Shear wrench tool
A shear wrench tool including a motor; a transmission operatively connected to the motor; a first socket arranged to engage a tip of a bolt to be sheared; and a second socket arranged to engage a nut threaded on the bolt; wherein the first and second sockets are operatively connected to the transmission and rotate in opposite directions relative to each other when the motor provides a torque to the transmission; and wherein the motor can be driven in both forwards and reverse directions.
1 . A shear wrench tool comprising:
a motor operable to be driven in a forward direction and a reverse direction;
a transmission operatively connected to the motor;
a first socket arranged to engage a tip of a bolt to be sheared;
a second socket arranged to engage a nut threaded on the bolt; and
a user manipulatable portion operable to selectively cause the motor to operate in the forward direction or the reverse direction,
wherein the first socket and the second socket are operatively connected to the transmission and rotate in opposite directions relative to each other when the motor provides a torque to the transmission.
2 . The shear wrench tool of claim 1 , wherein a user can manually control the extent to which the first socket and the second socket rotate in a first direction relative to each other in use and the extent to which the first socket and the second socket rotate in a second direction relative to each other in use.
3 . The shear wrench tool of claim 1 , further comprising a controller for controlling the tool to implement pre-shear mode functionality whereby in use the motor rotates in the forward direction such that the first socket and the second socket tighten the bolt and nut on an object without shearing the tip of the bolt and the motor subsequently rotates a predetermined extent in the reverse direction for causing the first socket and the second socket to rotate in the opposite direction relative to each other.
4 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the controller causes the motor to reverse the rotational direction from the forward direction to the reverse direction when the controller determines the motor has rotated in the forward direction by a predetermined number of motor turns.
5 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to reverse the motor direction from the forward direction to the reverse direction when the controller determines that a user releases a trigger switch when the motor is operating in the pre-shear mode.
6 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein a torque sensor is configured to output information indicative of the output torque generated by the motor when the motor rotates in the forwards direction and the controller is configured to reverse the motor direction from the forward direction to the reverse direction based on the information generated by the torque sensor.
7 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to monitor the load of the motor, optionally the current consumed by the motor, and is configured to reverse the motor direction from the forward direction to the reverse direction based on the monitored load of the motor.
8 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the motor stops rotating in the reverse direction when the motor has rotated in the reverse direction a threshold number of motor turns.
9 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the motor stops rotating in the reverse direction when the first socket and the second socket have been rotated relative to each other by a predetermined rotational extent.
10 . The shear wrench tool of claim 9 , wherein the predetermined rotational extent ranges between 1 to 16 degrees.
11 . The shear wrench tool of claim 3 , wherein the tool can operate in either the pre-shear mode or a shear mode, wherein in the shear mode the motor rotates in the forward direction in use such that the first socket and the second socket tighten the nut and bolt and shear the tip of the bolt.
12 . The shear wrench tool of claim 11 , wherein the shear wrench tool comprises a mode selector input configured to enable a user to selectively cause the tool to operate in the pre-shear mode or the shear mode.
13 . The shear wrench tool of claim 1 , wherein the motor is a brushless DC motor.