Drivetrain Disconnect Clutch for Reverse and Regeneration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drivetrain components lack the ability to efficiently disconnect power in reverse while controlling regeneration, which is essential for advanced vehicle systems like electric and hybrid vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A drivetrain component featuring a carrier with differential gears and a case having annular pockets for locking structures, including passive and active one-way clutches that allow torque transmission in one direction and overrun in the opposite, enabling electronic control of operating modes such as forward, reverse, and regenerative modes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a traditional differential assembly is used, then torque can be transmitted to the wheels, but the system cannot efficiently disconnect power in reverse or control regeneration
Solution Approach 1:
The differential assembly is segmented into distinct functional components: a carrier assembly with differential gears for torque distribution, and a separate disconnect mechanism with locking members and pockets for power disconnection. This segmentation allows independent control of torque transmission and power disconnect functions, enabling multiple operating modes without proportionally increasing overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The differential assembly incorporates dynamic control capabilities through actuators that can actively engage or disengage the locking members in the pockets. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to switch between different operating modes (forward drive, reverse, regeneration) by changing the engagement state of the disconnect mechanism, providing adaptability while maintaining a relatively simple base structure.
2Speed
If power transmission is continuously engaged, then torque can be transmitted without interruption, but torque delay and noise increase
Solution Approach 1:
The disconnect mechanism extracts the ability to interrupt power transmission from the continuous torque path. By providing a deliberate disengagement point through the locking members and pockets, the system can cleanly separate the input shaft from the carrier assembly, eliminating torque delay and reducing noise and vibration by removing the source of harmful factors rather than attempting to mitigate them.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a locking mechanism is added to disconnect power, then power disconnection capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism with pockets and locking members serves multiple functions: it enables power disconnect in reverse, facilitates regeneration control, and allows active management of torque flow. By designing a universal disconnect mechanism that handles multiple operating modes through a single structural solution, the patent avoids adding separate mechanisms for each function, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while improving adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A drivetrain component provides an electronically controlled, overrunning drivetrain disconnect. The drivetrain component includes a case having an annular wall portion with a plurality of pockets in one side. The carrier is supported for movement relative to and independently of the case. The carrier includes a notch plate. The differential gear set has a pinion shaft tied to the carrier, pinion gears mounted on the pinion shaft, differential gears engaging the pinion gears, and differential gear shafts connected to the differential gears. The drivetrain component includes a first locking structure and a second locking structure. Both the first and second locking structures are on the same side of the notch plate. The first locking structure couples the case to the carrier for torque transmission from the case to the carrier in a first direction only, wherein the first locking structure does not inhibit carrier rotation in a second direction.