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US 9,927,020 B2Granted
Axle Assembly
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsChristopher Keeney, Todd R. Ekonen, Fabio Santinato, Dale Kwasniewski, Danny Seaman, Robert J. Martin, Ben Bradley, Sean Gainey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An axle assembly that may have a housing and a carrier housing. The axle assembly may include one or more quiet lubricant reservoirs that may not receive rotating components of the axle assembly. A seal may be provided in a channel that may be disposed between the housing and the carrier housing.
Claims20
An axle assembly comprising:
- a housing that has a center portion that receives a differential, first and second arm portions that extend from the center portion, and a housing lubricant reservoir that is disposed proximate the center portion and spaced apart from the first and second arm portions, wherein the housing lubricant reservoir has a cavity that receives a lubricant and a housing partition wall that separates the cavity from the differential such that the differential is not disposed in the housing lubricant reservoir;
- and
- a carrier housing that is mounted to the housing, wherein the carrier housing includes:
- a carrier housing cavity that receives an input shaft that provides torque to the differential;
- a carrier housing lubricant reservoir that has a cavity that receives the lubricant, wherein the carrier housing lubricant reservoir is at least partially defined by the carrier housing and a carrier housing partition wall that extends from the carrier housing and that separates the cavity of the carrier housing lubricant reservoir from the carrier housing cavity and the input shaft such that no rotating component is disposed in the carrier housing lubricant reservoir, wherein the housing lubricant reservoir is fluidly connected to the carrier housing lubricant reservoir by an outlet port;
- and
- an interaxle differential unit that is coupled to the input shaft and disposed in the carrier housing cavity, wherein the carrier housing partition wall is disposed between the interaxle differential unit and the cavity of the carrier housing lubricant reservoir.
4 more elements
An axle assembly comprising:
- a housing that includes:
- a center portion and first and second arm portions that extend from the center portion, wherein the center portion receives a differential;
- and
- a housing lubricant reservoir that is disposed proximate the center portion and spaced apart from the first and second arm portions, wherein the housing lubricant reservoir has a cavity that receives a lubricant, wherein the housing lubricant reservoir has a housing partition wall that separates the cavity from the differential such that the differential is not disposed in the housing lubricant reservoir;
- and
- a carrier housing that is mounted to the housing, wherein the carrier housing has an internal surface and a differential bearing support that rotatably supports the differential and is disposed in the center portion and is mounted on the internal surface, wherein the differential bearing support has a mounting hole that receives a fastener that couples the differential bearing support to the carrier housing and has a differential bearing support lubricant reservoir that is disposed inside the differential bearing support and that receives the lubricant.
3 more elements
An axle assembly comprising:
- a housing;
- a carrier housing that is mounted to the housing;
- a channel that is disposed between the housing and the carrier housing and that has an inlet and an outlet, wherein the housing and carrier housing cooperate to at least partially define the channel;
- and
- a seal that is disposed in the channel, wherein the seal is inserted into the channel via the inlet after the carrier housing is mounted to the housing and extends to the outlet.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.