Motor vehicle differential comprising a housing provided with oil recovery means

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9890848-B2
Application number	US-201314441281-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2013
Priority date	Nov 13, 2012
Publication date	Feb 13, 2018
Grant date	Feb 13, 2018

Abstract

A motor vehicle differential including a housing holding a differential mechanism including a ring gear attached to a cage of planetary gears, the housing including a first half-housing that is configured to accommodate the cage of gears and at least a part of the ring gear, and a second half-housing closing the first half-housing, the first half-housing including a chamber that accommodates at least a part of the ring gear, and that includes at least a main transverse wall adjacent to a transverse face of the ring gear. The first half-housing includes a mechanism recovering the oil splashed onto the wall and a mechanism redirecting the recovered oil to the cage of planetary gears.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor vehicle differential comprising:
a casing and a substantially axial differential mechanism, which is supported in the casing by two opposing bearings and which includes at least one ring gear adjoining a cage of planetary gears,
the casing including a first half-casing which includes a first bearing and which is configured to accommodate the cage of gears and at least a part of the ring gear, and a second half-casing which includes a second bearing and which is configured to close the first half-casing,
the first half-casing including at least one housing configured to accommodate the cage of gears and a chamber, into which the housing opens, the chamber accommodating at least a part of the ring gear, and including at least a main transverse wall adjacent to a transverse face of the ring gear, and
the first half-casing includes:
a means for recovering oil thrown onto the wall by the ring gear comprising a first recess which is recessed to a first depth with respect to the main transverse wall, and
a means for redirecting the recovered oil toward the cage of planetary gears, said means for redirecting comprising a second recess which is recessed to a second depth with respect to the main transverse wall, said second depth being smaller than said first depth.

2. The motor vehicle differential as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first recess opens into the main transverse wall and includes two axial radial walls, one transverse radial wall, and two interior and exterior tangential walls, which delimit an oil reservoir.

3. The motor vehicle differential as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the second recess is adjoining the first recess and communicating with the first recess, and includes a passage facing toward the cage of planetary gears.

4. The differential as claimed in claim 2 , wherein a rib arranged in an extension of a first axial radial wall projects from the main wall to collect the thrown oil and to direct the thrown oil into the reservoir of the first recess.

5. The differential as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a second axial radial wall extends radially for a reduced part of the radial dimension of the recess, to delimit, together with an opposite exterior tangential wall, an oil passageway communicating with the second recess.

6. The differential as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the second recess opens into the main wall and includes:
the second axial radial wall common with the first recess as said radial wall in common,
a transverse radial wall,
an exterior tangential wall,
a passage facing toward the axis of the mechanism,
a third axial wall, which includes an axial radial exterior part and an interior part forming a predetermined angle with the radial direction, of which an interior edge coincides with at least one edge of the passage, to channel the recovered oil toward the cage of planetary gears.

7. The differential as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the interior part of the third axial wall of the second recess forms an angle of substantially 10 degrees with the radial direction.

8. The differential as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the passage formed in the interior tangential wall exhibits substantially a form of a trapezoidal cutout including a tangential edge and two edges, of which one coincides with the interior edge of the interior part of the third axial wall.

9. A motor vehicle differential comprising:
a casing and a substantially axial differential mechanism, which is supported in the casing by two opposing bearings and which includes at least one ring gear adjoining a cage of planetary gears,
the casing including a first half-casing which includes a first bearing and which is configured to accommodate the cage of gears and at least a part of the ring gear, and a second half-casing which includes a second bearing and which is configured to close the first half-casing,
the first half-casing including at least one housing configured to accommodate the cage of gears and a chamber, into which the housing opens, the chamber accommodating at least a part of the ring gear, and including at least a main transverse wall adjacent to a transverse face of the ring gear, and
the first half-casing includes:
a means for recovering oil thrown onto the wall by the ring gear, and
a means for redirecting the recovered oil toward the cage of planetary gears, said means for redirecting having a radial wall is common with the means for recovering,
wherein the means for recovering the oil includes a first recess, which opens into the main wall, and which includes two axial radial walls, one transverse radial wall, and two interior and exterior tangential walls, which delimit an oil reservoir.

10. A motor vehicle differential comprising:
a casing and a substantially axial differential mechanism, which is supported in the casing by two opposing bearings and which includes at least one ring gear adjoining a cage of planetary gears,
the casing including a first half-casing which includes a first bearing and which is configured to accommodate the cage of gears and at least a pan of the ring gear, and a second half-casing which includes a second bearing and which is configured to close the first half-casing,
the first half-casing including at least one housing configured to accommodate the cage of gears and a chamber, into which the housing opens, the chamber accommodating at least a part of the ring gear, and including at least a main transverse wall adjacent to a transverse face of the ring gear, and
the first half-casing includes:
a means for recovering oil thrown onto the wall by the ring gear, and
a means for redirecting the recovered oil toward the cage of planetary gears, said means for redirecting having a radial wall is common with the means for recovering,
wherein the means for recovering the oil includes a first recess, which opens into the main wall, and which includes two axial radial walls, one transverse radial wall, and two interior and exterior tangential walls, which delimit an oil reservoir,
wherein the means for redirecting the recovered oil includes a second recess, adjoining the first recess, communicating with the first recess, which includes a passage facing toward the cage of planetary gears.

Assignees

• Renault Sas

Inventors

• Girardot Vincent
• Coulon Damien
• Leleu Mathieu

Classifications

• F16H57/0483 Primary

  Axle or inter-axle differentials · CPC title

• F16H57/0471

  Bearing · CPC title

• F16H57/0457

  Splash lubrication · CPC title

• F16H57/0423 Primary

  Lubricant guiding means mounted or supported on the casing, e.g. shields or baffles for collecting lubricant, tubes or pipes · CPC title

• F16H48/08

  comprising bevel gears · CPC title