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US 11,111,998 B1Granted
Axle assembly having a variable lubricant restrictor
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorAndrew Bodary
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An axle assembly having a variable lubricant restrictor. The variable lubricant restrictor may be mounted to a differential carrier. Lubricant that is splashed by the differential assembly may move the variable lubricant restrictor from a first position to a second position to reduce lubricant flow through a divider wall opening.
Claims20
An axle assembly comprising:
- an axle housing;
- a differential carrier that is mounted to the axle housing such that the differential carrier and the axle housing cooperate to at least partially define a cavity that has a sump portion that receives lubricant, wherein the differential carrier supports a drive pinion that is rotatable about a drive pinion axis and includes a divider wall that at least partially defines a divider wall opening;
- a differential assembly that is received in the cavity and is rotatable about an axis;
- and
- a variable lubricant restrictor that is mounted to the divider wall proximate the divider wall opening, wherein lubricant that is splashed by the differential assembly moves the variable lubricant restrictor from a first position to a second position to reduce lubricant flow through the variable lubricant restrictor.
2 more elements
An axle assembly comprising:
- an axle housing;
- a differential carrier that is mounted to the axle housing such that the differential carrier and the axle housing cooperate to at least partially define a cavity that has a sump portion that receives lubricant, wherein the differential carrier supports a drive pinion that is rotatable about a drive pinion axis and includes a divider wall that defines a divider wall opening;
- a differential assembly that is received in the cavity, supported by the differential carrier, and is rotatable about an axis;
- and
- a variable lubricant restrictor that is mounted to the divider wall proximate the divider wall opening, wherein the variable lubricant restrictor has a flap that is extendible toward the differential assembly and lubricant that is splashed by the differential assembly moves the flap toward the divider wall to reduce lubricant flow through the divider wall opening.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.