Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Masami Osawa

Yuki Tojima

Shoichi Sasaki

Takahiro Misu

Tomokazu Yamauchi

Shinichi Ito

Kazunobu Eritate

An in-wheel motor unit is suspended from a vehicle body and outputs torque from an internal motor to a wheel; and has a knuckle, which is suspended from the aforementioned vehicle body; an output shaft, which outputs motor torque to the wheel; a wheel hub, which rotates together with the wheel and is connected to the output shaft such that the output shaft and the wheel hub can rotate together; and a unit casing for the in-wheel motor unit, which houses the motor. The wheel hub is rotatably supported by a first part of the knuckle via a hub bearing, and the unit casing is fixed to a second part of the knuckle via a sleeve.

In-wheel motor unit

A vehicle drive device has an engine, a transmission, a clutch device and a clutch operating mechanism which operates the clutch device to drivingly connect the engine to the transmission. The clutch operating mechanism has a clutch drum secured to the outer circumferential surface of an input shaft of the transmission and holding a second clutch section which is engageable with a first clutch section held on an input member of the clutch device to which a driving power of the engine is transmitted. The clutch drum has a drum chamber, a fixed plate closing an opening of the drum chamber, a piston surrounded by the clutch drum and partitioning the drum chamber into a hydraulic chamber and a spring chamber, and an urging element provided inside the spring chamber to be surrounded by the clutch drum and urging the piston.

Vehicle drive device

The rotating shaft of the motor is connected to and disconnected from the first coupled rotating shaft, the crankshaft of the engine, and the drive shaft is connected to and disconnected from the second coupled rotating shaft and the third coupled rotating shaft. Thereby, the connection state when a power is output to the drive shaft can be increased and the power to the drive shaft can be output in a more efficient connection state in comparison with only connecting and disconnecting the rotating shaft of the motor to and from the first coupled rotating shaft and the crankshaft of the engine.

Power output apparatus, vehicle mounting the same, and method for controlling power output apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Masami Osawa