Shaft Coupling Apertures for High-Speed Lubricant Capture

The patent applies preliminary action by providing lubricant to the spline interface before high-speed rotation begins. The lubricant is delivered through apertures in the drive shaft to build up an oil reservoir or film in advance, ensuring lubrication is already present when centrifugal forces become significant at high speeds.

The patent uses an intermediary approach by introducing a lubricant delivery system that acts as a mediator between the oil supply and the spline interface. The apertures in the drive shaft serve as intermediaries to transport lubricant directly to the spline contact areas, overcoming the barrier of centrifugal forces that would otherwise prevent oil entry.

The patent applies local quality by creating apertures with varying cross-sectional areas along their length, with larger openings at the entry point for lubricant delivery and tapered or restricted sections toward the interior. This localized variation in aperture geometry optimizes both lubricant flow and structural integrity at different positions within the same component.

The patent uses parameter changes by varying the cross-sectional area of apertures along their length rather than maintaining a uniform size. The aperture cross-section changes from larger at the entry to smaller toward the interior, allowing optimization of both lubricant delivery (requiring larger openings) and load-transfer capacity (requiring more material).