Compliant Over-running Clutch is designed with flexible “compliant” members that give the clutch the same functionality as conventional over-running clutches while greatly reducing the manufacturing time, part count, and assembly time required. These compliant members act like springs to keep the clutch pawls in contact with the ratchet teeth of the inner hub. This allows the clutch to freewheel in one direction and provide torque in the other. It can be designed with or without centrifugal throw-out of the pawls.
The low manufacturing cost and ease of assembly make compliant over-running clutches suitable replacements for conventional rigid-body ratchet and pawl clutches in many light weight applications, which include:
Patent #6,148,979
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Roach, G.M., Lyon, S.M., and Howell, L.L., “A Compliant, Over-running Ratcheet and Pawl Clutch with Centrifugal Throw-out,” Proceedings of the 1998 ASME Design Technical Conferences, DETC98/MECH-5819.
Roach, G.M. and Howell, L.L., “Evaluation and Comparison of Alternative Compliant Overrunning Clutch Designs,” Journal of Mechanical Design, Trans. ASME, Vol. 124, No. 3, pp. 485-491, 2002.
Roach, Gregory M., “An Investigation of Compliant Over-running Ratchet and Pawl Clutches,” M.S. Thesis, Brigham Young University, August 1998.