TENSION MANAGEMENT APPARATUS FOR CABLE-DRIVEN TRANSMISSION
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Slack-compensating pulleys, transmission systems including slack-compensating pulleys, and methods of operating these. In general, slack-compensating pulleys include a pulley body onto which a cable can wind, and one or more (e.g., two) slack take-up surfaces that rotate with the pulley body that are configured to remove slack form an outgoing length of cable by increasing the cable path length and wrap angle. In particular, described herein are minimal access tools having slack-compensating transmissions.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1-17. -17. (canceled)
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18. A slack-compensating pulley apparatus for a cable transmission system, the slack-compensating pulley apparatus comprising:
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a pulley body; a cable track along a surface of the pulley body on which a cable may wrap with a wrap angle; a support extending from the pulley body; and a slack take-up surface on the support, wherein the slack take-up surface is positioned radially outside of the surface of the pulley body so that a length of cable may extend between the pulley body and the slack take-up surface, wherein the support and slack take-up surface rotate with the pulley body to remove slack in the cable when the pulley body is rotated in a first direction by increasing the wrap angle of the cable on the pulley body. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A slack-compensating pulley apparatus for a transmission system, the slack-compensating pulley apparatus comprising:
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a pulley body; a cable track along a surface of the pulley body on which a cable may wrap; a support comprising a plate extending from the pulley body parallel to and offset from a plane through the cable track; and a protrusion comprising a slack take-up surface, the protrusion extending from the support, wherein the slack take-up surface is positioned radially outside of the surface of the pulley body so that a length of cable may extend between the pulley body and the slack take-up surface, wherein the support and the slack take-up surface rotate with the pulley body to remove slack in the cable when the pulley body is rotated in a first direction by lengthening a path taken by the cable. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A slack-compensating pulley apparatus for a transmission system, the slack-compensating pulley apparatus comprising:
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a pulley body having an axis of rotation; a cable wrapped around an outer surface of the pulley body at a wrap angle and having a first cable length extending in a first cable path that is tangent to the outer surface of the pulley body on a first side of the pulley body; a support extending from the pulley body; and a slack take-up surface on the support, wherein the slack take-up surface rotates with the pulley body so that when the pulley body is rotated about the axis of rotation in a first direction, the slack take-up surface is driven against the first cable length and deflects the first cable length from the first cable path into a longer path, increasing the wrap angle on the pulley body and removing slack, and when the pulley body is rotated in the axis of rotation in a second direction, the slack take-up surface is withdrawn away from the first cable length so that the first cable length travels in a shorter cable path reducing the wrap angle on the pulley body. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45-55. -55. (canceled)
Specification