rotation of the driver shaft and load shaft. Then the driving element is configured to generate a tangential force, upon receiving the input power and transfer the tangential force to the load.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the load may be, but not limited to, any rotary load.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the rotary load comprising generators, pumps, or compressors etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the input power source is, but not limited to, electric motor, IC engine, turbine, gear etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is adapted to be housed, but not limited to, in a vacuum chamber.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is, but not limited to, a conical coil, levers, lever arms etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is made of rigid metal or non-metal material in solid or hollow form.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is made of flexible metal or non-metal material in solid or hollow form. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is having high strength to weight ratio.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is configured to rotate at the same RPM as of input power source and rotate the load at the same RPM.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element is configured to reduce input power requirement for a given load in the range of 1.5 to 1000 times of conventional input power requirement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may have been referred by examples, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical examples of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective examples.

These and other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates a mechanical power transmission system for driving mechanical machines by employing a driving element, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a mechanical power transmission system for driving mechanical machines by employing a driving element, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 illustrates a mechanical power transmission system for driving mechanical machines by employing a driving element, in accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 4 illustrates a mechanical power transmission system for driving mechanical machines by employing a driving element, in accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, Appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment", "in another embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but not necessarily do, all refer to the same embodiment. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one” and the word “plurality” means “one or more” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope.

The systems, methods, and examples provided herein are only illustrative and not intended to be limiting. The present invention relating to a system and method for driving mechanical systems by providing a new concept and design implementation of load shafts to impart substantial improvement in efficiency can be understood by way of following embodiments below:

Figure 1 illustrates a mechanical power transmission system (100) for driving mechanical machines by employing a conical coil shaft (1 10), in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The mechanical power transmission system (100) comprises an input power source (102), a load (108) and a driving element (110) i.e. conical coil shaft. The driving element (1 10) is connected with a driver shaft of the input power source (102) and load shaft of the load (108).

The input power source (102) may be selected from, but not limited to, electric motor, IC engine, turbine, gear etc. In some embodiments, the input power source (102) may itself be a driven element for a primary input source (which may be motor etc.) but is joined in series with a secondary load and therefore acts as a driver for a secondary load.

Besides, the load (108) may be any kind of rotary load such as, but not limited to, generators, pumps, or compressors etc. Also, the driving element (110) is may be selected from, but not limited to, a conical coil shaft, levers, lever arms etc. The driving element (110) may be made of a rigid or flexible material that can be metal, non- metal or an alloy, depending on the type of load to be driven or application. In that sense, the driving element (110) is envisaged to have a high strength to weight ratio. The driving element (110) will be discussed more in detail with help of various exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings.

As shown in figure 1 , the electric motor is provided as input power source (102) to drive the conical coil shaft, which is the driving element (110) in this embodiment. As can be seen, the conical coil shaft (110) is connected with the electric motor (102) via an endplate (1022) at a driver end (104). Further, as shown in figure 1 , the conical coil shaft (110) is connected with the load (108) at the load end (106) via an endplate (1082). The connection mechanism used to connect the conical coil shaft (110) with either of the end plates (1022, 1082) may be, but not limited to, welding, winding etc. The endplates (1022, 1082) are connected with the driving shaft (1024) and the load shaft (1084) via respective arms or discs (1026, 1086). Furthermore, the distance of the driving element (110) from the input power source (i.e. the electric motor (102)) is less than or equal to distance of driving element (i.e. the conical coil shaft (110)) from axis of rotation (116) of the load (108). Also, the conical coil shaft (110) is connected at a larger radius from the axis of rotation (116) of the load (108) at the load end (106) than at the driver end (104).

The present invention in this embodiment (100) is capable of running any rotary mechanical load (108) by utilizing the conical coil shafts (110) with varying diameters, spiral shape and conical contours. The conical coil shaft (110) is envisaged to have increasing coil diameter towards the load end (106). Further, the conical coil shaft (110) may comprise of less than half a turn to multiple turns. Additionally, one or more bearings (112) may be provided on the load shaft (1084) to reduce friction and further assist in motion transmission. The driving element (110) may further be supported by a support structures such as a support rod and base support (114), to ensure that the driving element (conical coil shaft) stays in place.

Further, as soon as input power is provided by the electric motor (102) to the conical coil shaft (110), it generates tangential force in the driving element (1 10) which is transferred to the load (108). The tangential force generated is applied at a higher radius from the axis of rotation (116) of the load (108), thereby requiring minimal input power to run the load (108) as compared to conventional mechanisms where torsional forces are generated and utilized. This is because the present invention generates a tangential force rather than torsional moment on the conical coil shaft (1 10) while running a given load (108).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the driving element (1 10) is configured to rotate at the same RPM as of input power source (102) and rotate the load (108) at the same RPM. Further, the tangential force acting on load (108) minimizes the acting torque on the load (108) thereby increasing the efficiency. It is seen during experimental trials and collected data that the driving element (1 10) is configured to reduce input power requirement for a given load (108) in the range of 1.5 to 1000 times of conventional input power requirement during various trials incorporating from 5 RPM to 3000 RPM and driving the load at a distance of 10 inches to 14 feet from the axis of rotation.

Further, the driving element (1 10) is the conical coil shaft. However, a skilled addressee would appreciate that multiple variation of the above- mentioned components and/or arrangement are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Some of those variations involving the same inventive concept have been described in figures 2 to 4.

Figure 2 illustrates the mechanical power transmission system (200) for driving mechanical machines by employing the conical coil shaft (1 10), in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The constructional features of this embodiment (200) are similar to the embodiment (100) as elaborated in figure 1. The difference between the arrangement of figures 1 and 2 is that the driving force on the load (108) is applied at higher radius from the centre of axis (1 16) of rotation. The working principle remains the same as in Figure 1 including experimental trials data.

Figure 3 illustrates the mechanical power transmission system (300) for driving mechanical machines by employing flexible driving element (1 10), in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The constructional features of this embodiment (300) are similar to the embodiment (200) as elaborated in figure 2. The difference between the arrangement of figures 2 and 3 is that the driving element in the present embodiment is of flexible material. The working principle remains the same as in Figure 1 including experimental trials data.

Figure 4 illustrates yet another variation/embodiment (400) of the mechanical power transmission system (100) of figure 1 . Herein, the driving element (1 10) is a lever arm (402) (instead of the conical coil shaft) and it is housed in a vacuum chamber (406). The driving shaft (1024) and the load shaft (1084) are connected with the lever arm (402) to transmit the tangential force from the driving shaft to drive the load (108). Also, a plurality of shaft seals (404) has been disposed to seal the entry points of the driving shaft (1024) and the load shaft (1084) inside the vacuum chamber (406) to ensure the vacuum. Further, the one or more bearings (1 12) have also been disposed proximal the input power source (102). This arrangement is advantageous as the presence of vacuum chamber (406) as well as additional bearings helps to minimize frictional and drag losses for a given application.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the mechanical power transmission for driving mechanical systems by use of driving elements such as conical coil shafts, lever, lever arms etc. to impart substantial improvement in efficiency offers several advantages viz. 1 . the power requirement is substantially reduced to drive a given load

2. reduces the limitations on driving shaft mechanical property

3. the load transfer occurs at a greater radius from axis of rotation, thereby, increasing efficiency.

4. the load is driven by tangential force, thereby, minimizing torque acting on the load assembly.

5. can accommodate misalignment of driver and driven axis of rotation

In order to substantiate above understanding, 3 case studies were performed with 3 different configurations of driving shafts of “same” mechanical properties, mass and material of construction. Comparative results are illustrated in tables as below, it is clear from the comparative results that the point of application of the tangential force at a greater distance from the axis of rotation decreases the power requirements to drive a given load:

Legend

Case 1 : Constant Power

Remarks: Highest load capability in system S3 Case 2: Constant Load

Case 3: Governing Loads for shaft design

Remarks: In system S3 tangential force drives the load hence Load capability is highest

Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown along with the accompanying drawings but is to be providing broadest scope of consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claims.