JPH0356925B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a four-wheel drive vehicle equipped with a so-called horizontally mounted engine whose crankshaft is arranged so as to extend in the left-right direction of the vehicle body.

(Prior art) Generally, in a four-wheel drive vehicle, the engine is arranged so that its crankshaft extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and the transmission is arranged so that its input shaft and output shaft extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. death,
A transfer is added to the transmission, which divides the engine's driving force into two parts between the propeller shaft for the front wheels and the propeller shaft for the rear wheels, and transmits it to the front differential and rear differential. What drives it is known.

However, four-wheel drive vehicles with such vertically mounted engines have the problem of not being able to provide a large cabin space, so in recent years, four-wheel drive vehicles with transversely mounted engines that do not have this problem have been developed.
Several wheel drive vehicles have been proposed.

For example, a center differential consisting of a group of planetary gears is installed coaxially with a front differential, and the output from the transmission is received by the pinion carrier of the center differential. One that outputs to one side of the bevel gear (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 56-154328),
There is one that receives the output from the transmission through the ring gear of the center differential and outputs the output from the pinion carrier of the center differential to one of a pair of bevel gears for driving the rear wheels (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-41216).

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, with this structure, the output is received at a reduced speed from the drive gear provided on the output shaft of the transmission, so the center differential becomes large and the overall space is taken up. There was a problem that it was subject to restrictions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a four-wheel drive vehicle in which the center differential can be designed compactly, the entire vehicle can be made more compact, and the vehicle does not protrude toward the passenger compartment side. It is something.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the solving means of the present invention includes an engine arranged such that the crankshaft extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle body, an output shaft having an input shaft and a drive gear. It is equipped with a transmission arranged in the left-right direction of the vehicle body, a center differential that differentially operates between the front wheels and the rear wheels, and a front differential that differentially operates the left and right front wheels. The center differential is disposed coaxially with the output shaft of the transmission, and has two output members: an input member that inputs driving force and an output member that outputs driving force. The front differential is provided with its axis offset from the center differential, and is configured such that a power gear member that inputs driving force to the front differential is connected to one of the output members of the center differential. moreover,
The vehicle is provided with a pair of bevel gears that transmit driving force to the rear wheel drive shaft, and one of the bevel gears is configured to mesh with the other output member from which the driving force is output from the center differential.

(Function) As a result, in the present invention, since the center differential is arranged coaxially with the output shaft of the transmission,
Since the center differential does not perform deceleration, the center differential can be made smaller, and since it moves away from the vehicle interior, there is no interference with the vehicle interior.

Furthermore, by offsetting the center differential and the front differential, the degree of freedom in layout increases.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Example 1> In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is an engine,
A crankshaft 2 is arranged at the front of the vehicle body so as to extend in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. Reference numeral 3 denotes a transmission, and the transmission 3 is disposed within a casing 4, and includes an input shaft 6 to which the crankshaft 2 is connected via a clutch means 5, and an output shaft to which a center differential 7 is arranged coaxially. 8 are arranged side by side in the left and right direction of the vehicle body.

The input shaft 6 is provided with a first speed gear 9, a reverse gear 10, and a second speed gear 1 from the clutch means 5 side.
1, a third speed gear 12, and a fourth speed gear 13 are fixedly installed in this order.

On the other hand, the output shaft 8 is formed in a hollow shape, and the gear 1 meshes with each of the gears 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
4, 15, 16, 17, and 18 are fixed in this order, and synchronizing mechanisms 19 and 20 are provided between gears 14 and 15 and gears 17 and 18.

A rotary shaft 21 protruding from both sides of the output shaft 8 is rotatably inserted into the output shaft 8. A driving gear 23 is integrally formed with one protruding portion of the rotary shaft 21, and a driving gear 23 is integrally formed with one protruding portion of the rotary shaft 21, and A sun gear 24, which is one of the output members of the center differential 7, is fixed to a portion (near the end of the output shaft 8).

Planetary pinion 25 meshing with sun gear 24
is a double pinion type consisting of a pair of pinions 26 and 27 that mesh with each other, one pinion 2
6 meshes with the sun gear 24, and the other pinion 27 meshes with the ring gear 28. This ring gear 28
The base of is the end of the output shaft 8 (4th speed gear 13 side)
It is fixedly installed.

Further, the pinion carrier 29, which is the other output member that supports the planetary pinion 25,
Disc portion 29a that supports each pinion 26, 27
and a cylindrical portion 29b extending along the rotating shaft 21 are arranged in series. The pinion carrier 29 is connected to the rotating shaft 2
It is possible to rotate with respect to 1.

Further, on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 29b of the pinion carrier 29, a drive gear member 33 that meshes with a transmission gear 32 formed integrally with the offset shaft 31 is rotatably provided.

At the end of the cylindrical portion 29b of the pinion carrier 29, there is a 2-4
A support member 35 is fixedly engaged with the switching sleeve 34 so as to be movable in the axial direction. The 2-4 switching sleeve 34 has a two-wheel drive position where it engages only with the support member 35, that is, the pinion carrier 29, and an engagement portion 33a between the support member 35 and the drive gear member 33.
The four-wheel drive position is engaged with the four-wheel drive position and is moved by operating means (not shown). In addition, in the two-wheel drive position, the rear differential 36 and both rear wheels 3
7, 38 is released, so that the members between the 2-4 switching sleeve 34 and both rear wheels 37, 38 do not move.

Furthermore, a support member 40 is fixedly provided at the end of the rotating shaft 21, and a differential sleeve 39 is engaged with the outer periphery of the support member 40 so as to be movable in the axial direction. This differential sleeve 39 is an operating means (not shown).
, between the lock position where the pinion carrier 29 and the rotating shaft 21 are integrally fixed by engaging the support member 40 and the support member 35 and the unlocked position where the pinion carrier 29 and the rotating shaft 21 are engaged with only the support member 40. , adapted to move in the axial direction. Therefore, when the differential sleeve 39 is set to the lock position, the center differential 7 is fixed and immovable, and the center differential 7 is fixed and immovable.
When one wheel is idling, driving force is prevented from escaping through the idling wheel, and appropriate driving force can be distributed to all wheels.

41 is the front differential, front differential case 4
A transmission gear member 44 is fixed to the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 2 via fittings 43, 43, and the transmission gear member 44 meshes with the drive gear 23 of the rotating shaft 21. Inside the front differential case 42, there is a pair of bevel gears 46, 47 that are arranged opposite to each other along a short axis 45 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and another pair of bevel gears 46, 47 that are arranged oppositely on the left and right so as to mesh with the pair of bevel gears 46, 47. A bevel gear group consisting of bevel gears 48 and 49 is arranged.

One end of front wheel drive shafts 52, 53 is connected to the pair of left and right bevel gears 48, 49 via joints 50, 51, and another joint 54, 55 is connected to the other end of the front wheel drive shafts 52, 53. It is connected to left and right front wheels 56, 57 via.

A bevel gear 58 is fixed to the other end of the shaft 31, which has a transmission gear 32 at one end that meshes with the drive gear member 33. The bevel gear 61 is meshed. These pair of bevel gears 5
Drive force is transmitted to rear wheel drive shafts 73 and 74 by 8 and 61.

A bevel gear 63 of the rear differential 36 is connected to the rear end of the propeller shaft 59 via a joint 62. This bevel gear 63 has a pair of bevel gears 6
A large bevel gear 66 supporting gears 4 and 65 meshes,
Another pair of bevel gears 67 and 68 are disposed oppositely on the left and right so as to mesh with the bevel gears 64 and 65. The left and right bevel gears 67, 68 have joints 69, 70.
One end of the rear wheel drive shafts 73, 74 is connected to the other end of the drive shaft 73, 74 via a joint 7.
The left and right rear wheels 37 and 38 are connected via 1 and 72.

With the above configuration, the driving force output from the engine 1 is inputted to the input shaft 6 of the transmission 3 via the clutch means 5, and after being suitably shifted, is transmitted to the output shaft 8. The signal is output to the ring gear 28 of the center differential 7 integrally provided on the shaft 8.

The driving force input to the ring gear 28 is distributed to the sun gear 24 and a pinion carrier 29 that supports the planetary pinion 25 in the center differential 7 . The center differential 7 functions as a differential device, and includes a pinion carrier 29 that drives the rear differential 36 and a sun gear 24 that drives the front differential 41.
It is designed to absorb and alleviate the rotational speed difference between the two.

Thus, the driving force distributed and transmitted to the sun gear 24 is transmitted to the short shaft 45 of the front differential case 42 via the rotating shaft 21 and the drive gear 23, and is transmitted to a pair of bevel gears 46, 47 supported by the short shaft 45. and another pair of bevel gears 48 and 49 meshing with these, the left and right front wheels 5
6,57 are driven.

On the other hand, the driving force distributed and transmitted to the pinion carrier 29 is such that when the 2-4 switching sleeve 34 is in the 4-wheel drive position, the shaft 31 is rotationally driven by the engagement between the drive gear member 33 and the transmission gear 32. Through the meshing of the bevel gear 58 and another bevel gear 61, the signal is transmitted to the rear differential 36 via the propeller shaft 59, and is distributed to the left and right to drive the left and right rear wheels 37, 38.

<Example 2> As shown in FIG. 3, a rear wheel drive drive gear 81 that meshes with a transmission gear 32 fixed to a shaft 31 is integrally formed coaxially with a pinion carrier 29 that constitutes a center differential 7. has been done.

The differential sleeve 39, which is movably engaged in the axial direction with the support member 40 fixed to the end of the rotating shaft 21, has an engaging portion 81a adjacent to the drive gear 81 and integral with the pinion carrier 29. Engageable.

Note that other constituent elements are the same as those in Example 1, so the same reference numerals are used for the same constituent elements, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the engine 1 is disposed at the front of the vehicle body has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a case where the engine is disposed at the rear of the vehicle body.

Further, in the above embodiment, driving force is input to the center differential 7 from the ring gear 28, and the driving force is transmitted from the pinion carrier 29 to the rear differential 36 and from the sun gear 24 to the front differential 41. It is also possible to transmit the driving force to the rear differential 36 and the pinion carrier 29 to the front differential 41.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention arranges the center differential coaxially with the output shaft of the transmission, so that the center differential can be made smaller because the center differential does not perform deceleration, and it can be moved away from the passenger compartment. Since there is no interference with the vehicle interior, it is possible to make the vehicle more compact.

Furthermore, by offsetting the center differential and the front differential, the degree of freedom in layout can be expanded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention.
The figure is a diagram schematically showing the drive system of Example 1 in skeleton form, Figure 2 is a diagram specifically showing the main parts of Example 1, and Figure 3 is the same as Figure 2 of Example 2. This is a diagram. 1...Engine, 2...Crankshaft, 3...Transmission, 6...Input shaft, 7...Center differential, 8...
Output shaft, 24... Sun gear, 25... Planetary pinion, 28... Ring gear, 29... Pinion carrier, 31... Shaft, 32... Transmission gear, 33... Drive gear member, 34... 2-4 switching sleeve, 36... Rear differential, 39... Differential differential sleeve, 41...Front differential, 42...Front differential case, 58, 61...
Bevel gear, 81...driving gear.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An engine arranged so that the crankshaft extends in the left-right direction of the vehicle body, a transmission in which an input shaft and an output shaft having a drive gear are arranged in the left-right direction of the vehicle body, and front wheels and rear wheels. and a front differential that differentially operates the left and right front wheels, the center differential being disposed coaxially with the output shaft of the transmission and inputting driving force. The front differential has an input member and two output members that output driving force, and the front differential is provided with its axis offset from the center differential, and a power gear member that inputs the driving force to the front differential and the center differential. The output member is configured to be connected to one of the output members of the output member, and further includes a pair of bevel gears that transmit driving force to the rear wheel drive shaft, and the output member that outputs the driving force from one of the bevel gears and the center differential. A four-wheel drive vehicle characterized in that the four-wheel drive vehicle is configured to mesh with the other.