| 摘要 |
A steer-drive interposes respective left and right orbital gear drives (20, 22) into the vehicle drivetrain between the engine/transmission (10, 12) and the respective propulsion axles associated with each side of the vehicle. Th e orbital drive units comprise only an input gear (54) and an output gear (58) interconnected by at least one orbiting cluster gear (60, 61) that is supported in a rotating housing and also meshes only with the input and outp ut gears. The orbital units are designed so that (a) when rotation of the housi ng (64) is prevented, driving torque is transferred at speed ratios selected to be as close to 1:1 as is practical, and (b) when steering torque causes rotation of the housing, the steering torque is added simultaneously in equa l and opposite directions to the orbital units, causing the drive on one side of the vehicle to slow down at the same rate. The steer-drive is appropriate fo r the drivetrains of tracked vehicles, boats and airplanes.
|
