Looking for a gear similar to bicycle freewheel

Question

I have an engineering application where I would like to use a single 24v DC Stepping Motor to power two different axles of opposing direction. Basically when the motor turns clockwise, Axel A will spin and Axel B will be stationary. When the motor turns counter-clockwise, Axel A will be stationary and Axel B will spin.

I need it to be as cheap and simple as possible. So far, the best solution that I could come up with to accomplish this is by using two gears similar to the bicycle Freewheel / Freehub. The problem is, I cannot for the life of me find a gear that is similar to that application, but for uses outside of bicycles (possibly because I don't know that specific gear's name). Can anyone recommend a gear or something that is similar to the application that I need?

I have a general idea of the function that I need, but I don't know the name of this type of ratcheting gear.

Answer 1

You can get one way bearings which rotate freely on one direction and lock in the other.

So if you use one to attach a gear or pulley to your motor output shaft then the pulley will be coupled to the shaft in one direction and not in the other so with two mounted in opposite orientation each with a pulley driving a separate shaft (A and B) you should be able to achieve what you want.

Answer 2

The type of clutch is called "freewheel"

Though if the forces and speeds aren't too big, you can use a psuedo-planetary gear configuration without the ring gear.

When the sun spins in one direction the planet gear will move along until it hits the output gear for the first shaft and will mesh with it.

When the sun then spins in the other direction the planet will move away from the first shaft and move to the other.

This has the downside that it requires meshing the gears as you change directions which may cause extra wear and tear.