Lubricant supported electric motor assembly for compact, power dense wheel-end applications

A lubricant supported electric motor assembly comprising:

• an electric motor module including a stator and a rotor rotatably disposed within said stator to define a first gap therebetween;
• a lubricant disposed in said first gap for supporting said rotor relative to said stator;
• said rotor extending along an axis A between a first rotor end and a second rotor end to present an inner rotor surface defining an internal rotor cavity;
• a shifting and first stage module disposed within said internal rotor cavity and including a first planetary gear reducer assembly having a first sun gear operably connected with said rotor for simultaneous rotation therewith;
• said first planetary gear assembly including a plurality of first planet gears arranged radially outward of and operably connected to said first sun gear and a first ring gear arranged concentrically around and operably connected to said first planet gears for rotation about said axis A in response to rotation of said first sun gear;
• said shifting and first stage module including an output gear rotatably aligned on the axis A and selectively couplable to said first planetary gear reducer assembly for selective rotation therewith;
• a final drive module disposed adjacent said shifting and first stage module and including a second planetary gear reducer assembly operably coupled with said output gear for rotation therewith;
• and
• said shifting and first stage module including a low speed slider clutch and a high speed slider clutch both rotatable simultaneously with said output gear and each independently actuatable to axially slide the actuated low or high speed slider clutch relative to said output gear as well as the other non-actuated one of said low or high speed slider clutch from a neutral position wherein said low or high speed slider clutch is disposed in spaced and non-engaged relationship with said first planteary gear reducer assembly to an engaged position wherein the actuated low or high speed slider clutch is moved axially towards and into selectively coupled relationship with said first planetary gear assembly to establish said selective coupling between said first planetary gear assembly and said output gear;
• wherein said low speed slider clutch is disposed in selectively coupled relationship with said first ring gear in said respective engaged position to establish simultaneous rotation of said output gear with said first ring gear and a low gear arrangement for the lubricant supported electric motor assembly;
• and
• wherein said high speed slider clutch is disposed in selectively coupled relationship with said sun gear in said respective engaged position to establish simultaneous rotation of said output gear with said sun gear and a high gear arrangement for the lubricant supported electric motor assembly.