Patent ID: 8968140
Filing Date: 2015-03-03
Classification: B66D

Abstract:
1. A planetary winch with an electronically operated clutch comprising: a case; a drive motor; a drive shaft with a first end coupled to the drive motor and a second end coupled to a sun gear; a plurality of planet gears coupled with a spool and engaged with the sun gear; a ring gear engaged with the plurality of planet gears; a clutch mechanism capable of selectively holding the ring gear in place relative to the case when in an engaged position and allowing the ring gear to rotate along an outer periphery of the planet gears and relative to the case when in a disengaged position; a solenoid capable of moving the clutch mechanism between the engaged position and the disengaged position; and a control circuit; wherein the control circuit provides a first current level to the solenoid to move the solenoid from the engaged position to the disengaged position and a second current level to the solenoid to maintain the solenoid in the disengaged position.