Motor-driven wheel driving apparatus

Abstract

A motor-driven wheel driving apparatus has a wheel bearing, a planetary reduction gear, a driving section with an electric motor to drive the planetary reduction gear, and a rotation member. The wheel bearing includes a wheel hub formed with a wheel mounting flange on one end. An inner ring is press-fit onto a cylindrical portion of the wheel hub. The inner ring is formed with at least one double row inner raceway surfaces on its outer circumferential surface. An outer member is formed with double row outer raceway surfaces on its inner circumferential surface opposite to the inner raceway surfaces. Double row rolling elements are rollably arranged between the inner and outer raceway surfaces. The planetary reduction gear includes an input element mounted on the rotation member, a stationary element mounted on the inner circumferential surface of the outer member, a plurality of planetary elements arranged between the stationary element and the input element, and an output element to rotatably support the planetary elements relative to a connecting shaft. The driving section forming the electric motor has a stator housing mounted on the outer member, a stator portion contained within the stator housing, and a rotor portion secured on the rotation member arranged opposite to the stator portion via a predetermined air gap. The connecting shaft is removably and torque-transmittably connected to the wheel hub. The connecting shaft is adapted to drive the wheel by transmitting the rotation of the electric motor to the wheel hub via the planetary reduction gear.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.