| 摘要 |
<p>A drive shaft assembly is provided for allowing rotation of a drive shaft in a single direction. The drive shaft assembly includes a housing, a drive shaft and an overrunning clutch. The overruning clutch includes an inner race having an outer annular contact surface and an outer race having an inner annular contact surface spaced radially from the inner race. The inner annular contact surface and the outer annular contact surface form an annular space therebetween. Provided within this annular space are a plurality of sprags which allow the inner race to rotate in a first direction relative to the outer race while preventing the inner race from rotating in a second direction to the outer race. A drive housing is secured to the outer race and a drive shaft is secured to the inner race so that when rotational force is provided to the drive shaft in the first direction, the drive shaft rotates, but when force is applied to rotate the drive shaft in the reverse direction, the torsional forces on the drive shaft are transferred through the overrunning clutch to the housing thereby preventing rotation of the drive shaft in the second direction. In the preferred embodiment, the drive shaft is coupled to a piston assembly which transfers linear actuation of the piston to rotational movement of the drive shaft.</p> |
