Work vehicle with electric transaxle and transfer shaft
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsCaleb C. Lenon, Randall L. Long
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A work vehicle has a two transaxles with wheel end units rotatable about wheel axes via transaxle gear sets to rotate ground-engaging wheels or tracks. One of the transaxles includes an electric machine having a shaft rotating about a machine axis, a transmission rotated by the electric machine shaft and configured to effect multiple gear ratios at a range gear, and a drive gear rotatable about one of the wheel axes by the range gear of the transmission. A transfer shaft has an end coupled to an input arrangement that engages one of the transaxle gear sets and has another end coupled to an output gear that engages the drive gear to transfer power from the one transaxle to the other transaxle via the transfer shaft.
Claims18
A work vehicle having a chassis supported off the ground by ground-engaging wheels or tracks, the work vehicle comprising:
- a first transaxle carried by the chassis and having first wheel end units rotatable about a first wheel axis via a first transaxle gear set to rotate a first set of the ground-engaging wheels or tracks;
- a second transaxle carried by the chassis and having second wheel end units rotatable about a second wheel axis via a second transaxle gear set to rotate a second set of the ground-engaging wheels or tracks, the second transaxle including:
- an electric machine having a shaft rotating about a machine axis;
- a transmission rotated by the electric machine shaft and configured to effect multiple gear ratios at a range gear, the transmission having a first gear set disposed at a first side of the machine axis and a second gear set disposed at a second side of the machine axis;
- and
- a drive gear rotatable about the second wheel axis by the range gear of the transmission;
- and
- a transfer shaft having a first end coupled to an input arrangement that engages the first transaxle gear set and having a second end coupled to an output gear that engages the drive gear to transfer power from the second transaxle to the first transaxle via the transfer shaft.
A work vehicle having a chassis supported off the ground by ground-engaging wheels or tracks, the work vehicle comprising:
- a first transaxle carried by the chassis and having first wheel end units rotatable about a first wheel axis via a first transaxle gear set to rotate a first set of the ground-engaging wheels or tracks;
- a second transaxle carried by the chassis and having second wheel end units rotatable about a second wheel axis via a second transaxle gear set to rotate a second set of the ground-engaging wheels or tracks, the second transaxle including:
- an electric machine having a shaft rotating about a machine axis;
- a transmission rotated by the electric machine shaft and configured to effect multiple gear ratios at a range gear, the transmission having a first gear set disposed at a first side of the machine axis and a second gear set disposed at a second side of the machine axis;
- and
- a drive gear rotatable about the second wheel axis by the range gear of the transmission;
- and
- a transfer shaft having a first end coupled to an input arrangement that engages the first transaxle gear set and having a second end coupled to an output gear that engages the drive gear to transfer power from the second transaxle to the first transaxle via the transfer shaft;
- wherein the first transaxle is mechanical only without a dedicated electric machine and without a dedicated transmission;
- and
- wherein the work vehicle has no transmission assembly other than the transmission of the second transaxle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.