Releasable freewheel clutch

摘要

A releasable freewheel clutch includes a ring gear and a driven member disposed within a bore of the ring gear. A plurality of pawls are each pivotally attached to the driven member and rotatable between a first position where each pawl is engaged with teeth of the ring gear and a second position where each pawl is disengaged with the teeth of the ring gear. The pawls are selective movable between the engaged and disengaged positions by a ring-shaped blocking element that is rotatably supported for rotation about the axis of rotation and relative to the driven member.

主权项

1. A releasable freewheel clutch, comprising:
a ring gear having a bore and a plurality of teeth disposed along an interior circumference of said bore, said ring gear supported for rotation about an axis of rotation; a driven member disposed within said bore of said ring gear and rotatably supported for rotation about said axis of rotation; a plurality of pawls, each being received by said driven member for rotation in a generally radial direction relative to said axis of rotation; a plurality of biasing elements, each biasing a corresponding pawl along said radial direction in a direction outwardly from said axis of rotation; a ring-shaped blocking element rotatably supported for rotation about said axis of rotation and relative to said driven member; wherein rotating said ring-shaped blocking element in a first direction causes said pawls to rotate along said radial direction in a direction inwardly toward said axis of rotation and disengage from said teeth of said ring gear; and wherein said ring-shaped blocking element includes at least two circumferentially spaced control tabs extending inwardly from an inner diameter of said ring-shaped blocking element.