Axle assembly
AssigneeVisteon Global Technologies, Inc.
InventorJyotsnamoy Chakraborty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An axle assembly is provided for transmitting power between a vehicle's drive shaft and the driven wheels of the vehicle. The axle assembly includes at least two crown wheels that are rotatably fixed together and at least two driven gears that are rotatably coupled to the drive shaft of the vehicle. The axle assembly also includes at least two driving gears coupled between the at least two driven gears and the at least two crown wheels, and a mechanism coupled to the drive shaft between the at least two driven gears for rotating each of the driven gears in a direction that is different from the rotation of the other driven gear. A method for varying the axle ratio of an axle assembly and a method for adjusting the backlash in an axle assembly are also provided.
Claims15
An axle assembly for transmitting power between a drive shaft and driven wheels of a vehicle, with first and second half shafts coupled to the driven wheels, said axle assembly comprising:
- at least two crown wheels fixed to one another for rotation together about an axle axis, said axle axis being defined by the half shafts of the driven wheels, said at least two crown wheels comprising a first crown wheel and a second crown wheel;
- at least two driven gears rotatably coupled to the drive shaft of the vehicle, said driven gears comprising a first driven gear and a second driven gear;
- at least two driving gears, each of which is rotatably coupled between one of the driven gears and one of the crown wheels, said driving gears for driving the rotation of the at least two crown wheels, said driving gears comprising a third driving gear and a fourth driving gear;
- and
- a mechanism coupled to the drive shaft between the first and second driven gears for rotating the first driven gear in a direction opposite to the rotation of the second driven gear, wherein the mechanism comprises:
- a drive shaft gear positioned on the drive shaft;
- and
- an idler gear, wherein one of the driven gears is rotatably coupled directly to the drive shaft gear and the idler gear is coupled between the drive shaft gear and the other driven gear.
An axle assembly for transmitting power between a drive shaft and driven wheels of a vehicle, with first and second half shafts coupled to the driven wheels, said axle assembly comprising:
- a drive shaft gear positioned on the drive shaft;
- a driven gear set rotatably coupled to the drive shaft gear comprising at least two driven gears and an idler gear, wherein the drive shaft gear is positioned between the two driven gears and the idler gear is positioned between the drive shaft gear and one of the driven gears, said idler gear for changing the direction of rotation of one of the driven gears so that the at least two driven gears rotate in different directions;
- a driving gear set comprising at least two driving gears, with each driving gear being associated with at least one of the driven gears;
- and
- a crown wheel gear set comprising at least two crown wheel gears that are rotatably fixed to one another, with each of the crown wheel gears being coupled to one of the driving gears;
- wherein the drive shaft gear rotates the driven gear set, which rotates the driving gear set, which rotates the crown wheel gear set, which rotates the first and second half shafts to drive the driven wheels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.