Differential assembly for vehicles

摘要

A differential assembly includes a differential housing, two side gears, at least one output hub, and at least one pinion gear assembly. When a torque input is provided to the first side gear, eccentric contact surfaces on the first side gear and the output hub contact under compression forces, and compression forces between the outer cylindrical surface of the first side gear and an inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing and between the outer cylindrical surface of the first output hub and the inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing cause frictional forces between the differential housing and the first side gear and between the differential housing and the first output hub to provide a torque bias to the differential assembly. In some embodiments, the differential housing includes a second output hub and eccentric contact surfaces on the second side gear and the second output hub.

主权项

1. A differential assembly comprising:
a differential housing having a first rotation axis and having a first inner cylindrical surface substantially centered on the first rotation axis; a first side gear having a first side gear outer cylindrical surface mating with the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing and having a first eccentric first side gear contact surface and a second eccentric first side gear contact surface; a first output hub having a first output hub outer cylindrical surface mating with the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing, having a first eccentric first output hub contact surface mating with the first eccentric first side gear contact surface of the first side gear, and having a second eccentric first output hub contact surface mating with the second eccentric first side gear contact surface of the first side gear; a second side gear rotatable substantially on the first rotation axis; and at least one pinion gear assembly engaging the first side gear and the second side gear, the at least one pinion gear assembly comprising at least one pinion gear; wherein the first eccentric first side gear contact surface, the second eccentric first side gear contact surface, the first eccentric first output hub contact surface, and the second eccentric first output hub contact surface are formed such that:
a first input torque on the first side gear in a clockwise direction causes compression forces between the first eccentric first output hub contact surface and the first eccentric first side gear contact surface, between the first side gear outer cylindrical surface of the first side gear and the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing, and between the first output hub outer cylindrical surface of the first output hub and the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing; anda second input torque on the first side gear in a counterclockwise direction causes compression forces between the second eccentric first output hub contact surface and the second eccentric first side gear contact surface, between the first side gear outer cylindrical surface of the first side gear and the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing, and between the first output hub outer cylindrical surface of the first output hub and the first inner cylindrical surface of the differential housing.