Anti-skate device for applying damping torque to an axle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9643465-B2
Application number	US-201414554779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2014
Priority date	Nov 26, 2014
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

An anti-skate device for a drive axle of a motor vehicle may include a free-spinning body having an axis of rotation that is generally perpendicular to the drive axle of the vehicle. The free-spinning body may be coupled to the drive axle by a rotational damper.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An anti-skate device for a motor vehicle, comprising:
a free-spinning body having an axis of rotation that is generally perpendicular to a drive axle of the vehicle, wherein the free-spinning body is coupled to the drive axle via a rotational damper, and wherein, during a vehicle skate event, the free-spinning body is configured to rotate in response to rotation of the drive axle in a direction opposite to the rotation of the drive axle.

2. The anti-skate device of claim 1 , wherein the axis of rotation of the free-spinning body is substantially parallel to a propeller shaft that transmits a force to the drive axle.

3. The anti-skate device of claim 2 , wherein the free-spinning body is coupled to a differential housing located at an intersection of the drive axle and the propeller shaft.

4. The anti-skate device of claim 3 , wherein the rotational damper comprises a viscous interface between the free-spinning body and the differential housing.

5. The anti-skate device of claim 4 , wherein the viscous interface comprises a viscous fluid.

6. The anti-skate device of claim 5 , wherein the viscous fluid comprises a silicone fluid.

7. The anti-skate device of claim 6 , wherein the silicone fluid comprises polydimethylsiloxane.

8. The anti-skate device of claim 1 , wherein the free-spinning body is coupled to the drive axle by a connecting shaft or a connecting linkage.

9. The anti-skate device of claim 1 , wherein the free-spinning body is connected to an additional mass by a connecting shaft or a connecting linkage to increase an effective inertial mass of the free-spinning mass.

10. The anti-skate device of claim 9 , wherein the connecting linkage comprises a pair of intersecting crown gears that are angled with respect to one another to transmit a rotational movement of the free-spinning mass to a different plane of rotation.

11. The anti-skate device of claim 10 , wherein the pair of intersecting crown gears intersect at a 90 degree angle.

12. The anti-skate device of claim 10 , wherein the pair of intersecting crown gears have a gear ratio that further increases the effective inertial mass of the free-spinning mass.

13. A method of reducing a magnitude of an axle tramp motion of a motor vehicle, comprising:
coupling a rotational damping component to a drive axle of the motor vehicle; and
applying a coupling torque between the rotational damping component and the drive axle that is proportional to a velocity of the axle tramp motion.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein coupling the rotational damping component to the drive axle comprises coupling a free-spinning mass or a flywheel to the drive axle.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein coupling the rotational damping component to the drive axle comprises coupling the rotational damping component to a differential housing of the drive axle.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein coupling the rotational damping component to the drive axle comprises selectively coupling the rotational damping component to the drive axle based on a detected velocity of the drive axle.

17. The anti-skate device of claim 1 , wherein, during the vehicle skate event, the free-spinning body is configured to rotate in response to the rotation of the drive axle to reduce a magnitude of an axle tramp motion of the drive axle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• De Vlugt Alexander Rein
• Ohra-Aho Lauri Mikael
• Johnson Simon

Classifications

• B60G2500/10

  Damping action or damper · CPC title

• B60G9/00 Primary

  Resilient suspensions of a rigid axle or axle housing for two or more wheels {(the axle being a part of a set of tandem axles B60G5/00-B60G5/065; with leaf springs B60G11/02-B60G11/08)} · CPC title

• B60G2401/28

  Gyroscopes · CPC title

• B60G2202/22

  Rotary Damper · CPC title

• B60G13/18

  combined with energy-absorbing means · CPC title