Modular EV Drive Module With Offset-Axis Motor-Gearbox Layout
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial battery electric vehicles (BEVs) require flexible placement of electric motors and gearboxes to optimize space usage due to varying configurations, which existing technologies do not adequately address.
Innovation Solution
A modular vehicular drive unit comprising an electric motor, planetary gearboxes, and an endless loop mechanism that allows for offset axis rotation, enabling customizable positioning within the vehicle chassis to efficiently utilize space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a fixed configuration of electric motor and gearbox is used in BEVs, then manufacturing and assembly are simplified, but flexibility in component placement is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The drive system is segmented into separate functional modules: electric motor, planetary gearbox, and endless loop mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to be independently positioned and configured within the vehicle chassis, providing placement flexibility while maintaining standardized manufacturing processes for each module.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs a dynamic transmission mechanism using an endless loop that can accommodate various motor-to-gearbox configurations. The endless loop allows the motor and gearbox to be positioned at different locations and orientations, enabling adaptive placement while maintaining functional connectivity through the flexible loop transmission path.
2Volume of moving object
If the electric motor and gearbox are positioned close together, then the transmission system is compact, but the drive shaft axis must align with the motor output shaft axis
Solution Approach 1:
The endless loop acts as an intermediary transmission element between the motor output shaft and the gearbox input shaft. This intermediary allows the motor and gearbox to be positioned with offset axes, as the loop can wrap around and connect components that are not coaxially aligned, thereby providing axis placement flexibility while maintaining a compact overall transmission system.
3Productivity
If commercial BEVs use standardized component placement, then production efficiency is improved, but space optimization for varying vehicle configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The drive unit is designed as a universal module that can be adapted to multiple vehicle configurations and chassis types. The standardized motor-gearbox-endless loop assembly can be installed in various positions and orientations within different commercial vehicle platforms, allowing the same component set to serve multiple vehicle models and applications, thereby optimizing space utilization across diverse vehicle configurations while maintaining production efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular drive unit for a battery electric vehicle (BEV) includes an electric motor, for propelling the BEV, having an output shaft; a planetary gearbox, having an input and an output; a sprocket coupled to an output of the electric motor or an input of the planetary gearbox; and an endless loop rotatably coupled with the sprocket and the input of the planetary gearbox thereby configured to transmit rotational movement of the output shaft of the electric motor to a drive shaft of the BEV, wherein an axis of rotation of the drive shaft of the BEV is offset from an axis of rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor.