Axle drive unit for a motor vehicle

Abstract

The invention relates to an axle drive unit for a motor vehicle (2) with a housing arrangement (10) in which a transmission unit and an electric machine are provided, which are operatively connected to a drive axle (6), wherein the housing arrangement (10) is mounted on the vehicle chassis via a bearing arrangement (12), wherein the housing arrangement (10) has a cooling unit.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an axle drive unit for a motor vehicle with a housing arrangement in which a transmission unit and an electric machine are provided, which are operatively connected to a drive axle, wherein the housing arrangement is mounted on the vehicle chassis via a bearing arrangement with bearing points, wherein the housing arrangement includes a cooling unit, and wherein the housing arrangement comprises an electric machine housing, a transmission housing and a cooling unit housing, which are connected to the vehicle chassis via the bearing arrangement.

[0002] Such axle drive units are well known from the prior art. For example, DE 10 2010 061 217 A1 describes an axle drive unit in which an electric motor drives a drive axle, in particular a front axle, via a differential gear. The housing unit, which consists of an electric motor housing and a gear housing, is mounted on the vehicle chassis via appropriate bearings. Furthermore, it is known, for example, from DE 10 2010 061 285 A1, to cool a gear housing, and thus the gear unit, via a heat exchanger system. With the increasing functionality of such axle drive units, the complexity and the space requirements for such modules also increase, which, however, is in clear contradiction to the available installation space in modern vehicles. A generic axle drive unit is known from DE 10 2011 016 285 A1.However, this arrangement also requires a large installation space. Further arrangements are known from DE 10 2009 015 414 A1, DE 602 00 440 T2, JP 2012-206582 A, JP2011-148331 A, US 2012 / 0153718 A1, US 2011 / 0226540 A1 and DE 20 2011 002 194 U1.

[0003] The object of the invention is therefore to provide an axle drive unit that ensures optimal use of installation space while maintaining the highest functionality and complexity.

[0004] This problem is solved according to the invention by accommodating the cooling unit within the bearing arrangement. In this way, it is possible to create a pre-assembled axle drive unit that includes all essential components, thereby optimally utilizing the available installation space. Furthermore, providing the cooling unit can have a beneficial effect on the moment of inertia of the entire axle drive unit. The bearing arrangement simultaneously forms a type of support element for the component housings.

[0005] The housing arrangement advantageously features at least one bearing point for the drive axle. The drive axle is advantageously designed as the front axle of the motor vehicle.

[0006] In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the cooling unit can be a cooling compressor that compresses the coolant in a known manner and feeds it into a coolant circuit.

[0007] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, which shows: Fig. 1 a schematic side view of the front area of ​​a motor vehicle, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of a drive unit according to the invention.

[0008] Fig. Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of the front area of ​​a motor vehicle 2. A front wheel 4 is driven by a front axle 6, with which an axle drive unit 8 is operatively connected.

[0009] Fig.Figure 2 shows the axle drive unit 8 according to the invention, which essentially consists of a housing assembly 10 and a bearing assembly 12. The housing assembly 10 comprises an electric motor housing 14, a gearbox housing 16, and a cooling unit housing 18. These unit housings 14, 16, 18 are connected to each other and via the bearing assembly 12 in a modular design. It is, of course, also conceivable to integrate several units, such as an electric motor and a gearbox, into a single housing. The cooling unit, designed as a cooling compressor, is housed in the bearing assembly 12 in a space-saving manner. The bearing assembly 12 is connected to a vehicle chassis via bearing points 20 in a known manner. Furthermore, it can be seen how the front axle 6, which consists of two side shafts 22, 24, is mounted in the housing assembly 10 via bearing points 26, 28.It should be mentioned that the bearing arrangement can of course also provide 12 bearing points for the front axle 6.

[0010] The electric motor, located in the electric motor housing 14, is operatively connected to the front axle 6 in a known manner via a differential gear located in the transmission housing 16. A cooling compressor provided in the cooling unit housing 18 supplies coolant to a heat exchanger system (not shown) for the electric motor and / or the differential gear.

Claims

[1] Axle drive unit for a motor vehicle (2) with a housing arrangement (10) in which a transmission unit and an electric machine are provided, which are operatively connected to a drive axle (6), wherein the housing arrangement (10) is mounted on the vehicle chassis via a bearing arrangement (12), wherein the housing arrangement (10) has a cooling unit, wherein the housing arrangement (10) has an electric machine housing (14), a transmission housing (16) and a cooling unit housing (18), which are connected to the vehicle chassis via the bearing arrangement (12), characterized by that the cooling unit is housed in the bearing arrangement (12). [2] Axle drive unit according to claim 1, characterized by that the housing arrangement (10) has at least one bearing point (26, 28) for the drive axle (6). [3] Axle drive unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the drive axle (6) is a front axle of the motor vehicle (2). [4] Axle drive unit according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the cooling unit is a refrigeration compressor.

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