Arvin Meritor Technology, LLC

Meritor Heavy Vehicle Technology, LLC

Meritor Heavy Vehicle Systems Limited

Meritor Suspension Systems Company, Inc.

Dean M House

Silvio Masaaki Yamada

Dennis A Kramer

Dale Eschenburg

Dale K Bell

David K Platner

Mehmet S Ciray

Clive Harrup

Tomaz Dopico Varela

William Carl Sullivan

Mark Smith

John L Bennett

Edward Jay Eshelman

John K Ma

Chihping Kuan

Brian David Hayes

Robert J Martin

Malcolm F Ruppert

Jason C Phillips

A drive unit assembly for a vehicle wheel includes a rigidly mounted electric motor coupled to the vehicle wheel via a gear drive. The gear drive includes a cycloid or epicycloid gear arrangement that provides significant speed reduction at the wheel.

Electric motor and gear drive assembly for driving a vehicle wheel

The inventive parallel drive system is particularly well suited to be supported at the axle of the vehicle. A coupling arrangement includes a clutching mechanism and a gear reduction device that selectively couple an electric motor to the drive wheels for providing torque to the wheels alone or in combination with input from an internal combustion engine. The drive torque can also be provided exclusively from the internal combustion engine. The inventive arrangement also allows for the electric motor to be used as a generator during coasting or braking, for example.

Axle assembly with parallel drive system for electric hybrid vehicles

A wheel end assembly includes an output shaft that is directly mountable to a wheel adapter to drive a vehicle wheel. A gear assembly is coupled to the output shaft to transfer driving force from an input to the output shaft. The gear assembly includes an output gear that is directly coupled to the output shaft. Thus, the wheel adapter and output gear are both supported directly on the output shaft. The gear assembly and output shaft are substantially enclosed within a housing that is mounted to a non-rotating vehicle component. The output shaft is solely supported by a pair of bearings for rotation relative to the housing. The bearings are installed for direct engagement with the output shaft and housing.

Vehicle wheel end assembly with wheel adapter

An axle assembly mounts an electric motor to a central housing opposite an input yoke that is driven by an engine. The input yoke is mounted along an axis parallel to the electric motor to alternatively or additionally permit the engine to drive a gear reduction within the axle housing through a planetary gear assembly. Another axle assembly is powered by just an electric motor to provide a relatively lighter duty axle assembly for yet another vehicle configuration.

Drive axle assembly for hybrid electric vehicle

A drive train assembly including an electric motor mounted to the frame of the motor vehicle and a trailing arm. The trailing arm is attached to the frame of a motor vehicle such that a pivot point is common to an axis of rotation of a shaft of the electric motor. The electric motor drives a drive mechanism supported by the trailing arm to drive a wheel suspended at a distal end of the trailing arm. The trailing arm pivots about the axis of rotation of the motor shaft thereby reducing the suspended mass of the vehicle and improving ride and handling characteristics.

Suspended wheel end powered through trailing arm

A vehicle drive assembly includes an electric motor directly coupled to a rotatable member for driving a wheel, for example, without gear reduction assemblies between the motor output and the driven wheels. A multi-phase, high pulse current stepper motor is used as the motor in one example. A driven wheel is supported by a wheel mounting member in a conventional fashion. A rotatable member associated with the wheel mounting member is directly coupled to an output of the stepper motor. The stepper motor can selectively operate in several modes. A first mode provides driving torque to the vehicle wheels, a second mode provides a braking force and an optional third mode allows the stepper motor to serve as a parking brake.

Electric drive system including a stepper motor

An electric motor assembly is provided that includes a housing. A rotor is arranged in the housing and is rotatable about an axis. A vehicle wheel is coupled to the rotor. The rotor has an annular profile defining sinusoidal teeth and is generally concentric with the axis. The angle and number of oblique surfaces of the teeth and the diameter of the rotor, in part, define the speed and torque of the rotor. A plurality of electric linear actuators are arranged circumferentially about and generally parallel to the axis. The actuator includes shafts having ends that engage the profile. The shafts are movable between extended and retracted positions to rotate the rotor in a desired direction. A sensor detecting the position of the rotor and a controller may be used to effect the desired rotation.

Rotary motor using electrical linear actuators

A suspension system includes a swing arm which pivots about a pivot axis. A hub assembly, hub gear box and input gear box are mounted to an independently pivoting swing arm. The pivot axis is located closer to the ground than a rotational axis defined by the hub assemblies and the input gear box. A coupling extends from the input gear box to receive an input driveline from a drive source such as vehicle engine. The coupling is located proximate the pivot axis to minimize relative movement during articulation of the swing arm. An axle housing extends between the input gear box and an opposite hub gear box to support a drive shaft and serves as a torsion bar.

Semi-independent swing arm suspension system for a low floor vehicle

A drive axle assembly for a low floor vehicle utilizes a single input gear assembly to drive a pair of laterally spaced wheel ends. The input gear assembly is positioned next to one of the wheel ends so that the vehicle floor can be lowered to facilitate passenger access to the vehicle. Each wheel end includes a gear reduction assembly with a ring gear rotatably mounted within a gear housing. A drive gear is operatively coupled to the input gear assembly and is in meshing engagement with the ring gear. The gear reduction assembly also includes an output or driven gear, which is larger than the drive gear, to provide the desired gear reduction. The driven gear is also in meshing engagement with the ring gear. A pair of idler gears is rotatably mounted within the gear housing and are in meshing engagement with both the drive and driven gear. The idler gears and drive gear do not have a common centerline. The assembly thus provides toothed contact via three gear sets combinations, which equalizes loading and eliminates the need for support bearings for the drive and driven gears.

Planetary drive assembly with idlers for low floor vehicle

A system for providing driving torque to wheels on a vehicle includes an electric motor having the capability of independently driving rotatable axle shafts. One example includes a single stator with a first armature associated with a first axle shaft and a second armature associated with a second axle shaft. A controller independently controls power to the armatures to achieve the desired wheel speed or driving torque at each of the wheels.

Alternative drive power arrangement having an electric motor with multiple armatures

A brake drum assembly includes an impeller and stator that help cool the brake drum. The impeller and stator combination are especially suited for low-speed vehicle operations. The impeller includes a plurality of impeller vanes formed about the circumference of the impeller that draw cooling air across the brake drum. The impeller is mounted to an external surface of the brake drum for rotation with the drum about an axis of rotation. The stator is held fixed with respect to the drum and includes a first portion that forms a circular band, which is positioned in an overlapping relationship to the impeller, and a second portion that is transverse to the first portion. The second portion extends radially inwardly toward the axis of rotation to form a vertical face. A plurality of stator vanes are formed within the vertical face that direct the airflow away from the brake drum toward an inboard direction that is generally parallel to the axis of rotation.

Brake drum cooling apparatus

A drive unit assembly utilizes a single input to drive a pair of laterally spaced wheel ends. Each wheel end is suspended independently from the other. The input is operatively coupled to only one of the wheel ends and an exposed axle shaft assembly interconnects the input to the opposite wheel end. The axle shaft assembly includes multiple shaft members to interconnect the laterally spaced wheel ends. One of the axle shaft members is mounted to a vehicle floor structure with a bearing mount and includes connection joints at either end to accommodate the independent motion of each wheel end. The floor and the shaft member move together during suspension travel, allowing the floor to have a lower profile than is traditionally available.

Drive assembly for low floor vehicle

A suspension beam is provided which has modular end pieces. The end pieces are designed to correspond to the particularly desired mount locations for suspension elements in a particular vehicle which is to receive the suspension beam. The locations are thus designed into each end piece and allow the suspension manufacturer to manufacture a single central portion, with end portions individually tailored for the particular vehicle. In this way, design and manufacture costs are substantially reduced.

Modular suspension beam

An improved mount for an electric motor and drive gear includes mounting both of the motor and drive gear within a gear housing for a vehicle wheel. The motor is mounted on one side of the drive axis of the wheel, and the drive gear is mounted in bearings on an opposed side of the drive axis. In this way, the overall longitudinal distance required for mounting both the motor and the drive gear is reduced when compared to the envelope of the vehicle wheel.

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Pataskala, OH, United States of America

Dean M House