Patent ID: 7824305
Filing Date: 2010-11-02
Classification: F02C,F05D,F16D,F16H,Y02T,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An integral sun gear and coupling assembly comprising: a sun gear; a spindle connected at a forward end to the sun gear, and a rearward end to a shaft of a planetary gear train, the spindle having at least one undulant flexible section for accommodating misalignment between the sun gear and the shaft, the flexible section comprising a cylindrical ring having a diameter greater than the diameter of an adjacent section of the spindle, and joined to the spindle by two longitudinally spaced apart diaphragms; wherein the at least one undulant flexible section further comprises an outer radius Ra with a corresponding outer radius thickness Ta, an inner radius Rb with a corresponding inner radius thickness Tb, an outer ring radius Ro, an inner ring radius Ri, and a shaft fillet radius Rs, and wherein the at least one undulant flexible section has the following design criteria: