Machine element or mechanism – Gearing – Plural power paths to and/or from gearing
Patent
1985-10-24
1988-07-26
Braun, Leslie A.
Machine element or mechanism
Gearing
Plural power paths to and/or from gearing
74701, F16H 144, F16H 3708
Patent
active
047592338
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transmission system for vehicles.
(2) Prior Art
In four wheel drive (4WD) and certain conventional drive vehicles, it is required that at least one driving wheel has traction when one or more of the other driving wheels begin to spin to enable the vehicle to continue to move. Locked differentials provide the necessary type of drive but make cornering difficult (or almost impossible), while the limited slip differentials (LSD) presently available have proved generally unsatisfactory in practice.
With four wheel drive vehicles, the problem of "differential wind-up" is also of concern as the front wheels must rotate upto e.g. 25% faster than the rear wheels when turning on full lock as they travel around greater radii.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transmission system which can be used to control wheel spin between a pair of wheels on an axle.
It is an alternate object of the present invention to provide a transmission system which can be used to overcome "differential wind-up" between the differentials of a four wheel drive (4WD) or multiple wheel drive vehicle.
It is a preferred object to provide such a system where the difference in speed between the wheels or differentials can be preset.
It is a further preferred object to provide a transmission system which may provide a multiple ratio transfer case/third differential for four wheel drive vehicles.
Other preferred objects will become apparent from the following description.
In one aspect the present invention resides in a transmission system for vehicles including: speed not less than the rotational speed of the differential; output shaft at a rotational speed of the control unit to prevent further increase in speed in that output shaft and to cause drive to continue to be applied to the other output shaft.
In one embodiment, the system may have a control unit with a pair of central shafts independently driven by the respective output shafts. In a second embodiment, the system has a pair of control units each with a single control shaft driven by a respective one of the output shafts.
In a third embodiment, the control shafts are formed integrally with the output shafts.
The input shaft may be connected to the output shaft of a gearbox when the system provides the transfer case/third differential for a four wheel drive (4WD) vehicle, to a propeller shaft when provided as the differential for one of the axles of a vehicle, or to an output shaft of a transfer case.
The input shaft may be connected directly to the differential by gears (e.g. the input pin or gear and crown wheel) or chains, or indirectly via the control unit, and a plurality of ratios may be provided by respective gear sets or chains having respective dog clutches e.g. on the input shaft to provide high and low ranges.
The control unit may be over-driven by e.g. 112% or 120% relative to the differential to limit the overspeeding of either output shaft to e.g. 112% or 120%, respectively, of the rotational speed of the differential unit and the control shafts of the control unit are preferably connected to the outputs shafts by gears in a 1:1 ratio. Alternatively the control unit may be driven at the same speed as the differential and the control shafts driven from the output shafts by reduction gears. The control unit may be driven by gears from the differential or via a worm/screw drive from the input pinion shaft of the differential.
The control unit may include a pair of couplings, having respective sliding gears to interconnect the control shafts and the body of the control unit, of the type described in my International Application No. PCT/AU82/00170 published on the 23rd Apr., 1983 under International Publication No. WO83/01494, the angle of the teeth being in the range of 0.degree. to 90.degree..
Alternatively, the sliding gear with external teeth may be replaced by a sliding gear with sinusoidal, wave-like or saw-teeth or other suitably profi
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Braun Leslie A.
Novais David
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