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Introduction
While turning, the inner and outer wheels have arcs of different turning radii about Instantaneous Centre. Thus the inner wheels travel less distance than the outer wheels. As the turning paths of the inner and outer wheels are different, the wheels on both axles need to be able to spin independently of each other. A differential is used to allow the wheels to spin at different speeds.
Pinion Drive Gear: transfers power from the driveshaft to the ring gear. Ring Gear: transfers power to the Differential case assembly. Side gears: help both wheels to turn independently when turning.
Parts
Differential case assembly: holds the Ring gear and other components that drive the rear axle. Rear drive axles: steel shafts that transfer torque from the differential assembly to the drive wheels. Rear axle bearings: ball or roller bearings that fit between the axles and the inside of the axle housing. Axle housing: metal body that encloses and supports parts of the rear axle assembly.
Working
Drive shaft spins the Pinion gear. Pinion gear turns the larger ring gear to produce gear reduction. Ring gear is attached to differential case, hence it rotates with the ring gear. Differential case spins the sun gears which are attached to the axles. Axles transfer the power to the wheels.
Differential Function
When turning, the outer wheel turns at a high RPM with respect to the differential housing Therefore, the outer wheel axle turns its worm gear and its mating worm wheel The mating worm wheels are meshed together by spur gears oPerfect Differentiation: as one wheel increases speed the other wheel decreases speed proportionally oTorque is maintained at both wheels while cornering
Torsen differentials are used in off-road and high performance allwheel drive vehicles. Torsen differentials can also be handy on icy or dirt roads.