Gkn Automotive Gmbh

Manabu Endou

Isao Hirota

Masato Horiguchi

Atsushi Maruyama

Noboru Higano

Shungo Numabe

Kazuhiro Ohashi

A system for using a motor to control a power transmission device for driving a vehicle is provided with a clutch member movable bidirectionally in an axial direction; a base member prevented from rotating about an axis; a counter member axially away from and opposed to the base member, the counter member being restrained from moving in both a circumferential direction and the axial direction; an action member interposed between the base member and the counter member, movable in the axial direction, drivingly coupled with the clutch member, and coupled with the motor to create a rotational motion about the axis; and a cam slope tilting in the circumferential direction and ascending from the base member toward the counter member to convert the rotational motion into a motion of the action member in the axial direction.

Power transmission device

A differential device is provided with: a casing rotatable about an axis; a differential gear set including a pair of side gears housed in the casing and rotatable about the axis, a pinion shaft penetrating perpendicular to the axis and being secured to the casing; and pinion gears rotatably supported by the pinion shaft and so meshed with the side gears as to enable differential motion between the side gears; friction clutches interposed between the side gears and an inner periphery of the casing to limit the differential motion; a pair of repulsive bodies respectively applying force in directions along the axis to the friction clutches; and a block in contact with and supporting in the directions along the axis both the repulsive bodies, the block so fitting on the pinion shaft as to impose reaction forces from the friction clutches on the pinion shaft.

Differential device

A gear device drivingly coupling a drive shaft with first and second axles is provided with a case coupled via gearing with the drive shaft, and rotatable about an axis; a hub that is couplable with the first axle; a clutch member retained by the case and disengageably engaged with the hub; a biasing element retaining the clutch member at a position where the clutch member engages with the hub; and a differential gear set coupling the case via gearing with the first and second axles and locked by the clutch member to prevent differential motion between the first axle and the second axle.

Final drive gear device capable of temporarily effecting differential motion

A differential device is provided with a casing rotatable about an axis, a differential gear set coupled therewith including a pinion gear with a pressure angle (a) and side gears in mesh therewith, output members respectively mediating torque transmission from the side gears to axles, each of which includes a friction face as a friction clutch for limiting the differential motion, dog teeth, and an oblique face forming an angle (a) and constituting a cam for operating the friction clutch, a clutch member axially movable for functioning as a clutch to lock the differential motion and including a leg having a side face forming an angle (a) to function as a cam and movable dog teeth each forming an angle (a) satisfying an inequality a&#x2265;a; and an actuator capable of driving the clutch member toward a position where the movable dog teeth mesh with the dog teeth.

A cam mechanism used is provided with: a cam ring forming a circle around an axis and including a plurality of cam faces arranged circumferentially on a face of the circle facing in an axial direction, each of the cam faces sloping in a circumferential direction relative to a circumferential face perpendicular to the axis; a pressure ring adjacent axially to the face of the cam ring and including a plurality of cam faces opposed to the face of the cam ring and respectively symmetrical to the plurality of cam faces of the cam ring, the pressure ring being rotatable relatively to the cam ring about the axis; and a plurality of taper rollers interposed between the cam ring and the pressure ring, each of the taper rollers including a conical face tapering radially inwardly and capable of rolling on the cam faces.

Growing community of inventors

Tochigi, Japan

Manabu Endou