Suspension structure for in-wheel motor drive device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9604531-B2
Application number	US-201314427736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2013
Priority date	Sep 12, 2012
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A suspension structure includes a pair of trailing arms ( 12 ) each having at its front end a pivot ( 14 ) that is attached to a vehicle body, a beam member ( 13 ) connecting the pair of trailing arms, and a pair of in-wheel motor drive devices ( 31 ) coupled and fixed to rear end regions of the trailing arms. The position of the pivot ( 14 ) in a lateral direction of a vehicle is included in a range A, B, and C from an inner end to an outer end of the in-wheel motor drive device ( 31 ) in the lateral direction of the vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A suspension structure for an in-wheel drive device, including
a pair of trailing arms extending in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle and separated from each other in a lateral direction of said vehicle, each trailing arm having at its front end a pivot that is attached to a vehicle body,
a beam member extending in said lateral direction of said vehicle and connecting said pair of trailing arms, and
a pair of in-wheel motor drive devices coupled and fixed to rear end regions of said trailing arms, characterized in that each of said in-wheel motor drive devices has a motor unit, a reduction gear unit and a hub unit, the hub unit including a hub shaft that extends from an end face of the hub unit for coupling to a wheel,
a bracket attached to the trailing arm and having a vertical wall portion, the end face of the hub unit being fixed to the vertical wall portion of the bracket, and
a position of said pivot in said lateral direction of said vehicle is included in a range from an inner end to an outer end of a respective one of said in-wheel motor drive devices in said lateral direction of said vehicle.

2. The suspension structure according to claim 1 , wherein each said rear end region of each said trailing arm is located below said in-wheel motor drive device and faces a lower surface of said in-wheel motor drive device.

3. The suspension structure according to claim 2 , wherein each said trailing arm has at a rear end thereof a coupling portion that is coupled to a lower end of a shock absorber.

4. The suspension structure according to claim 1 , wherein each said rear end region of each said trailing arm is located above said in-wheel motor drive device and faces an upper surface of said in-wheel motor drive device.

5. The suspension structure according to claim 1 , wherein said in-wheel motor drive device is located rearward of a rear end of said trailing arm.

6. The suspension structure according to claim 5 , wherein each said trailing arm includes a reinforcing member connected to said rear end of said trailing arm and extending in a vertical direction, and said in-wheel motor drive device is coupled and fixed to said reinforcing member.

7. The suspension structure according to claim 1 , wherein the reduction gear unit extends from the motor unit and the hub unit extends from the reduction gear unit.

Assignees

• Ntn Toyo Bearing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tamura Shiro
• Suzuki Minoru

Classifications

• B60G21/051

  Trailing arm twist beam axles · CPC title

• B60G9/02

  the axle or housing being pivotally mounted on the vehicle {, e.g. the pivotal axis being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle (B60G9/003 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60G2206/20

  Constructional features of semi-rigid axles, e.g. twist beam type axles · CPC title

• B60K2007/0092

  the motor axle being coaxial to the wheel axle · CPC title

• B60G2204/182

  Electric motor on wheel support · CPC title