Trumpet arm with internal buttresses
AssigneeDana Heavy Vehicle Systems Group, LLC
InventorWilliam F. Waltz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described herein is a trumpet arm for use in an electric drive axle. In one embodiment, the trumpet arm comprises a housing with an arm section extending an arm length, the arm section having an outlet at a first end, and a flange with a planar face at a second end opposite the first end. The trumpet arm further comprises internal buttresses positioned in an interior of the housing and extending through at least a first portion of a flange length of the flange, a flange/arm transition at which the flange transitions into the arm section, and at least a portion of the arm length.
Claims18
A trumpet arm for an axle, comprising:
- a housing with an arm section extending an arm length, the arm section having an outlet at a first end, and a flange with a planar face at a second end opposite the first end;
- and internal buttresses positioned in an interior of the housing and extending through at least a first portion of a flange length of the flange, a flange/arm transition at which the flange transitions into the arm section, and at least a portion of the arm length, wherein the housing and the internal buttresses are formed as various cast, stamped, or machined components fixtured and assembled as a weldment.
An e-axle, comprising:
- an electric machine;
- a first trumpet arm;
- a second trumpet arm, wherein the first trumpet arm and the second trumpet arm each comprise a housing with an arm section extending an arm length, a flange with a planar face at a first end of the arm length, and internal buttresses positioned in an interior of the housing, where the first trumpet arm and the second trumpet arm are each configured to couple to the electric machine via their respective flange;
- and
- one or more locating dowels which extend from the flange of each of the first trumpet arm and the second trumpet arm to the electric machine, and/or one or more pilot diameters which extend into the flange of each of the first trumpet arm and the second trumpet arm and are configured to receive one or more connectors of the electric machine.
An axle housing, comprising:
- an arm section extending an arm length;
- a flange extending a flange length and having a planar face at a first end of the flange length, the flange coupled to the arm section at a flange/arm transition;
- internal buttresses positioned in an interior of the flange and the arm section, the internal buttresses extending at least a portion of the arm length of the arm section and at least a first portion of the flange length;
- external buttresses positioned on an exterior of the flange, the external buttresses extending at least a second portion of the flange length;
- a pair of first pivot points at the planar face of the flange;
- and
- a pair of second pivot points at the flange/arm transition, wherein:
- the pair of first pivot points and the pair of second pivot points are both rigid when the arm section experiences deflection in a first, downward direction due to, in a top half of the axle housing, the internal buttresses being in compression and the external buttresses being in tension, and in a bottom half of the axle housing the internal buttresses being in tension and the external buttresses being in compression;
- and
- the pair of first pivot points and the pair of second pivot points are both rigid when the arm section experiences deflection in a second, upward direction due to, in the top half of the axle housing, the internal buttresses being in tension and the external buttresses being in compression and in the bottom half of the axle housing, the internal buttresses being in compression and the external buttresses being in tension.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.