KR20020022714A - Cross assembly for drive line joint and corresponding drive line joint - Google Patents

Abstract

The spider assembly for the universal joint comprises a spider 1 with a hub 2 having a plurality of protruding arms 3, each arm having a cylindrical movable surface 12 and an end cap 11, each arm 3. A wheel 5 mounted to rotate and slide through a set of needles 4), and a member for retaining each wheel and needle set on the arm, the retaining member having an elastic split ring 8. It consists of. The present invention can be applied to a three-constant type constant velocity joint used in an automobile transmission.

Description

Spider Assembly for Universal Joint and Corresponding Universal Joint {CROSS ASSEMBLY FOR DRIVE LINE JOINT AND CORRESPONDING DRIVE LINE JOINT}

In universal joints including spider assemblies of this kind, once the joint is assembled, a wheel is held in the orbit of the female member of the joint. Thus, when the joints are provided in an assembled state, wheels cannot escape their arms.

In contrast, in some cases, a spider fitted with wheels and needles needs to be separated from the female member and provided to the automobile assembly line. And means for retaining each wheel on the arm need to be provided.

Conventional wheel retention techniques (see eg GI joints sold by GKN Glaenzer Spicer) use an axial retaining ring with two functions to hold the needle and retain the wheel.

In the needle retaining portion the ring is annular and closed and in the wheel retaining portion the ring has one or more tabs that project radially outwardly.

The ring is mounted to move axially on the arm. It is associated with a split-ring clip that is clipped into a groove placed at the end of the arm, which clip allows for mounting and maintenance of the ring. Once mounted, the ring is held between the needles and the clip is open. The retaining ring is cup-shaped such that the wheel retaining tab is offset toward the free end of the arm in the axial direction with respect to the needle retaining surface such that the wheel slides in the axial direction during operation.

Due to space constraints, the shape of the ring is such that the cylindrical middle part covers the open clip when the needle is mounted. Therefore, it is mounted as follows. The retaining ring is screwed into the arm, the open clip is clipped into the groove, and the retaining ring slides toward the open clip, leaving room for the needle to be mounted later. Therefore, it is necessary to mount the wheel on the retaining tab of the ring. Therefore, the tab must allow the wheel to pass through the tab for mounting and be able to retain it after mounting. Therefore, the holding force is limited by the above two limitations, and the holding becomes "semi-positive".

The disadvantages of this structure are firstly the limited wheel holding force and secondly the high assembly cost.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a needle retaining means and a wheel retaining means that the wheels can be reliably retained even in the low cost and space constraints generally found in joints of the kind mentioned above.

The present invention relates to a spider assembly for universal joints of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1.

For example, the present invention is applied to three legged constant velocity joints used in automotive transmissions.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a spider assembly according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spider assembly shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 1, with the wheels in different positions;

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a spider assembly of the aforementioned kind further comprising the features described in the characterizing part of claim 1.

In a preferred embodiment, the spider assembly may further comprise one or more of the features described in claims 2 to 12 as dependent claims.

The invention also provides a female member comprising a universal joint comprising a spider assembly as defined above, and a raceway in which a wheel is received.

The invention may be better understood with reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings, which are provided merely by way of example.

1 shows a spider assembly for a trimodal constant speed universal joint. The spider assembly comprises an annular central body or hub (2) arranged on the XX axis assumed horizontally and three arms arranged radially projecting from the body or hub on the YY axis and spaced apart from each other at an angle of 120 °. A spider (1) consisting of (3), each arm (3) having a set of needles (4), a wheel (5) having a spherical outer surface (6) and a cylindrical bore (7), and retaining Has a ring (8).

The retaining ring 8 independently holds the needle 4 in the axial direction and also securely holds the wheel 5.

Hereinafter, the terms "bottom", "up", "bottom", "top" are used with respect to the XX axis and direction shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and "bottom" means a position adjacent to the XX axis. .

Similarly, the terms "inner" and "outer" are used with respect to the Y-Y axis, and "inner" means a position adjacent to the Y-Y axis.

The central bore 9 of the body 2 is mounted to an electric shaft (not shown) by a key. Each arm 3 has an annular retaining groove 10 about its Y-Y axis near its free end to separate the main part of the arm 3 from the end cap 11. Each cap 11 in turn comprises a bottom cylindrical portion 11A, a converging cone 11B, and an upper end portion 11C forming part of a spherical shape. The main part of the arm has a cylindrical running surface 12 about the Y-Y axis bounded towards the X-X axis near the shoulder 14 of the body 2. At the upper end, the movable surface 12 is bounded by an annular groove 10.

The needle 4 is housed in a space formed between the movable surface 12, the shoulder 14, and the ring 8 and rolls inside the movable surface 12 and the bore 7 of the wheel. The absence of the ring 8 thus allows the wheel and needle to slide out of the arm 3 supporting them by sliding outwards.

In order to prevent this and to ensure that the needle and the wheeled spider can be reliably handled, the ring 8 is described below, on the corresponding arm before the spider assembly is mounted in the female member of the joint, as follows. Provides a sure hold.

2 is a plan view of the arm 3 of FIG. 1 with a wheel 5, a cap 11, and a ring 8. The ring 8 has a vertical clearance 15 inclined at 45 ° to the radial direction and cut through at right angles through the cross section of the ring.

The ring 8 is preferably made of spring steel. The ring 8 has a main segment 20 which is cylindrical both inside and outside. When the ring is at rest the outer diameter of this segment 20 is smaller than the inner diameter of the wheel bore 7 and the inner diameter is slightly smaller than the surface 11A of the arm.

The ring 8 also has a circumferential bottom bead 21 extending inwardly at its bottom end and tightened toward the retaining groove 10 of the arm to hold the ring 8 axially on the arm.

The inner side 22 of the ring 8 elastically presses the cylindrical surface 11A of the cap 11 and extends upwards to almost the end of the arm 3. The upper surface 23 of the ring is conical and converges upwards. The bottom surface of the ring 8 forms the needle holding surface 24 and is conical and spreads upwards. In the longitudinal cross-sectional view (FIG. 3), the needle holding surface 24 forms a small angle α with the X-X axis, for example, 7 °.

The ring 8 has a wheel retaining rim 26 projecting outward from its outer periphery at the other end. This rim 26 is axially offset towards the upper end of the arm 3 with respect to the beads 21. The rim 26 is tapered downward with the bottom face 28 facing the wheel 5. The bottom face 28 is adapted to cooperate with the complementary tapered face 30 formed at the top of the cylindrical bore 7 of the wheel when the wheel is in the top position of the arm 3. In this position, as shown in FIG. 3, the cylindrical bore 7 covers the main segment 20 of the ring and the rim 26 is essentially received in the space defined by the tapered face 30 of the wheel. The rim 26 therefore does not prevent the tripod spider from freely moving inside the female member of the joint and does not interfere with the inner wall of the female member of the joint. Sphere 11C and cone surface 24 also reduce the size of the joint.

In order to be able to be assembled in this arrangement, the needle set 4 is first inserted together with the wheel 5 and then the ring 8 is elastically deformed and inserted. The conical portion 11B of the cap of the arm 3 further facilitates the mounting of the ring 8, which can be opened by pressing the ring 8 downward in the axial direction. It will then be understood that the ring 8 will securely hold the wheel 5 through the rim 26.

The bore 7 of the wheel 5 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the main segment 20 in the mounted state, but as long as the wheel is exerting a force on the ring 8, during assembling the joint or at an angle to the joint. The beads 21 are selected small enough to prevent them from exiting the retaining groove 10 during use. In addition, when the ring is at rest, the diameter of the cylindrical surface 11A is slightly larger than the diameter of the inner surface 22. This has the effect of preventing the gap 15 from being completely closed when the ring 8 is mounted to the arm 3. Nevertheless, these diameters should be chosen such that the clearance 15 is kept small enough to ensure that the needle 4 is not interrupted in operation.

In a variant, the diameter of the cylindrical surface 11A may be slightly smaller than the diameter of the inner surface 22 when the ring 8 is at rest, so that the ring is freely mounted on the arm and the gap 15 is closed while being mounted. do. In this variant, the diameter of the beads 21 should be chosen so that the ring does not come out of the groove 10 in operation.

Since the surfaces 24 and 28 of the ring are conical, the axial force exerted on the ring by the needles and wheels attempts to pinch the ring, thus improving the retention of the ring in the arm and thus increasing the width of the gap 15 during operation. Decrease.

In addition, by using the retaining ring as proposed in the present invention, it is possible to reinforce the retaining ring 8 by using a material equivalent to the clip, since the split clip used in the past is not used.

In a variant, the beads 21 and / or rims 26 may be discontinuous to increase the elasticity of the ring 8 and to facilitate insertion.

See above

Claims (13)

A spider (1) having a hub (2) for coupling to the shaft and a plurality of protruding arms (3), each arm having a cylindrical movable surface (12) and an end cap (11), a needle on each arm (3) (4) a spider assembly for universal joints having a wheel (5) mounted to rotate and slide through a set, and a member for holding the wheel (5) and needle (4) sets on the arm (3), The retaining member is fixed axially on the arm by snap engagement, and after mounting, the gap 15 in the ring 8 is zero or an elastic split ring 8 which is much smaller than the diameter of the needle. Spider assembly configured. The method of claim 1, The ring 8 is snapped into the groove 10 adjacent the movable surface 12 of the arm and the end face 24 of the ring facing towards the hub 2 is the free end of the arm 3. A spider assembly bordering a movable space for said needle. The method of claim 2, The end face (24) of the ring (8) facing towards the hub (2) is substantially conical and spreads toward the free end of the arm (3) in a mounted state. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The ring 8 comprises a cylindrical main segment 20 provided with a bead 21 that snaps around its inner circumference and a wheel retaining rim 26 around its outer circumference, wherein the bead 21 And a spider assembly axially offset such that the rim (26) is offset toward the free end of the arm (3) with the rim (26) mounted relative to each other. The method of claim 4, wherein The rim (26) of the ring (8) has a spider assembly (28) with a tapered face to face towards the hub (2). The method of claim 5, The wheel 5 has a tapered face 30 at its bore 7 end facing towards the free end of the arm 3, the tapered face being the tapered face of the rim 26 of the ring 8. Complementary spider assembly. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, The end cap 11 of the arm 3 has a substantially cone portion 11B spaced apart from the groove 10 by a cylinder portion 11A, and the small diameter of the cone portion 11B is the bead 21. A diameter of the cylindrical portion (11A) equal to the inner diameter of the main segment (20) when the ring is at rest. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, A spider assembly in which the sum of the radial widths of the main segment and the beads is greater than the difference between the bore (7) diameter of the wheel and the maximum diameter of the cap (11) of the arm (3). The method according to any one of claims 4 to 8, The beads (21) and / or the rims (26) are discontinuous. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, The end face of the ring (8) facing towards the free end of the arm (3) is a cone-shaped spider assembly that converges toward the free end of the arm (3) when mounted. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, The gap (15) of the ring (8) is a spider assembly oblique to the radial direction. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, Spider assembly, wherein the ring (8) is made of spring steel. A universal joint comprising a spider assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 12 and a female member having a trajectory in which the wheel is received.