Clutch with synchronisation detection

摘要

A clutch for the phase-synchronous coupling of rotating machine elements, of e.g. a printing machine comprises two driven machine elements (2, 4) having coding elements (12, 13) which rotate in associated with and preferably adjacent to one another, with codings which change respectively in relation to a sensor (23) of fixed position, dependent on angular position. The sensor (23) registers information from the codings and, feeds this to a control unit (27) which on synchronisation of the elements (12, 13) causes facing teeth (10, 11) to be engaged electromagnetically. The codings may comprise holes (Fig 2) or peripheral cut-outs (Fig 3) of differing sizes and the sensor may operate using transmitted or reflected light or by induction.