Patent ID: 8579096

Claim:
A switchable freewheel device for a crank-CVT of a motor vehicle, said device comprising: a free wheel unit that includes a drivable outer ring, an inner ring in the form of an output shaft, and clamping bodies rotatably disposed about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, wherein the clamping bodies include a first groove and a second groove spaced from each other in the axial direction of the shaft and offset relative to each other in a circumferential direction of the clamping body and overlapping each other, a pretensioned annular worm spring surrounding respective individual ones of the clamping bodies and displaceable in the axial direction of the clamping bodies from the respective grooves by a switching mechanism such that the spring engages either in the first groove or in the second groove, whereby the clamping body rotates such that a radial force applied to the clamping body by the worm spring acts on a side of the longitudinal axis for generating a set-up moment relative to the longitudinal axis of the clamping body, wherein the clamping bodies are cylindrical rolling elements with a cross-section in the direction of each groove with a comparatively large diameter such that when the worm spring is located in the first or second groove, the second or first groove is oriented in the one or other direction so that a clamping force can act between the outer ring and the output shaft.