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US 11,441,644 B2Granted
Axle assembly having a multi-speed transmission and a drop gear set
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsChetankumar Ghatti, Rodrigo Soffner, Christopher Keeney, Mark Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An axle assembly having a drop gear set and a countershaft transmission. The drop gear set may operatively connect a rotor of an electric motor to a countershaft. The countershaft transmission may operatively connect the countershaft to a drive pinion. The electric motor and the countershaft transmission may be positioned on opposite sides of a differential assembly.
Claims20
An axle assembly comprising:
- an electric motor having a rotor that is rotatable about a first axis;
- a countershaft that is rotatable about a countershaft axis;
- a drop gear set that operatively connects the rotor to the countershaft;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about a drive pinion axis, wherein the first axis is positioned between the countershaft axis and the drive pinion axis;
- a countershaft transmission that operatively connects the countershaft to the drive pinion, wherein the countershaft transmission includes a set of countershaft gears that receive the countershaft and a set of drive pinion gears that receive the drive pinion, the set of countershaft gears are fixedly coupled to the countershaft and include first, second, and third countershaft gear that are rotatable about the countershaft axis, the set of drive pinion gears are selectively couplable to the drive pinion and include first, second, and third gears that are rotatable about the drive pinion axis and through which the drive pinion extends, the first, second, and third countershaft gears mesh with the first, second, and third gears, respectively, the first, second, and third gears are selectively couplable to the drive pinion, and wherein a first gear ratio is provided when the first gear is coupled to the drive pinion, a second gear ratio that differs from the first gear ratio is provided when the second gear is coupled to the drive pinion, and a third gear ratio that differs from the first gear ratio and the second gear ratio is provided when the third gear is coupled to the drive pinion;
- and
- a differential assembly that is operatively connected to the drive pinion, wherein the electric motor and the countershaft transmission are positioned on opposite sides of the differential assembly.
4 more elements
An axle assembly comprising:
- an electric motor having a rotor that is rotatable about a first axis;
- a countershaft that is rotatable about a countershaft axis;
- a drop gear set that operatively connects the rotor to the countershaft;
- a drive pinion that is rotatable about a drive pinion axis, wherein the first axis is positioned between the countershaft axis and the drive pinion axis,
- a countershaft transmission that operatively connects the countershaft to the drive pinion, wherein the countershaft transmission includes a set of countershaft gears that receive the countershaft and a set of drive pinion gears that receive the drive pinion, at least one member of the set of countershaft gears is selectively couplable to the countershaft and at least one member of the set of drive pinion gears is selectively couplable to the drive pinion, the set of countershaft gears includes, first, second, and third countershaft gears that are rotatable about the countershaft axis and through which the countershaft extends, the set of drive pinion gears includes first, second, and third gears that are rotatable about the drive pinion axis, the first, second, and third countershaft gears mesh with the first, second, and third gears, respectively, the first and second countershaft gears are selectively couplable to the countershaft, a first gear ratio is provided when the first countershaft gear is coupled to the countershaft, a second gear ratio that differs from the first gear ratio is provided when the second countershaft gear is coupled to the countershaft, and a third gear ratio that differs from the first and second gear ratios is provided when the third gear is coupled to the pinion;
- and
- a differential assembly that is operatively connected to the drive pinion, wherein the electric motor and the countershaft transmission are positioned on opposite sides of the differential assembly.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.