Differential (mechanical device)

A differential is a device, usually but not necessarily employing gears, capable of transmitting torque and
rotation through three shafts, almost always used in one of two ways: in one way, it receives one input
and provides two outputs—this is found in most automobiles—and in the other way, it combines two
inputs to create an output that is the sum, difference, or average, of the inputs.

In automobiles and other wheeled vehicles, the differential allows each of the driving roadwheels to rotate
at different speeds, while for most vehicles supplying equal torque to each of them

Purpose
A vehicle's wheels rotate at different speeds, mainly when turning corners. The differential is designed to
drive a pair of wheels with equal torque while allowing them to rotate at different speeds. In vehicles
without a differential, such as karts, both driving wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed, usually on
a common axle driven by a simple chain-drive mechanism. When cornering, the inner wheel needs to
travel a shorter distance than the outer wheel, so with no differential, the result is the inner wheel spinning
and/or the outer wheel dragging, and this results in difficult and unpredictable handling, damage
to tires and roads, and strain on (or possible failure of) the entire drivetrain.

How Does an Automobile Differential Work?

The differential on a vehicle, be it a front- or rear-wheel drive, is the final gear reduction for the
transmission. It not only reduces the ratio, but supplies the engine power to the drive wheels. The picture
above illustrates the gear locations within the carrier.
 The power from the engine is transmitted through the pinion gear at the top. The pinion gear turns the
large ring gear, which changes the direction of the power 90 degrees so that it can be transmitted to the
wheels. The drawing depicts the axles and tires on both sides. These axles have splines on the ends, and
are inserted into the side gears in the differential (marked in yellow). The axles are held in the side gears
by the splines so that the side gear and axle move as one.
 The spider gears are the small gears in the top and bottom of the chunk. They are in between and
mesh with both side gears. When the vehicle is going straight, both axles turn at the same speed and the
spider gears do not rotate. All they do is lock up both axles so they turn at the same speed. When the
vehicle turns, the spider gears will rotate, allowing one axle to turn at a different speed than the other--
hence the name, "differential."
Functional description

A cutaway drawing of a car's rear axle, showing the crown wheel and pinion of the final drive, and the smaller differential
gears

The following description of a differential applies to a "traditional" rear-wheel-drive car or truck with an
"open" or limited slip differential:

Torque is supplied from the engine, via the transmission, to a drive shaft (British term: 'propeller shaft',
commonly and informally abbreviated to 'prop-shaft'), which runs to the final drive unit that contains the
differential. A spiral bevel pinion gear takes its drive from the end of the propeller shaft, and is encased
within the housing of the final drive unit. This meshes with the large spiral bevel ring gear, known as
the crown wheel. The crown wheel and pinion may mesh in hypoid orientation, not shown. The crown
wheel gear is attached to the differential carrier or cage, which contains the 'sun' and 'planet' wheels or
gears, which are a cluster of four opposed bevel gears in perpendicular plane, so each bevel gear
meshes with two neighbours, and rotates counter to the third, that it faces and does not mesh with. The
two sun wheel gears are aligned on the same axis as the crown wheel gear, and drive the axle half
shafts connected to the vehicle's driven wheels. The other two planet gears are aligned on a
perpendicular axis which changes orientation with the ring gear's rotation. In the two figures shown
above, only one planet gear (green) is illustrated, however, most automotive applications contain two
opposing planet gears. Other differential designs employ different numbers of planet gears, depending on
durability requirements. As the differential carrier rotates, the changing axis orientation of the planet gears
imparts the motion of the ring gear to the motion of the sun gears by pushing on them rather than turning
against them (that is, the same teeth stay in the same mesh or contact position), but because the planet
gears are not restricted from turning against each other, within that motion, the sun gears can counter-
rotate relative to the ring gear and to each other under the same force (in which case the same teeth do
not stay in contact).
Thus, for example, if the car is making a turn to the right, the main crown wheel may make 10 full
rotations. During that time, the left wheel will make more rotations because it has further to travel, and the
right wheel will make fewer rotations as it has less distance to travel. The sun gears (which drive the axle
half-shafts) will rotate in opposite directions relative to the ring gear by, say, 2 full turns each (4 full turns
relative to each other), resulting in the left wheel making 12 rotations, and the right wheel making 8
rotations.

The rotation of the crown wheel gear is always the average of the rotations of the side sun gears. This is
why, if the driven roadwheels are lifted clear of the ground with the engine off, and the drive shaft is held
(say leaving the transmission 'in gear', preventing the ring gear from turning inside the differential),
manually rotating one driven roadwheel causes the opposite roadwheel to rotate in the opposite direction
by the same amount.

When the vehicle is traveling in a straight line, there will be no differential movement of the planetary
system of gears other than the minute movements necessary to compensate for slight differences in
wheel diameter, undulations in the road (which make for a longer or shorter wheel path), etc.

The differential has three jobs:

1)To aim the engine power at the wheels

2)To act as the final gear reduction in the vehicle, slowing the rotational speed of
the transmission one final time before it hits the wheels

3)To transmit the power to the wheels while allowing them to rotate at different
speeds (This is the one that earned the differential its name.)
 Types of Differential Gears
There are two designs of differential gears, hypoid and spiral.

 Spiral Differential:
In spiral differential the pinion gears contacts the ring gears at its centerline .

 Hypoid Gear:
In the hypoid the pinion gear contacts the ring gear below the centerline. The
size of pinion gear in hypoid differential is much smaller and the contact ratio
is high, comparatively hypoid differential is much stronger than the spiral
differential.

 How then a railway wagon makes a turn? While traveling across a

curve the outside wheel should travel a greater distance than the
inside wheel. But paired railway wheels cannot turn at different
ratio!The explanation is simple and fascinating. Look at the picture
below. The upper (red-crossed) part of picture shows how train
wheels DO NOT look like. Only the lower part of picture shows the
real stuff.Notice that train wheels are in fact cone-shaped. Also the
top of the rail is not totally horizontal but is inclined. When traveling
in a straight line this configuration helps guiding the wagon by
forcing it to the center.
 Even more interesting thing happens while traveling through curved
section. When in curve, railway wagon is forced a bit to outside by
centrifugal force. This forces the outside wheel to a bit larger
diameter and the inside wheel to a bit smaller diameter. Both wheels
are still turning at the same speed, but the outside one travels a
greater distance – just as it should be.

 DIFFERENTIAL IN CYCLE RICKSHAW:

 IN CYCLE RICKSHAW, ONE OF THE BACK WHEEL IS CALLED AS THE

FREE WHEEL AND THE OTHER ONE ROTATES WITH THE HELP OF THE
CHAIN AND THE PADDLE. THUS, NO REQUIREMENT OF DIFFERENTIAL
IN IT.