US 12,454,966 B2
Hydraulic rotary gearless actuator
Stephen Harlow Davies, Shrewsbury (GB); Piotr Józef Zając, Wroclaw (PL); and Paweł Gajecki, Cracow (PL)
Assigned to GOODRICH ACTUATION SYSTEMS LIMITED, Solihull (GB)
Filed by Goodrich Actuation Systems Limited, Solihull (GB)
Filed on Sep. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/471,857.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/516,043, filed on Jul. 27, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2025/0035134 A1, Jan. 30, 2025
Int. Cl. F15B 15/06 (2006.01); F16H 25/18 (2006.01)
CPC F15B 15/06 (2013.01) [F16H 25/186 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A hydraulic rotary gearless actuator, comprising:
an input stage comprising a piston linearly translatable within an input cylinder; and
an output stage comprising:
a first output cylinder defining first tracks;
second output cylinder defining second tracks; and
a trunnion assembly connected to the piston and comprising first and second rollers engageable with the first tracks and with the second tracks, respectively,
the output stage being configured to convert linear translation of the piston into rotation of the first output cylinder relative to the second output cylinder by the trunnion assembly being driven linearly by the linear translation of the piston and the first and second rollers engaging with the first tracks and with the second tracks, respectively,
wherein:
each of the first tracks is a two-stroke helical track and each of the second tracks is an axial track with first and second ends opposing one another, and
each of the two-stroke helical tracks begins and terminates at the first and second ends of a corresponding one of the second tracks and comprises:
a first track section, which is straight and angled away from the first end of the corresponding one of the second tracks such that, when the first and second rollers engage with the first track section and the second track, respectively, due to the linear translation of the piston in one direction, the first output cylinder rotates in a first direction relative to the second output cylinder;
a second track section, which is straight and angled toward the second end of the corresponding one of the second tracks such that, when the first and second rollers engage with the second track section and the second track, respectively, due to the linear translation of the piston in the one direction, the first output cylinder rotates in a second direction opposite the first direction relative to the second output cylinder; and
an angular section at which the first and second track sections intersect.