Patent ID: 7567159
Filing Date: 2009-07-28
Classification: E05C,E05F,E05Y,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An energy absorbing magnetic device for providing non-contact braking and non-contact coupling for a first body in relation to a second body device comprising: a rotary magnet assembly mounted on a first body, said rotary magnet assembly including a first magnet rotatably retained in a housing; a highly viscous substance disposed around said first magnet so as to exert a drag on said first magnet and thus resist the rotation of said first magnet within said housing; a reference magnet mounted on a second body and having a magnetic axis; wherein either one of said first and said second body is movable relative to the other; wherein said rotary magnet and said reference magnet can be translated relative to each other along a predetermined translation path which has a point of closest approach; and wherein said magnetic axis of said reference magnet is oriented such that the translation of said reference magnet relative to said rotary magnet along said translation path exerts a torque on said first magnet, causes causing it to rotate inside said housing, thereby inducing a drag acting on said first magnet from said drag means, and initially acts to slow the relative translation with non-contact braking through the magnetic repulsion between said rotary magnet and said reference magnet, and ultimately acts to stop the relative translation in a non-contact coupling at said point of closest approach through the magnetic attraction of said rotary magnet and said reference magnet, and wherein the drag on said first magnet extracts energy from the rotation of said first magnet and converts this energy to heat.