Mecanum wheel

A Mecanum wheel made by
FRC Personnel 2865, Roboteknix

A wheelchair the utilization of Mecanum wheels

URANUS omni-directional cell robot

Container loader with a immense quantity of powered mecanum wheels for shifting and rotation of containers.

The Mecanum wheel is a construct for a wheel which will switch a automobile in any path. It is frequently called the Ilon wheel after its inventor, Bengt Erland Ilon,^[1] who came up with the principle when he was an engineer with the Swedish company Mecanum AB. The US-Patent was filed on the thirteen November 1972.^[2]

It is a extinct wheel with a series of rollers connected to its circumference. These rollers on the total every salvage an axis of rotation at forty five° to the airplane of the wheel and at forty five° to a line by method of the centre of the curler parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheel.^[3] A long-established configuration is the four-wheeled one in all the URANUS omni-directional cell robot^[4] (pictured) or a wheel chair with Mecanum wheels^[5] (identical to that pictured). By alternating wheels with left and proper-handed rollers, in this kind of approach that every wheel applies power roughly at correct angles to the wheelbase diagonal the wheel is on, the auto is real and must even be made to switch in any path and flip by utterly different the payment and path of rotation of every and each wheel. Transferring all four wheels within the identical path causes forward or backward motion, working the wheels on one side within the replacement path to those on the opposite side causes rotation of the auto, and working the wheels on one diagonal within the replacement path to those on the opposite diagonal causes sideways motion. Combinations of those wheel motions enable for automobile motion in any path with any automobile rotation (including no rotation in any admire).

The US Navy sold the patent from Ilon and put researchers to work on it within the Eighties in Panama Metropolis. The US Navy has aged it for transporting objects spherical ships. In 1997, Airtrax Incorporated and several other other companies every paid the US Navy $2,500 for rights to the know-how, including historical drawings of how the motors and controllers worked, to web an omnidirectional forklift truck that might per chance well maneuver in tight spaces corresponding to the deck of an aircraft carrier. These autos at the 2nd are in production.

Tracked autos and skid steer autos utilize identical methods for turning. On the opposite hand, these autos on the total coast across the ground whereas turning and must attain substantial injury to a refined or fragile surface. The high friction against the ground whereas turning furthermore requires high-torque engines to conquer the friction. By comparability, the construct of the Mecanum wheel permits for in-plan rotation with minimal ground friction and low torque.

Behold furthermore[edit]

References[edit]

Exterior links[edit]