Hand cranked electrical power source

A hand-cranked power source intended for use in emergency situations to grate electrical energy. The power source features a lightweight construction as well as the ability to generate a reasonable amount of power. The preferred embodiment couples an input drive shaft to a harmonic drive system having a high speed output shaft. Upon the output shaft are preferably mounted samarium cobalt magnets forming the rotor of a three phase alternator. The output of the alternator may be utilized to power a field device, such as a radio, or the like, or may be used to charge fast-charging batteries.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention is related to electrical power sources and, more 
particularly, is directed towards a novel, hand-cranked electrical power 
source designed especially for use in emergency situations. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Hand-cranked emergency power sources for generating electrical energy are 
well known. Prior patents which exemplify such devices include: German 
Pat. No. 321,548; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 963,412; 2,282,963; and 3,621,398. 
Such hand-cranked power sources have been used, for example, to directly 
power field radios or other similar equipment, or to charge chemical 
batteries in the field. However, the prior art hand-cranked emergency 
power sources have enjoyed limited usefullness as a result of their 
excessive weight and their inability to generate any significant amount of 
power. 
The excessive weight of the prior art generators is largely a result of 
their heavy planetary gearing systems which are required to step up the 
speed of the input drive shaft from about 60 r.p.m. to several thousand 
r.p.m. The limited output power available from the prior art devices 
results from both inefficiencies in the gearing system, as well as from 
the use of alnico magnets. The latter have a relatively low 
energy-product, and therefore must be large in size to generate any 
significant amount of power. This also contributes undesirably to the 
excessive weight of such generators. 
It therefore may be appreciated that there is a great need for a portable, 
lightweight, emergency power source, which may be easily manually cranked 
by one or two persons, and which provides a reasonable amount of power 
over a short time interval. 
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an 
emergency electrical power generator which overcomes all of the 
deficiencies noted above with respect to prior art generators. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hand-cranked 
emergency power source which is portable, lightweight, durable, 
inexpensive to manufacture and which provides a reasonable amount of power 
over a short time interval. 
The foregoing and other objects are attained in accordance with one aspect 
of the present invention through the provision of apparatus which 
comprises an input shaft, means for manually rotating the input shaft, 
harmonic drive means including means connected to the input shaft so as to 
rotate therewith and a high speed output shaft, magnetic rotor means 
connected to rotate with the high speed output shaft, and stator means 
positioned about the rotor means for generating electrical energy in 
response to the rotation of said rotor means. The means for manually 
rotating the input shaft preferably comprises a pair of handles, one of 
each of which are connected to each end of the input shaft. 
In accordance with more specific aspects of the present invention, the 
harmonic drive means comprises a ring-shaped circular spline directly 
coupled to the input shaft so as to rotate therewith and having a 
plurality of fine teeth formed on its inner surface, a substantially 
cylindrical flexspline having an end with a plurality of fine teeth formed 
thereon and positioned within the circular spline, the number of teeth on 
the flexspline being different than the number on the circular spline, and 
a wave generator which is positioned within the spline and which comprises 
an elliptical ball-bearing assembly to which the high speed output shaft 
is rigidly connected. 
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, a casing is 
provided through which the input shaft extends and within which is mounted 
the harmonic drive means, the magnetic rotor means and the stator means. 
The flexspline and the stator means are rigidly connected to the casing so 
as to be stationary therewith. The casing further includes first bearing 
means for supporting the input shaft, and second bearing means for 
supporting the high speed output shaft. More particularly, the casing 
includes a substantially cylindrical side wall and a pair of end plates, 
each of the end plates having a bearing sleeve through which the input 
shaft extends and in which the first bearing means are mounted. A housing 
for the stator means is rigidly mounted to one of the end plates of the 
casing and surround the rotor means and the output shaft. The second 
bearing means is positioned between the high speed output shaft and the 
housing, and the flexspline includes an end wall mounted between said one 
end plate of the casing and the housing. 
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the magnetic 
rotor means comprises a samarium cobalt magnet which is attached to the 
outer surface of the high speed output shaft so as to rotate therewith.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a side, partly sectional view 
of a preferred embodiment of the hand-cranked electrical power source of 
the present invention. 
Reference numeral 10 indicates generally a casing for the invention which 
includes a substantially cylindrical side wall 12 and a pair of end plates 
or covers 14 and 16 which may be secured to the side wall 12 by any 
conventional means. 
Positioned centrally on the end plates 14 and 16 are a pair of 
substantially cylindrical sleeves 18 and 20. A low speed drive shaft 22 
extends through the casing 10 and sleeves 18 and 20. Secured to each end 
of the low speed drive shaft 22 are a pair of cranking levers 24 and 26 
having hand grips 28 and 30, respectively. Hand grips 28 and 30 are 
adapted to be manually rotated by a user, and the motion is transmitted 
via levers 24 and 26 to the low speed drive shaft 22. 
Within the sleeves 18 and 20 are mounted a pair of bearing assemblies 32 
and 34 for supporting and facilitating the rotation of drive shaft 22. 
Mounted within the casing 10 of the present invention is a harmonic drive 
assembly, indicated generally by reference numeral 40, which is designed 
to step up the rotation of low speed drive shaft 22. A harmonic drive is a 
well known component which relies for operation upon a strain wave gearing 
concept as believed first set forth in C. W. Musser's U.S. Pat. No. 
2,906,143. Harmonic drive assemblies are commercially available from, for 
example, the ICON Division of USM Corporation in Woburn, Mass. 
As is well known, harmonic drive assembly 40 consists of three basic 
components: a circular spline 42; a flexspline 44; and a wave generator 
43. 
These components are illustrated in a perspective, exploded view in FIG. 2. 
The circular spline 42 is a ring-shaped member upon the inner periphery of 
which is formed a plurality of fine gear teeth 45. Circular spline 42 is 
directly coupled to the low speed drive shaft 22 so as to rotate 
therewith. 
Within the circular spline 42 is positioned the flexspline 44 which is a 
substantially cylindrical, flexible steel ring having positioned on its 
outer surface a plurality of fine gear teeth 47 which are identically 
sized with those on the inner periphery 45 of the circular spline 42 so as 
to mesh therewith. However, as is conventional, the flexspline 44 has two 
fewer teeth than is formed on the circular spline 42. 
Positioned within the flexspline 44 is a wave generator 45 which comprises, 
as is conventional, an elliptical steel ball-bearing assembly. The wave 
generator 43 includes a high-speed output shaft 46 extending therefrom. 
As shown in FIG. 1, secured to the periphery of the high speed output shaft 
46 is a multi-pole magnetic rotor 48, which is preferably comprised of 
samarium cobalt. Samarium cobalt magnets are preferred as a result of 
their unique properties, that include for example an energy product and an 
intrinsic coercivity which far exceed the corresponding values of the best 
permanent magnet materials previously available. The properties and 
advantages of samarium cobalt as a permanent magnet structure are set 
forth, for example, in a Research and Development Technical Report No. 
ECOM-4064 entitled "Electromechanical Energy Conversion Devices Utilizing 
Both Conventional and Rare-Earth Cobalt Permanent Magnet Materials" by R. 
L. Ross et al, which was published in December, 1972 by the United States 
Army Electronics Command in Ft. Monmouth, N.J. 
A cup-shaped stator support or housing 52 includes a reduced-diameter 
sleeve 53 which is secured to the end wall 16 of casing 10 by means of 
bolts or screws 54. Mounted between the sleeve 53 of housing 52 and the 
distal end of high speed shaft 46 are bearings 56 for supporting rotation 
of shaft 46. 
Note that the flexspline 44 includes an apertured end wall 58 which is 
sandwiched between the sleeve 53 of housing 52 and the wall 16 of casing 
10 to retain the flexspline 44 stationarily within casing 10. 
Positioned on the inner cylindrical surface of stator support housing 52 is 
a multi-pole stator assembly 50 which, together with the samarium cobalt 
magnetic rotor 48, forms an alternator assembly. A pair of output leads 
(not illustrated) are also provided. 
In operation, since the circular spline 42 contains two more teeth than the 
flexspline 44, rotation of the former causes the latter to deform into an 
elliptical shape thereby engaging the wave generator through its major 
axis. A continuous torque application through low speed input shaft 22 
causes a shift of the major axis on the flexspline 44, such that for every 
two teeth engagement the wave generator 43, coupled to output shaft 46, 
completes one full turn. By way of example, if the circular spline 42 
contains 202 teeth, and the flexspline 44 contains 200 teeth, whenever the 
shaft 22 makes one complete revolution, the wave generator output shaft 46 
has gone through one hundred revolutions, achieving a 100:1 gear ratio. 
Clearly, the rotor 48 rotates at the same rotational speed as the output 
shaft 46 of the wave generator. Therefore, continuing the above example, 
if the input shaft 22 is turned via hand cranks 24, 28 and 26, 30, at 
sixty revolutions per minute, the rotor 48 of the alternator will be 
rotating at 6,000 r.p.m. 
As a result of the fact that samarium cobalt contains approximately four 
times the energy product of the best alnico magnets presently available, a 
multi-pole rotor 48 of approximately 1.5 inches in diameter can produce 
approximately 200 watts of electrical energy at a rotational speed of 
about 4,000 r.p.m. 
Physiological studies have indicated that an average person can steadily 
crank approximately 0.1 h.p., or about 75 watts. Accordingly, by using two 
men to crank the generator through a time-shared duty cycle, it is 
possible to generate 200 watts or more of electrical power. To achieve a 
time-shared duty cycle, individual handles 28 and 30 would be replaced by 
dual handles, one of each of which would be grasped by an individual. One 
person would crank at peak efficiency while the other rests, and then vice 
versa. 
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention 
are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, the present 
invention may be just as easily foot-operated as hand-operated. The 
present invention may be utilized to directly power a field radio or any 
similar equipment whose output is required for short time intervals. The 
invention may also be utilized to charge fast-charging batteries of the 
type which are able to quickly assimilate large quantities of energy 
without damage. 
Therefore, we wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited 
to the exact details of construction shown and described, for within the 
scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than 
as specifically described herein.