Planet wheel power divider for motor vehicles

Abstract

A planet-wheel power divider operates with a planet carrier and other transmission members in the form of three central wheels, with an input shaft connected to one central wheel, with an output shaft drivingly connected to one central wheel, with an output shaft drivingly connected to one of the other three transmission members and arranged centrally relative to the main axis. A second coaxial output shaft in the form of a hollow shaft is used to drive a parallel auxiliary drive shaft and can be coupled alternately to two of the three transmission members by shiftable clutches. A main planet meshes with an auxiliary planet and an outer central wheel, used for the constant connection to the input shaft, and an inner central wheel meshes with the main planet and a further inner central wheel meshes with the auxiliary planet. So that the power divider can be shifted under load to change the torque distribution to the output shafts and to ensure the same torque direction on both output shafts, the hollow shaft is connected to the planet carrier and to the inner central wheel meshing with the main planet by means of respective frictional clutches shiftable under load and the central output shaft is connected to the inner central wheel which meshes with the auxiliary planet.