Arrangement for driving two output shafts

Claim 2

A drive arrangement, comprising, in combination, a drive motor; first and second output shafts; first and second clutch means each operative when activated for establishing torquetransmitting engagement between said motor and a respective one of said first and second output shafts; first and second braking means for braking the rotary motion of respective ones of said output shafts; and negative-feedback control means operative when activated for maintaining the ratio of the rotary speeds of said first and second output shafts at a preselected desired value by alternately activating and deactivating at least one of said clutch means and at least one of said braking means in dependence upon the discrepancy between the actual value of said ratio and said desired value thereof.

Claim 3

A drive arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means further includes means for varying said desired value.

Claim 4

A drive arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means further includes means operative when activated for maintaining the rotary speed of each of said shafts at a respective preselected desired value independent of the rotary speed of the other of said shafts by activating and deactivating said first and second clutch means in dependence upon the discrepancy between the actual rotary speeds of said shafts and the desired values thereof.

Claim 5

A drive arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means further includes means for substantially continuously varying said desired value.

Claim 6

A drive arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said motor has an uninterruptedly rotating rotor, wherein said first and second clutch means are both friction clutch means each operative when activated for establishing torque-transmitting engagement between said uninterruptedly rotating rotor and a respective one of said output shafts.

Claim 7

A drive arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means further includes means for continuously varying said desired value, means for maintaining the rotary speed of said shafts at predetermined desired values by activating and deactivating said first and second clutch means in dependence upon the discrepancy between the actual rotary speeds of said shaft and the desired values thereof, and means for substantially continuously varying the desired values of the rotary speeds of said shaft.

Claim 8

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said motor has two axial ends, and wherein each of said first and second clutch means is provided at a respective one of said two axial ends.

Claim 9

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said motor and said first and second clutch means are provided with a common housing, so as to form a single unit.

Claim 10

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said motor has a rotor shaft having two axial ends at opposite axial ends of said motor, and wherein said first and second clutch means are operative when activated for establishing torque-transmitting engagement between a respective one of said output shafts and a respective one of the axial ends of said rotor shaft.

Claim 11

An arrangement as defined in claim 9, wherein said rotor shaft is provided at each axial end thereof with a driven plate mounted non-rotatable relative to the rotor shaft for driving a respective one of said output shafts when the respective one of said first and second clutch means is engaged.

Claim 12

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means comprises means automatically operative when the actual value of said ratio exceeds the desired value of said ratio for activating one of said clutch means and deactivating the other of said clutch means, and automatically operative when the actual value of said ratio falls below the desired value of said ratio for activating said other one of said clutch means and deactivating said one of said clutch means.

Claim 13

An arrangement as defined in claim 10, wherein said motor is further provided with fan means mounted on said rotor shaft non-rotatable relative to said rotor shaft for cooling said motor during operation of the latter.

Claim 14

An arrangement as defined in claim 10, wherein said driven plates are each configurated at the axial sides thereof facing each other as fans for cooling said motor during operation of the latter.

Claim 15

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said control means is comprised of first and second actual-value-indicating means for generating respective first and second signals indicative of actual rotary speed and first and second potentiometers connected across the outputs of said actual-value-indicating means for transmitting the respective first and second signals to error-correcting control circuitry in said control means, said desired value of said ratio being substantially continuously adjustable by varying the settings of at least one of said potentiometers.

Claim 16

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second clutch means are each provided with a respective control input, and wherein each of said control means is operative for establishing engagment between the respective one of said output shafts and said motor when the signal applied to the control input thereof is of one polarity and of predetermined magnitude and operative for establishing braking engagement between the respective one of said output shafts and the respective one of said braking means when the signal applied to the control input thereof is of the opposite polarity and of predetermined magnitude, and wherein said control means comprises means for generating a control signal having a magnitude and polarity corresponding to the difference between first and second quantities, the first quantity being the product of the rotary speed of said first shaft and a predetermined first factor, and the second quantity being the product of the rotary speed of said second shaft and a predetermined second factor, and means for applying said control signal to one of said control inputs with inverted polarity and to the other of said control inputs with non-inverted polarity, whereby when a discrepancy arises between the desired and actual values of said ratio one of said output shafts is brought into braking engagement with the respective brake means to slow it down while the other output shaft is brought into torque-receiving engagement with said motor to speed it up.

Claim 17

An arrangement as defined in claim 15, wherein said control means includes means for adjusting the value of at least one of said first and second factors.

Claim 18

An arrangement as defined in claim 15, wherein said control means further includes means for adjusting the values of said first and second factors independently of each other.

Claim 19

An arrangement as defined in claim 15, wherein said means for generating a control signal comprises means for generating a first signal having a magnitude corresponding to said first quantity and a second signal having a magnitude corresponding to said second quantity, a summing amplifier having a first input connected to receive said first signal directly and also having a second input, an inverter having an input connected to receive said second signal directly and having an output connected to said second input of said summing amplifier.

Claim 20

An arrangement as defined in claim 18, wherein said summing amplifier has a feedback network whose transfer function has an integral and/or a first derivative character.

Claim 21

An arrangement as defined in claim 19, wherein said means for applying said control signal to one of said control inputs with inverted polarity comprises an inverter having an input connected to the output of said summing amplifier and having an output connected to said one of said control inputs.

Claim 22

An arrangement as defined in claim 15, wherein the signals applied to said control inputs of said clutch means have such polarity that when the actual value of said ratio departs from said desired value the shaft having the higher rotary speed is braked and the shaft having the lower rotary speed is accelerated.

Claim 23

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said clutch means exhibits a certain time delay between the time of activation thereof and the establishing of torque-transmitting engagement, and wherein said control means further includes desired speed varying means for varying the value of the desired rotary speed of said shafts, and time delay means operative for delaying the effect of changes in the value of the desired rotary speed by a time interval greater than said time delay.

Claim 24

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, and further including a plurality of logic gates interconnected to form means for causing said control means to become activated and deactivated.

Claim 25

An arrangement as defined in claim 1, said arrangement further including first and second shaft selecting means activatable for effecting rotation of only a single respective one of said shafts at a predetermined negative-feedback-stabilized speed, and a plurality of logic gates interconnected to form means for activating and deactivating said control means and said first and said second shaft selecting means.