Hybrid Drivetrain Floating Gearwheel Decoupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hybrid drivetrains lack flexibility and efficiency in design, particularly in terms of installation space and moment of inertia, due to fixed gear configurations and complex planetary gear systems.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a hybrid drivetrain with shifting elements on the electric machine shaft allows for decoupling or coupling of the electric machine with the hybrid wheel levels, using floating gearwheels and spur gear sets, enabling a simpler and more efficient transmission structure with reduced moment of inertia and increased degrees of freedom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If fixed gear configurations and planetary gear systems are used, then structural stability is maintained, but device complexity increases and installation space is consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission is divided into multiple independent wheel levels (first wheel level V1-V4, second wheel level E1-E2, third wheel level V3-V4) that can be selectively activated or deactivated. Each wheel level operates independently through its own shifting elements, allowing the system to simplify its structure by deactivating unnecessary gear sets while maintaining structural stability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs floating gearwheels that can dynamically engage or disengage from shafts based on shifting element positions. The shifting elements (SE-A, SE-B, SE-C, SE-D, SE-E, SE-F) enable dynamic reconfiguration of the transmission path, allowing the system to transition between complex and simplified states depending on driving conditions, thus resolving the contradiction between structural stability and device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the electric machine is permanently coupled to the hybrid wheel levels, then drive continuity is ensured, but moment of inertia increases and flexibility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The electric machine shaft is equipped with floating gearwheels (27, 29) that can dynamically engage with hybrid wheel levels E1 and E2 through shifting element SE-A. This allows the electric machine to be permanently installed in the drivetrain structure but dynamically decoupled when not needed, reducing moment of inertia during internal combustion engine-only operation while maintaining flexibility to engage electric machine assistance when required.
Solution Approach 2:
The electric machine can be effectively extracted from the active drivetrain through the floating gearwheel mechanism. When shifting element SE-A decouples the floating gearwheels from the electric machine shaft, the electric machine is removed from the power transmission path, reducing the rotating mass and moment of inertia while keeping the electric machine physically present in the structure for when it is needed.
3Adaptability or versatility
If fixed gearwheels are mounted on the electric machine shaft, then structural simplicity is achieved, but adaptability and efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of fixed gearwheels permanently mounted on the electric machine shaft, the patent uses floating gearwheels that can dynamically engage or disengage. This dynamic configuration allows the same physical structure to adapt to different operating modes (electric-only, hybrid, internal combustion only) without requiring complex fixed gear arrangements, thereby increasing transmission adaptability while maintaining relative structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The floating gearwheels on the electric machine shaft serve multiple functions: they can engage with different hybrid wheel levels (E1, E2) at different positions, allowing a single gearwheel design to fulfill multiple transmission paths. This multi-functionality increases adaptability without proportionally increasing device complexity, as the same components serve various operational requirements.
4Productivity
If hybrid wheel levels are always active, then drive functionality is maximized, but installation space and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission is segmented into multiple wheel levels that can be independently activated. The first wheel level (V1-V4), second wheel level (E1-E2), and third wheel level (V3-V4) can be selectively engaged through their respective shifting elements. This segmentation allows the system to activate only the necessary wheel levels for current driving conditions, effectively utilizing installation space without requiring all components to be permanently engaged, thereby maintaining drivetrain efficiency while optimizing space utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
A hybrid drivetrain for a hybrid-driven vehicle, having a transmission, which can be shifted by shifting elements into different transmission steps, and which is connectable via an internal combustion engine shaft to an internal combustion engine, via an electric machine shaft to an electric machine, and via an output shaft to at least one vehicle axis. The internal combustion engine shaft and a pinion shaft, which can be connected with respect to drive to the output shaft, are connectable via spur gearwheel sets, which can be shifted by means of shifting elements and which each form wheel levels, of which at least one hybrid wheel level is additionally connectable to the electric machine shaft.