| US 7,484,436 B2 | ||
| Wave gear device | ||
| Yoshihide Kiyosawa, Nagano (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Harmonic Drive Systems, Inc., Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Appl. No. 10/587,004 PCT Filed Apr. 15, 2004, PCT No. PCT/JP2004/005426 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Jul. 20, 2006, PCT Pub. No. WO2005/100818, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 27, 2005. |
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| Prior Publication US 2007/0157760 A1, Jul. 12, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. F16H 35/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 74—640 [475/162; 184/6.12] | 12 Claims |
| 1. A wave gear device, comprising:
an annular rigid internal gear;
an annular flexible external gear disposed inside the rigid internal gear;
a wave generator for flexing the flexible external gear in a radial direction to cause partial meshing with the rigid internal
gear, and causing meshing location of the two gears to rotate in a circumferential direction; and
a bearing mechanism for holding the flexible external gear and the wave generator while allowing the flexible external gear
and the generator to rotate relative to each other, wherein
the bearing mechanism reversibly switches between a rolling bearing state produced by rolling elements, and a sliding bearing
state produced by an oil film or another fluid lubrication film, in accordance with a rotational speed of the wave generator.
|