JPH06199141A - Motive power transmitting device for four-wheel drive vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To restrain a windup phenomenon around axles on the engine arranged side, and uniformize weight distribution of front and rear wheels. CONSTITUTION:An engine 1 and a transmission 3 are arranged transversely in series to each other in the vicinity of either one of front and rear axles 12L and 12R, and a clutch 4 is arranged between the engine and the transmission. Output from the transmission is transmitted to one axle, and is also transmitted to the other axles 16L and 16R through a transfer shaft 26 and a propeller shaft 14. The first ring gear 21 to receive output from the transmission and the second ring gear 22 to transmit motive power to the transfer shaft from the ring gear are arranged in parallel with each other on the axles 12L and 12R on the engine arranged side, and the second ring gear is arranged on the more engine side than the clutch. A friction clutch to cut off transmission of output from the transmission 3 is arranged in an end part on the opposite side of the engine arranged side of the propeller shaft. A case 32a of the friction clutch is arranged integrally with a housing 15a of a differential device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle, and more particularly, in the vicinity of either the front or rear axle.
The present invention relates to an engine and a transmission that are arranged laterally and serially with their axes oriented in the vehicle width direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-286835, an engine and a transmission are provided near the axle of a front wheel. Horizontally oriented in the width direction and arranged in series, a power transmission variable device such as a clutch and a torque converter is provided between the engine and the transmission, and the output from the transmission is transmitted to the axle of the front wheels. At the same time, it is known that a transmission shaft arranged in parallel with the axle and a propeller shaft extending in the vehicle front-rear direction are transmitted to the rear axle.

In the above-mentioned publication, the power transmission from the transmission to the transfer shaft is integrated with the output gear provided on the output shaft of the transmission and the differential case for the front wheel differential on the front wheel axle. And a transfer gear provided on the transfer shaft and engaged with the output gear, and a transfer gear provided on the transfer shaft and engaged with the ring gear. However, this structure has a problem that the rotational speed of the transfer shaft or the propeller shaft cannot be freely set without changing the gear ratio between the output gear and the ring gear, that is, the final gear ratio of the front wheels.

On the other hand, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-163828, a first ring gear that meshes with an output gear provided on an output shaft of the transmission is provided on the front wheel axle on the transmission side on the front wheel axle. Second ring gears that mesh with the transfer gears provided on the transfer shaft are respectively provided on the engine side of the vehicle, and the power is transmitted to the front wheel side via the first ring gears, and the first and second ring gears are transmitted. A structure is disclosed in which power is transmitted to the rear wheel side via the. According to this structure, the rotational speed of the transfer shaft or the propeller shaft can be freely set by changing the gear ratio between the second ring gear and the transfer gear regardless of the final gear ratio of the front wheels. Also,
Since the first ring gear and the second ring gear are provided separately on both left and right sides of the axle, there is also an advantage that it is possible to contribute to equalizing the ground load of the left and right wheels.

[0005]

However, in the latter structure (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-163828), since the first ring gear is arranged on the engine side of the front wheel axle, the front wheel for accommodating this gear is arranged. The housing of the vehicle differential device has a large length in the vehicle width direction and is large in size as a whole. Since this housing needs to have a certain level of strength, the wall thickness must be set thick, so that the weight of the housing becomes considerably larger than that of the former structure (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-286835). Therefore, when a friction clutch as a 2-4 switching clutch for switching between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive is further provided to this housing, the overhang amount around the front wheel axle of the entire device including this friction clutch is increased. Is increased, and there is a problem that a wind-up phenomenon around the front wheel axle remarkably occurs during braking or driving.

Further, in the conventional power transmission device, since most of the components of the conventional power transmission device are arranged in a biased manner toward the front wheels, there is a problem that the weight distribution of the front and rear wheels becomes uneven.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to install a friction clutch on a propeller shaft by appropriately setting the location of the friction clutch to wind up around an axle. An object of the present invention is to provide a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle capable of suppressing the phenomenon and making the weight distribution of the front and rear wheels uniform.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle, including an engine and a transmission in the vicinity of one of the front and rear axles. The shafts are horizontally placed in the vehicle width direction and arranged in series, and a power transmission variable device is provided between the engine and the transmission. The output from the transmission is transmitted to the one axle, and is also transmitted to the other axle via a transfer shaft arranged in parallel with the axle and a propeller shaft extending in the vehicle front-rear direction. A first ring gear that receives an output from the transmission and a second ring gear that transmits power from the ring gear to the transfer shaft are provided in parallel on the axle on which the engine and the transmission are arranged, and The second ring gear is arranged on the engine side of the power transmission variable device. And
A friction clutch for cutting off the transmission of the output from the transmission is arranged at the end of the propeller shaft opposite to the side where the engine is arranged.

The invention according to claim 2 is dependent on the invention according to claim 1, and in order to reduce the number of parts at the time of assembly, the case of the friction clutch is provided on the side opposite to the engine arrangement side. It is configured so as to be integrally provided with the housing of the wheel differential device.

[0010]

With the above construction, in the invention according to claim 1,
The friction clutch, which is a heavy load, is provided at the end of the propeller shaft opposite to the engine installation side and is separated from the wheel differential on the engine installation side. On the other hand, the friction clutch is not involved and contributes to the suppression of the windup phenomenon. In addition, the arrangement of the friction clutch also suppresses the weight from being unevenly applied to the wheels on the engine arrangement side.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which an output shaft 2 is disposed horizontally in an engine room at the front of the vehicle body with the output shaft 2 oriented in the vehicle width direction. The engine 3 is a transmission that is arranged laterally in series in the axial direction of the output shaft 2 of the engine 1.
A clutch 4 as a power transmission variable device that cuts off the transmission of the engine output from the engine 1 to the transmission 3 is provided between the transmission 3 and the transmission 3.

The transmission 3 is a manual gear transmission, and is provided on the same axis as the output shaft 2 of the engine 1, and has an input shaft 5 for receiving engine output via a clutch 4 and the input shaft 5. And an output shaft 6 arranged in parallel with each other, and a plurality of sets of gear trains 7, 7 provided between the input / output shafts 5, 6 from among the gear trains 7, 7 ,. The engine output is shifted by selectively transmitting power through one gear train. The engine output shifted by the transmission 3 is output from an output gear 8 provided at the clutch side end of the output shaft 6 via a front wheel differential device 11 to the left and right front wheel axles 12L, 12R or left and right wheels. The transfer mechanism 1 is transmitted to the front wheels (not shown).
3, transmitted to the left and right rear wheel axles 16L and 16R or the left and right rear wheels (not shown) via the propeller shaft 14 and the rear wheel differential device 15.

On the axes of the front wheel axles 12L and 12R, there are provided a first ring gear 21 which meshes with an output gear 8 of the transmission 3 and receives an output from the transmission 3, and the ring gear 21.
From the second transfer mechanism 13 to the transfer mechanism 13
And the ring gear 22 are provided in parallel. First above
The ring gear 21 is provided on the outer periphery of the central portion of the differential case 11a of the front wheel differential device 11 so as to rotate integrally therewith,
Further, it is arranged closer to the transmission 3 than the clutch 4 (on the left side of the vehicle body in the figure). The second ring gear 22 is disposed on the engine 1 side (the right side of the vehicle body in the figure) with respect to the clutch 4 and has a sleeve 23 disposed on the outer periphery of the front wheel axle 12R so as to rotate integrally with the differential case 11a. It is connected to the differential case 11a via the. Therefore, the transmission 1
When the first ring gear 21 rotates due to the output from
The differential case 11a and the second ring gear 22 of the front wheel differential device 11 rotate integrally therewith, whereby the output from the transmission 1 is transmitted to the front wheel differential device 11 via the first ring gear 21. At the same time, it is transmitted to the transfer mechanism 13 via the first and second ring gears 21 and 22.

The transfer mechanism 13 is fixed to one end of the transfer shaft 26 and a transfer shaft 26 arranged in the vehicle width direction in parallel with the front wheel axle 12R.
A gear 27 that meshes with the second ring gear 22 and a longitudinally extending substantially central portion of the vehicle body in the vehicle width direction are provided to extend the rotational force of the transfer shaft 26 into a pair of bevel gears 28 a, 2 a.
And a rotating shaft 29 that receives and rotates via 8b.

The propeller shaft 14 is connected to the rotary shaft 29 of the transfer mechanism 13 via a universal joint 31 or a rubber coupling. A friction clutch 32 that cuts off the transmission of power from the transmission 3 side to the rear wheel side is arranged between the rear wheel side end portion of the propeller shaft 14 and the rear wheel differential device 15 side. The friction clutch 32 is a hydraulically operated type in which the connection / disconnection is performed by hydraulic pressure, and the case 32 thereof is
The a is integrally formed with the housing 15a of the rear wheel differential device 15 by integrally molding or rigidly coupling.

Therefore, in the above embodiment, when the friction clutch 32, which is a heavy object, is provided on the propeller shaft 14, the friction clutch 32 is provided at the rear wheel side end portion of the propeller shaft 32, which is on the engine arrangement side. By separating the front wheel differential device 11, the front wheel axle 12
The friction clutch 32 does not participate in the windup phenomenon around L and 12R, so that the windup phenomenon can be suppressed.

Further, since the engine 1 and the transmission 3, which are the main equipment of the power transmission device, are arranged in the vicinity of the front wheel axles 12L and 12R, the distribution of the vehicle weight between the front wheels and the rear wheels is distributed. Although it becomes non-uniform, the non-uniform weight distribution can be corrected by disposing the friction clutch 32 near the rear wheel.

Further, the friction clutch 32 as in the present embodiment.
The case 32a of the housing 1 of the rear wheel differential device 15
In the case where the power transmission device is assembled to the vehicle body, it is sufficient to assemble the differential device 15 and the friction clutch 32, which are previously integrated, into the vehicle body as one unit when the power transmission device is assembled to the vehicle body. Can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the manual gear transmission is used as the transmission 3 and the clutch 4 is used as the power transmission variable device. However, the present invention uses an automatic transmission as the transmission. The same can be applied to the case where a torque converter is used for each variable power transmission device.

In the above embodiment, the case where the engine 1 and the transmission 3 are arranged laterally and in series on the front wheel axles 12L and 12R on the front part of the vehicle body has been described. It is needless to say that the transmission 3 can be similarly applied to a four-wheel drive vehicle in which the transmission 3 is horizontally arranged in series on the rear wheel axles 16L and 16R on the rear side of the vehicle body.

[0022]

As described above, according to the power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle of the present invention, a friction clutch is provided at the end of the propeller shaft opposite to the engine arrangement side. The amount of overhang can be reduced to suppress the wind-up phenomenon and contribute to uniform weight distribution of the front and rear wheels.

In particular, according to the second aspect of the invention, the case of the friction clutch is provided integrally with the housing of the wheel differential device on the side opposite to the engine arrangement side.
There is also an effect that the number of parts when assembling the power transmission device to the vehicle body can be reduced and the assembling property can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a skeleton diagram of a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Engine 3 Transmission 4 Clutch (Variable Power Transmission) 12L, 12R Front Wheel Axle 14 Propeller Shaft 15 Rear Wheel Differential 15a Housing 16L, 16R Rear Wheel Axle 21 First Ring Gear 22 Second Ring Gear 26 26 Transfer Shaft 32 Friction clutch 32a Case

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An engine and a transmission are arranged in the vicinity of either one of the front and rear axles in a horizontal position with their axles oriented in the vehicle width direction and in series, and power is transmitted between the engine and the transmission. A variable device is provided, and the output from the transmission is transmitted to the one axle and the other axle via a transfer axle arranged in parallel with the axle and a propeller shaft extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction. In a power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle configured to be transmitted to a vehicle, a first ring gear that receives an output from the transmission is provided on an axle on which the engine and the transmission are arranged, and A second ring gear that transmits power to the transfer shaft is provided in parallel, and the second ring gear is arranged on the engine side of the variable power transmission device. The opposite end to the engine arranged side Yafuto power transmission system for a four wheel drive vehicle, wherein a friction clutch for interrupting is arranged the transmission of output from the transmission. 2. The power transmission device for a four-wheel drive vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the case of the friction clutch is provided integrally with the housing of the wheel differential device on the side opposite to the engine arrangement side.