Gear hub having a gear pump
AssigneeTonand Brakes Inc.
InventorAntonio Cannata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gear hub assembly is disclosed that has a sealed housing that includes an input gear and an output gear that are meshed together to provide a gear pump to move fluid between a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet disposed on opposite sides of engagement of the input and output gear. The housing defines an axle shaft-receiving aperture and a wheel spindle-receiving aperture to allow the gear hub assembly to transmit torque from a vehicle axle shaft to a wheel spindle while operating as a gear pump. The fluid inlet and outlets can be coupled to a hydraulic system to provide braking (or kinetic energy recovery) by restricting the flow of hydraulic fluid which in turn resists rotation of the gears in the gear hub, and thus can act to slow the vehicle.
Claims18
A gear hub assembly comprising:
- a housing defining a first shaft-receiving aperture and a second shaft-receiving aperture;
- an input gear within the housing with respect to the first shaft-receiving aperture;
- an output gear within the housing engaged with the input gear, the output gear with respect to the second shaft-receiving aperture;
- and
- a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet disposed on opposite sides of engagement of the input gear and the output gear;
- wherein the input gear is configured to receive a rotational force and transfer the rotational force to the output gear, the rotational force provided by an axle shaft received through the first shaft-receiving aperture and coupled to the input gear.
A vehicle braking system having at least two gear hub assemblies, each of the at least two gear hub assemblies comprising:
- a housing defining a first shaft-receiving aperture and a second shaft-receiving aperture;
- an input gear within the housing with respect to the first shaft-receiving aperture;
- an output gear within the housing engaged with the input gear, the output pear with respect to the second shaft-receiving aperture;
- a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet disposed on opposite sides of engagement of the input gear and the output gear;
- an axle shaft coupled to the input gear;
- and
- a wheel spindle coupled to the output gear.
A gear hub assembly comprising:
- a housing defining a first shaft-receiving aperture and a second shaft-receiving aperture;
- an input gear within the housing with respect to the first shaft-receiving aperture;
- an output gear within the housing engaged with the input gear, the output gear with respect to the second shaft-receiving aperture;
- and
- a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet disposed on opposite sides of engagement of the input gear and the output gear;
- wherein the output gear is coupled to a wheel spindle received through the second shaft-receiving aperture.
A gear hub assembly comprising:
- a housing defining a first shaft-receiving aperture and a second shaft-receiving aperture;
- an input gear within the housing with respect to the first shaft-receiving aperture;
- an output gear within the housing engaged with the input gear, the output gear with respect to the second shaft-receiving aperture;
- a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet disposed on opposite sides of engagement of the input gear and the output gear;
- and
- a pair of thrust plates, each one of the plates adjacent opposing faces of the input gear and output gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.