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US 10,591,037 B2Granted
Drive axle system having a planetary interaxle differential unit
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsDale Eschenburg, Brian D. Hayes, Robert J. Martin, Phillip Leicht, Pedro Garcia, Christopher Keeney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drive axle system having a planetary interaxle differential unit. A shift collar may be movable along an axis between a first position and a second position. The shift collar may operatively connect a sun gear to a drive pinion when in the first position. The shift collar may operatively connect the sun gear to a planet carrier when in a second position.
Claims20
A drive axle system having a drive axle assembly comprising:
- an input shaft that is rotatable about an axis;
- a drive pinion that is spaced apart from the input shaft;
- an output shaft that extends through the drive pinion;
- an interaxle differential unit configured to operatively connect the input shaft to the drive pinion and the output shaft, wherein the interaxle differential unit includes:
- a planet carrier that is rotatable about the axis with the input shaft;
- a planetary ring gear that is rotatable about the axis with the output shaft;
- a sun gear that is rotatably disposed on the drive pinion;
- and
- a planet gear that is rotatably disposed on the planet carrier and meshes with the planetary ring gear and the sun gear;
- and
- a shift collar that is moveable along the axis between a first position in which the shift collar operatively connects the sun gear to the drive pinion and a second position in which the shift collar operatively connects the sun gear to the planet carrier.
8 more elements
A drive axle system comprising:
- a first drive axle assembly that includes:
- a first differential that is coupled to an axle shaft;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about an axis and engages the first differential;
- an input shaft that is rotatable about the axis;
- an output shaft that is spaced apart from the input shaft and the drive pinion;
- an interaxle differential unit that is spaced apart from the drive pinion, wherein the interaxle differential unit includes:
- a planet carrier that is rotatable about the axis with the input shaft;
- a planetary ring gear that is coupled to the output shaft such that the output shaft is rotatable about the axis with the planetary ring gear;
- a sun gear that is rotatably disposed on the drive pinion;
- and
- a planet gear that is rotatably disposed on the planet carrier and meshes with the planetary ring gear and the sun gear;
- and
- a shift collar that is moveable along the axis between a first position in which torque is transmitted between the interaxle differential unit and the first differential and between the interaxle differential unit and the output shaft, and a second position in which the shift collar operatively connects the sun gear to the planet carrier and in which torque is not transmitted between the interaxle differential unit and the first differential.
10 more elements
A drive axle system comprising:
- a first drive axle assembly that includes:
- a first differential that is coupled to an axle shaft;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about an axis and engages the first differential;
- an input shaft that is rotatable about the axis;
- an output shaft that is spaced apart from the input shaft and the drive pinion;
- an interaxle differential unit that is spaced apart from the drive pinion, wherein the interaxle differential unit includes:
- a planet carrier that is rotatable about the axis with the input shaft;
- a planetary ring gear that is coupled to the output shaft such that the output shaft is rotatable about the axis with the planetary ring gear;
- a sun gear that is rotatably disposed on the drive pinion;
- and
- a planet gear that is rotatably disposed on the planet carrier and meshes with the planetary ring gear and the sun gear;
- and
- a shift collar that is moveable along the axis between a first position in which torque is transmitted between the interaxle differential unit and the first differential and between the interaxle differential unit the output shaft and a second position in which torque is not transmitted between the interaxle differential unit and the first differential,
- wherein the planet gear is rotatable about a planet gear axis, the planet carrier has a planet carrier hole that receives the sun gear and a set of planet carrier teeth that are disposed in the planet carrier hole and extend toward the axis, wherein the shift collar is spaced apart from the planet carrier teeth when the shift collar is disposed in the first position and the set of planet carrier teeth is disposed closer to the axis than the planet gear axis.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.