The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 08, 2015
Filed:
Apr. 30, 2014
Kenneth J Potter, Almont, MI (US);
Sandeep Makam, Auburn Hills, MI (US);
Timothy R Schumaier, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Kenneth J Potter, Almont, MI (US);
Sandeep Makam, Auburn Hills, MI (US);
Timothy R Schumaier, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
FCA US LLC, Auburn Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
An axle assembly for a vehicle includes an axle housing assembly having a carrier housing and a differential assembly mounted in the carrier housing for rotation about a rotational axis. In an exemplary implementation, the differential assembly includes a unitary differential case, a differential gear set and a shroud member. The differential case defines an interior cavity and a window having an outer perimeter, where the window is configured to provide access to the interior cavity for assembling the gear set into the interior cavity. The shroud member is configured to be removably coupled to the differential case to cover the window and provide a radiused contour aligning with a radiused contour of the differential case thereby reducing spin losses when the differential assembly is rotating relative to the axle housing assembly.