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US 11,207,976 B2Granted
Axle assembly having a multi-speed countershaft transmission
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsChetankumar Ghatti, Rodrigo Soffner, Christopher Keeney, Mark Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An axle assembly having a countershaft transmission. The countershaft transmission may operatively connect an electric motor to a drive pinion. The countershaft transmission may have a first countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a first countershaft axis and a second countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a second countershaft axis.
Claims20
An axle assembly comprising:
- an electric motor;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about a first axis;
- and
- a countershaft transmission that operatively connects the electric motor to the drive pinion, the countershaft transmission having a first countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a first countershaft axis and a second countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a second countershaft axis, wherein the first countershaft subassembly includes first, second, and third countershaft gears that are fixedly mounted to a first countershaft and the second countershaft subassembly includes first, second, and third countershaft gears that are fixedly mounted to a second countershaft;
- and
- a set of drive pinion gears that include first, second, and third gears that receive the drive pinion, wherein the first, second, and third gears mesh with the first, second, and third countershaft gears of the first countershafts subassembly respectively, and mesh with the first, second, and third countershaft gears of the second countershaft subassembly, respectively;
- a first clutch that selectively couples the first gear to the drive pinion;
- and
- a second clutch that selectively couples the third gear to the drive pinion, wherein torque is not transmitted between the electric motor and the drive pinion when the first clutch is in a neutral position in which the first gear is rotatable about the first axis with respect to the drive pinion and the second clutch is in a neutral position in which the second gear and the third gear are rotatable about the first axis with respect to the drive pinion.
6 more elements
An axle assembly comprising:
- an electric motor;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about a first axis;
- and
- a countershaft transmission that operatively connects the electric motor to the drive pinion, the countershaft transmission having a first countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a first countershaft axis and a second countershaft subassembly that is rotatable about a second countershaft axis, wherein the first countershaft subassembly includes first, second, and third countershaft gears that are fixedly mounted to a first countershaft and the second countershaft subassembly includes first, second, and third countershaft gears that are fixedly mounted to a second countershaft;
- a set of drive pinion gears that include first, second, and third gears that receive the drive pinion, wherein the first, second, and third gears mesh with the first, second, and third countershaft gears of the first countershaft subassembly, respectively, and mesh with the first, second, and third countershaft gears of the second countershaft subassembly, respectively;
- a first clutch that selectively couples the first gear to the drive pinion;
- and
- a second clutch that selectively couples the third gear to the drive pinion, wherein torque is transmitted between the electric motor and the drive pinion via the third gear when the first clutch does not couple the first gear to the drive pinion and the second clutch couples the third gear to the drive pinion such that the third gear rotates about the first axis with the drive pinion, wherein a first actuator actuates the first clutch along the first axis and a second actuator actuates the second clutch along the first axis.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.