Damped Claw Coupling for Fast, Low-Noise Interlocking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Claw couplings in vehicle technology often experience mechanical stresses and undesirable acoustic noise due to sudden tooth-to-tooth engagement, which prevents quick and noiseless connection of rotatable components.
Innovation Solution
A claw coupling design featuring a sliding sleeve with a spring-loaded shift ring and a damping chamber that slows down axial movement, using a damping medium to absorb sudden shocks and prevent noise, allowing for quick and noiseless interlocking of components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional claw coupling with toothed arrangements is used for connecting rotatable components, then the components can be interlocked, but mechanical stresses and acoustic noise occur due to sudden tooth-to-tooth engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a damping chamber with damping medium (oil or air) that is activated when the sliding sleeve encounters a tooth-to-tooth position. The damping medium absorbs the sudden impact and reduces mechanical stress on the actuator while minimizing acoustic noise. This cushioning mechanism is prepared in advance within the damping chamber structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The damping medium acts as an intermediary between the sliding sleeve and the toothed arrangement. When sudden engagement occurs, the damping medium absorbs the shock and mediates the force transmission, preventing direct transmission of mechanical stress to the actuator and reducing noise generation.
2Productivity
If the sliding sleeve moves axially quickly to connect components rapidly, then productivity is improved, but mechanical stress and noise increase due to sudden engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The damping chamber is pre-configured with damping medium that activates during sudden engagement events. This allows the sliding sleeve to maintain high shifting speed for normal operations while providing automatic cushioning when tooth-to-tooth positions cause sudden engagement, thus resolving the contradiction between speed and stress/noise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful sudden impact (tooth-to-tooth engagement) into a beneficial damping effect. The damping chamber captures the sudden movement energy and transforms it into controlled compression of the damping medium, turning the harmful shock into a controlled energy absorption process that protects the actuator and reduces noise.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a damping chamber is added to slow down axial movement and reduce noise, then mechanical stress and noise are reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The damping chamber is merged with the existing sliding sleeve structure. The damping chamber forms an integrated part of the sliding sleeve assembly, combining the coupling function and damping function into a single unified structure. This reduces overall device complexity compared to adding a separate damping mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The sliding sleeve structure serves multiple functions: it provides the coupling engagement through toothed arrangements and simultaneously houses the damping chamber for stress and noise reduction. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate dedicated damping components, thereby minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures rapid and noiseless connection of rotatable components by damping sudden movements and reducing mechanical stress on the actuator, maintaining high shift dynamics while eliminating unwanted noise.
Implementation Method 1
a damping chamber 6 formed in dependence upon the relative movement is provided for slowing down the axial movement of the sliding sleeve 3 and the shift ring 5
Implementation Method 2
the damping medium which has flowed into the damping chamber is compressed
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a claw coupling for interlockingly connecting a first rotatable component to a second rotatable component, wherein a sliding sleeve is non-rotatably and axially slidably arranged on the first rotatable component and a coupling body is non-rotatably arranged on the second rotatable component, the sliding sleeve being axially movable for interlocking connection to the coupling body in order to connect the first component to the second component, at least one spring-loaded shifting ring being movably mounted, non-rotatably and axially relative to the sliding sleeve, on the sliding sleeve, and a damping chamber, formed in dependence on the relative motion, is provided in order to delay the axial motion. The disclosure further relates to an electrical drive axle of a vehicle having at least the claw coupling. In addition, the disclosure relates to a method for interlockingly connecting the first rotatable component to the second rotatable component via a claw coupling.