JPH03109136A - Hub clutch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily provide the viscous function and connection/disconnection function to an existing vehicle by connecting either of an axle and a wheel hub with one side of a viscous coupling, and connecting the other of the axle and the wheel hub with the other side of the viscous coupling through a connecting member. CONSTITUTION:As for a part time 4WD vehicle, a hub clutch 33 is arranged between a right side front axle 9 and front wheel. In this case, the hub clutch 33 is equipped with a viscous coupling 51 whose one side is connected with either of an axle 9 which is driven by the drive power supplied from an engine and a wheel hub 35 to which a wheel 45 is fixed. Further, a slider gear 73 which moves between the position of connecting either of the axle 9 and the wheel hub 35 with the other side of the viscous coupling 51 and the position of releasing the connection is installed. Further, an operating member 113 for moving the slide gear 73 to both the above-described positions is installed. The hub clutch 33 is arranged in demountable manner on the outside in the car width direction of the wheel 45.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a hub clutch that connects and connects an axle side and a wheel side.

(Prior Art) A differential device is described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-23217. As is well known, a differential device is disposed, for example, on a drive axle of a vehicle, and divides and outputs the driving force of an engine to a left wheel and a right wheel.

Further, a hub clutch is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-238516. This device is placed between the axle and the wheels of a four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicle, and connects and disconnects them.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Since the former device does not have a function to allow a differential with the input system, if it is used in a 4WD vehicle, it must be configured part-time, or it must be installed in a center differential. equipment or viscous couplings must be used. In addition, since this device does not have a drive power intermittent function, it is used for the axle on the disconnection side of a part-time 4WD vehicle, and when disconnection is performed, the 2-4 switching device (driving force disconnection device to the disconnection side axle) is used. The transmission system up to the axle is forced to rotate due to the rotation of the wheels, resulting in drive noise and reduced fuel efficiency.

In contrast to such conventional single-function differential devices, there is a differential device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 13823/1983 that incorporates a viscous coupling and a driving force disconnection device. However, if you try to replace this with the conventional differential device installed on existing vehicles, you will have to make major modifications to the vehicle body, which is virtually impossible. Furthermore, this differential device cannot prevent the axle from rotating in a disconnected state.

The latter can prevent co-rotation of the transmission system such as the axle, but when driving in 4WD, the differential between the front and rear wheels cannot be tolerated, and when turning at low speed, the 2- Since four switching devices must be operated, the operation becomes complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a hub clutch that can be easily attached to and detached from an existing vehicle and that is equipped with a viscous coupling and an on/off function that allows differential movement between the front and rear wheels when the vehicle is in a 4WD driving state.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The hub clutch of the present invention has one side connected to one side of an axle rotatably driven by driving force from an engine and a wheel hub to which a wheel wheel is fixed. a connecting member movable between a connecting position where the viscous coupling connects the other side of the axle and the wheel hub with the other side of the viscous coupling and a disconnecting position where the connection is released; The vehicle is characterized in that the vehicle is provided with an operating means for moving the vehicle to a certain position, and is detachably disposed on the outside of the vehicle wheel in the vehicle width direction.

(Operation) When the connecting member is moved to a connecting position where it is connected to the other side of the viscous coupling by a moving operation by the operating means, the driving force from the engine is transmitted from the axle to the wheel side via the viscous coupling. When the connecting member moves to the disconnected position, the transmission of driving force between the axle and the wheel is interrupted, and the wheel becomes free rotating.

Since the viscous coupling and the disconnection mechanism are arranged so as to be attachable and detachable from the outside of the side of the vehicle body, it is easy to assemble between the hub and axle of an existing vehicle body.

(Example) The first embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 2 shows the power system of a vehicle using this embodiment. The left and right direction is the left and right direction in these drawings, and members etc. that are not numbered are not shown.

First, the configuration of the power system of this vehicle will be explained with reference to FIG. This vehicle is a part-time 4WD vehicle, and its power system consists of 1 engine, 3 transmissions, and 5 front differentials.
(differential device on the front wheel side), front axle 7.9, left and right wheels 11.13.2-4 transfer 19 including switching device 15 (disconnection device f for driving force transmission to the front wheels), front wheel propeller shaft 20 , rear wheel propeller shaft 2
1. Rear differential 23 (differential device on the rear wheel side),
It includes rear axles 25, 27, left and right rear wheels 29, 31, and a hub clutch 33 of this embodiment disposed between the right front axle 9 and the front wheel 13. In addition, other axles 7.25.27
and each wheel 11, 29, 31 are connected by a drive flange, respectively.

Next, the configuration of the hub clutch 33 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The wheel hub 35 is supported by bearings 37.37 on the spindle 39 on the body side. A brake disc 43 and a wheel wheel 45 are attached to the flange portion 41 of the wheel hub 35.
are aligned by the bolt 47 and nut 49.

The viscous coupling 51 has a housing 53 and a hub member 55 that are arranged so as to be relatively rotatable, and are kept in a liquid-tight state by X-rings 57 and 57 (seals with an X-shaped cross section) between them. A working chamber 59 is formed in which viscous silicone oil is sealed. The housing 53 is fixed to the wheel hub 35 with bolts 61. Working chamber 5
Inside the housing 5, outer and inner plates 63 and 65 are arranged alternately, and the outer plate 63 is connected to the housing 5.
The inner plate 65 is splined to the hub member 55. Also, each plate 63
A spacer 67 is arranged between them.

The torque input from either the housing 53 or the hub member 55 is applied to the plate 63.6 due to the shear resistance of the silicone oil.
It is transmitted to the other party that was exchanged between 5 and 5. At this time, the greater the rotational difference between these members 53, 55, the greater the differential limiting force and the transmitted torque, and the smaller the rotational difference, the smaller the differential limiting force and the transmitted torque.

The axle 9 is rotatably fitted to the spindle 39,
A drive gear 69 is spline-fitted to the tip thereof and fixed by a retaining ring 71.

A bushing 72 is arranged between the drive gear 69 and the housing 53. A slide gear 73 (connecting member) is spline-connected to the outer periphery of the drive gear 69 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and is biased rightward by a return spring 75 disposed between the gears 69 and 73. It is positioned by

Splines 79, 81 are provided on the housing 53 and hub member 55 of the viscous coupling 51, and a spline 83 is provided on the outer periphery of the slide gear 73 that can be engaged with and detached from these.

As the slide gear 73 moves in the axial direction, it moves between the free position (uncoupled position) shown in FIG. 1(a), the viscous mode position (connected position) shown in FIG. 1(c), and the viscous mode position (connected position) shown in FIG. The connecting portion i1 can be moved to the viscous lock position shown in FIG.

In the free position, spline 83 is connected to either spline 7.
9.81, the viscous coupling 51 (on the front wheel 13 side) is disconnected from the drive gear 73 (on the engine side), and the front wheel 13 becomes in a free rotation state.

In the viscous mode position, the spline 83 meshes with the spline 81 and the front wheel 13 engages the slide gear 73 and the hub member 5.
5 is connected to the engine 1 via the viscous coupling 51.

In the viscous lock position, spline 83 meshes with spline 79.81 to connect slide gear 73 and housing 53.
Since the front wheels 13 are connected to each other, the front wheels 13 are directly driven by the engine 1, bypassing the viscous coupling 51.

An end cover 85 is attached to the right end side of the housing 53 with the bolt 8
It is fixed by 7. A retaining ring 8 is attached to the end cover 85.
A cam member 93 is rotatably supported between the step portion 91 and the step portion 91 .

A seal 95 is arranged between the end cover 85 and the cam member 93. The cam member 93 is provided with a knob 97 for rotating the cam member, and is also provided with a cam surface 99 facing right as shown in FIG. 1(b).

This cam surface 99 consists of positioning portions at positions I, n, and m from the right, and inclined surfaces 101 and 103 connecting these portions. The suppressing member 105 is a cam follower, and its outer edge is connected to the spline 10 provided between it and the housing 53.
7 is disposed on the housing 53 so as to be freely movable in the axial direction. The suppressing member 105 is biased to the left by a shift spring 109 provided between the suppressing member 105 and the cam member 93, and a protrusion 111 provided on the inner edge side of the suppressing member 105 is pressed onto the cam member 99. In this way, the operating means 113 is configured.

State of position I in Fig. 1(a) (free rotation position)
When the cam member 93 is rotated in the direction in which the cam surface 99 moves to the left, the projection 111 moves along the inclined surface 101 due to the biasing force of the shift spring 109, and the pressing member 1
05 moves to position (c) (viscous mode position).

When the cam member 93 is further rotated, the protrusion 111 turns into the inclined surface 1.
03 to the left, and the suppressing member 105 is moved to the left in the same figure (d)
Move to position ■ (viscous lock position).

If the cam member 93 is rotated in the opposite direction, the suppressing member 105
returns to position ■, ■. When in position I, a gap 115 is provided between the slide gear 73 and the pressing member 105 to prevent sliding during rotation.

The hub clutch 33 is configured as described above.

To install the hub clutch 33, first attach the viscous coupling 51 to the wheel hub 35 with bolts 61, then attach the axle 27 to the wheel hub 35.
After spline-fitting the drive gear 69 and attaching the return spring 75, the slide gear 73 is spline-coupled to the gear 69, and while the pressing member 105 is spline-coupled, the end cover 85 is attached to the housing 5 with bolts 87.
Install it on 3.

The outer diameter of the hub clutch 33 (51 parts of the viscous coupling) is larger than the inner diameter of the wheel wheel 45, but since it is disposed outside the wheel wheel 45 in the vehicle width direction, no modifications are made to the existing vehicle body as described above. (replacement with drive flange).

Next, the function of the hub clutch 33 will be explained based on the power performance of the vehicle shown in FIG.

The driving force of the engine 1 is shifted by the transmission 3, and is dividedly outputted to the left and right rear wheels 29.31 by the rear differential 23 via the rear wheel propeller shaft 21. When the 2-4 switching device 15 is connected, the driving force of the engine 1 is transferred to the transfer 19. It is transmitted to the front differential 5 via the front wheel propeller shaft 20.

When the hub clutch 33 is set to the viscous lock position, the driving force from the engine 1 is divided and outputted to the left and right front wheels 11 and 13 by the front differential 5. Furthermore, the differential lock between the front and rear wheels by the transfer 19 and propeller shaft 20 improves the straight-line stability of the vehicle.

When the hub clutch 33 is set to the viscous mode position, when there is no rotation difference between the front and rear wheels, such as when driving on a good road, no rotation difference occurs between the right front axle 9 and the front wheel 13, and the viscous coupling 51 is activated. Almost no driving force is transmitted to the right front wheel 13 through the vehicle.

Since the right axle 9 does not transmit driving force, the front differential 5 does not transmit driving force to the left front wheel 11.

In this way, the vehicle is substantially in a 2WD driving state with rear wheels, and fuel efficiency is improved. Also, if a differential occurs between the front and rear wheels due to front wheel slipping when driving on a rough road, the front axle 9 and front wheel 1
A differential is generated between the front wheels 1 and 3, and a driving force is transmitted to the front wheel 13 via the viscous coupling 51, and a driving force equal to this driving force is transmitted to the left front wheel 11 via the front differential 5.

In this way, the vehicle can maintain its ability to travel on rough roads. A relatively small rotational difference that occurs between the front and rear wheels when parking the vehicle or making a U-turn is absorbed by the viscous coupling 51 and the front differential 5, thereby preventing tight corner braking.

When the hub clutch 33 is set to the free rotation position, the right front wheel 1
3 is disconnected and enters a free rotation state, and the front differential 5 spins idly, so that no driving force is transmitted to the left front wheel 11 either. In this way, the vehicle enters the 2WD driving state.

When the 2-4 switching device 15 is set to the disconnected state in this state, the rotation from the 2-4 switching device 15 to the differential case of the front differential 5 is stopped, preventing wear, vibration, noise, etc. of the rotating parts, and reducing fuel consumption. improves.

At this time, if the hub clutch of the present invention or the conventional hub clutch is also arranged on the left front wheel 11 side, the rotation of each front axle 7.9 can be prevented.

Next, the hub clutch 121 of the second embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, the left and right directions refer to the left and right directions in this drawing, and members and the like that are not numbered are not shown.

Also, the same numbers will be given to the same members as in the first embodiment and the explanation will be made with reference to them.

A drive gear 123 is spline-fitted to the tip of the axle 9, and a slide gear 73 is spline-coupled to the gear 123 so as to be movable left and right. The gear 73 is shown in Figure 3 (a).
) and the free rotation position (uncoupled position) of the spline 83 as shown in the same figure (b).
5, a viscous mode position (connection position) where the hub member 127 is connected to the spline 128, and a viscous lock position (connection position) where it is connected to the spline 130 of the housing 129 in addition to the spline 128, as shown in FIG. It is movable.

The outer edge of the diaphragm 133 is airtightly fixed to the end cover 131 of the viscous coupling 125, and the inner edge of the diaphragm 133 is airtightly fixed between the support member 135 and the pressing member 137. In this way, a pressure chamber 139 is formed on the left side of the diaphragm 133, and an actuator 141 that forms part of the operating means is configured.

A shift spring 143 is disposed between the drive gear 123 and the slide gear 73 to bias the gear 73 to the right, and a shift spring 143 is disposed between the support member 135 and the end cover 131 to bias the support member 135 to the left. return spring 1
45 are arranged. The left end of the pressing member 137 is in contact with the slide gear 73. Return spring 145
The biasing force of the shift spring 143 is stronger than that of the shift spring 143. Also, it may be fixed to the end cover 131 or the taker 1.
A second return spring 149 is installed between 47 and the end cover 131.

A passage 151 provided between the axle 9 and the spindle 139 opens into the pressure chamber 139 of the actuator 141 . Positive pressure is supplied to the actuator 141 from a pressure source 153 via a control valve device 155 and this passage 151 .

The actuator 14 is moved from the free rotation position shown in FIG. 3(a).
1, the diaphragm 131 is deflected, the pressing member 137 moves to the right against the urging force of the return spring 145 until it comes into contact with the return spring 149, and the slide gear 73 is moved by the urging force of the shift spring 143. It moves to the viscous mode position shown in FIG. 3(b) and is connected to the hub member 127. Further pressure is applied to the pressing member 13
7 to the right against the return springs 145, 149, the slide gear 73 moves to the viscous lock position shown in FIG.

When the supply pressure to the actuator 141 is lowered, the slide gear 73 returns to the viscous mode position by the return springs 145 and 149, and the return spring 145 returns to the viscous mode position.
Returns to free rotation position.

Actuator 141 performed via the control valve device
These operations can be controlled manually or automatically depending on steering conditions and road surface conditions.

The other configurations and functions are the same as those of the first embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the knob clutch of the present invention can be installed on an existing vehicle body. Furthermore, since a viscous coupling is built-in, the same functionality can be added without major modification such as replacing the differential device with a special one.

Its intermittent function prevents the drive power transmission system, including the axle, from rotating, eliminating friction in rotating parts, reduced fuel efficiency, vibration, and noise.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 shows the first embodiment; (a), (C), and (d) are cross-sectional views showing different states; (b) is a developed view of the cam;
The figure is a skeleton mechanism diagram showing the power system of a vehicle using each embodiment, and FIGS. 3(a), (b), and (c) are sectional views showing different states of the second embodiment. . 9... Axle 35... Wheel knob 1 51.
125...Viscous coupling 53.129...
/X spring side) 55.127.../X spring member (
Other side) 73...Slide gear (connection member) 113...Operation means

Claims (1)

[Claims] A viscous coupling is connected on one side to one side of an axle that is rotationally driven by driving force from an engine and a wheel hub to which the wheel wheel is fixed, and the other side of the viscous coupling is connected to the other side of the axle and the wheel hub. A connecting member movable between a connecting position to connect and a disconnecting position to release the connection, and an operation means for moving the connecting member to both positions, and the connecting member is attached to and detached from the outside of the wheel in the vehicle width direction. A hub clutch that is characterized by being freely arranged.