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US 7,364,528 B2Granted
Inverted portal axle configuration for a low floor vehicle
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsLawrence D. Brill, Corrado A. Conti, Brian D. Hayes, Steven E. Hunter, Fabio Maineri, Tomaz Dopico Varela
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An axle system includes an axle shaft offset located within an axle center beam housing. The axle shaft is located in a recess in a top wall of the axle center beam shaped with slopes to maximize clearance to the bottom of the vehicle floor panels. The pneumatic brake cylinders define a cylinder axis angled within an angular range from a generally vertical orientation for enhanced packaging.
Claims19
An inverted portal axle assembly comprising:
- an axle shaft assembly defining an axle axis of rotation;
- a first gear reduction driving a first spindle about a wheel axis of rotation spaced apart from said axle axis of rotation;
- a second gear reduction driving a second spindle about said wheel axis of rotation, said first and second gear reductions being driven by said axle shaft assembly;
- and
- an axle housing extending between said first and second gear reductions and defining a housing centerline longitudinally and vertically offset from said axle axis of rotation, said axle housing defining an inner cavity that receives said axle shaft assembly, and wherein said axle axis of rotation is positioned vertically between said housing centerline and said wheel axis of rotation.
2 more elements
An inverted portal axle assembly comprising:
- a differential driven by an input;
- an axle shaft assembly driven by said differential about an axle axis of rotation;
- a first gear reduction driving a first spindle about a wheel axis of rotation spaced apart from said axle axis of rotation;
- a second gear reduction driving a second spindle about said wheel axis of rotation;
- and
- an axle housing extending between said first and said second gear reductions and defining a housing centerline longitudinally and vertically offset from said axle axis of rotation, said axle housing having a housing wall with a recess that receives said axle shaft assembly, and wherein said axle axis of rotation is positioned vertically between said housing centerline and said wheel axis of rotation.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.