Hydraulic shift transfer case with band brake and bi-directional clutch

A transfer case comprising:

• an input shaft;
• first and second output shafts;
• a planetary gearset having a sun gear driven by said input shaft, an annulus gear, and a set of pinion gears rotatably supported from a carrier and meshed with said annulus gear and said sun gear;
• a torque transfer mechanism driven by said carrier and interconnecting said first output shaft to said second output shaft;
• a first bi-directional clutch operably disposed between said annulus gear and a stationary member, said first bi-directional clutch including a first ring splined for sliding movement on said stationary member between a first position and a second position and having a first tapered surface, a second ring supported by said annulus gear and having a second tapered surface oriented to frictionally engage said first tapered surface of said first ring in response to movement of said first ring from its first position toward its second position, a return spring for normally biasing said first ring toward its first position, and load transfer members disposed between said second ring and said annulus gear for braking rotation of said annulus gear in response to movement of said first ring to its second position;
• a second bi-directional clutch operably disposed between said input shaft and said carrier, said second bi-directional clutch including a first ring splined for sliding movement on said input shaft between a first position and a second position and having a first tapered surface, a second ring supported by said carrier and having a second tapered surface oriented to frictionally engage said first tapered surface of said first ring in response to movement of said first ring from its first position toward its second position, a return spring for normally biasing said first ring toward its first position, and load transferring members disposed between said second ring and said carrier for coupling said carrier to said input shaft in response to movement of said first ring to its second position;
• and
• a clutch actuation mechanism for controlling coordinated actuation of said first and second bi-directional clutches.

A transfer case comprising:

• an input shaft;
• first and second output shafts;
• a planetary gearset having a sun gear driven by said input shaft, an annulus gear, and a set of pinion gears rotatably supported from a carrier and meshed with said annulus gear and said sun gear;
• a torque transfer mechanism driven by said carrier and interconnecting said first output shaft to said second output shaft;
• a brake mechanism operably disposed between said annulus gear and a stationary member, said brake mechanism normally operable in a released mode to permit rotation of said annulus gear and which can be selectively shifted into a locked mode to prevent rotation of said annulus gear;
• a bi-directional clutch operably disposed between said input shaft and said carrier, said bi-directional clutch normally operable in a locked mode to couple said carrier for rotation with said input shaft and which can be selectively shifted into a released mode for permitting said carrier to rotate relative to said carrier to said input shaft;
• and
• an actuation mechanism for controlling coordinated actuation of said brake mechanism and said bi-directional clutch.