Description:FIELD
The present disclosure relates to a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle. Particularly, an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris for the front/rear axle assembly of the off road vehicle such as tractor.
BACKGROUND
The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure.
A front/rear axle shaft of a vehicle is slidably supported in a front/rear axle housing. A sealing assembly is provided between the interface of the front/rear axle shaft and the front/rear axle housing to prevent ingress of debris. The conventional sealing assembly includes lip seals and cassette seals. The lip seals and cassette seals maintain point contact with the front/rear axle shaft. However, after prolonged operation of the front/rear axle shaft and the sealing assembly, the seals of the sealing assembly get deformed permanently which leads to formation of gaps. The gaps permit ingress of debris which is highly undesired, as presence of debris makes operation of the front/rear axle shaft noisy. Moreover, the debris makes its way in a lubrication sump provided adjacent to the front/rear axle shaft, which causes contamination of the lubricant fluid.
Therefore, there is a need for a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris, that alleviates the aforementioned drawbacks.
OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as follows:
An object of the present invention is to provide a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris that offers enhanced sealing performance.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris that allows for axial displacement of the front/rear axle shaft without compromising the sealing performance.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris that offers increased resistance to wear.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure discloses a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle, the front/rear axle assembly having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris. The front/rear axle assembly comprises a housing and a front/rear axle shaft supported by the housing. The front/rear axle assembly further comprises a first section defined on the front/rear axle shaft, a cavity defined inside the first section, a second section defined on the front/rear axle shaft and configured to be slidably supported inside the cavity, a lubrication passage defined on the first section for transporting a lubricant fluid, an annular space defined between the first section and the housing, and a metal face seal assembly fitted in the annular space, the metal face seal assembly having mating faces defined on the metal face seal assembly.
In a preferred embodiment, the second section has a cylindrical portion on one end thereof and a universal joint connected on the other end of the second section.
In a preferred embodiment, the lubrication passage spans coaxially with the longitudinal direction L of the front/rear axle assembly.
In a preferred embodiment, the lubrication passage has a first end configured to be in fluid communication with a lubricant sump.
In a preferred embodiment, the clearances are defined between the second section and the first section.
In a preferred embodiment, the lubrication passage has a second end configured to be in fluid communication with the clearances between the first section and the second section.
In another embodiment, the lubrication passage is oriented at an angle to the operative longitudinal direction L.
In a preferred embodiment, the clearances between the first section and the second section span in the operative longitudinal direction L and the operative transverse direction T.
In a preferred embodiment, the metal face seal assembly has a two-part construction including an O-ring.
In a preferred embodiment, the first section and the second section are configured with splines to be engaged together for enabling mechanical power transfer there in-between.
In a preferred embodiment, the cavity spans coaxially with the front/rear axle assembly in the operative longitudinal direction L.
In a preferred embodiment, the mating faces of the metal seal assembly are maintained in contact, as the second section is linearly displaced with respect to the first section in the event the vehicle makes a turn on the road.
In a preferred embodiment, in an operative configuration of the assembly, the lubricant fluid is transported through the lubricant passage into the clearances between the first section and the second section, and the mating faces of the metal face assembly contact each other under pressure, to prevent ingress of debris into the clearances as well as the annular space.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
A front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris, of the present disclosure, will now be described with the help of the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1A illustrates a top view of the front/rear axle assembly of the present disclosure;
Figure 1B illustrates a sectional view of the Figure 1A;
Figure 2 illustrates an arrangement of the sealing assembly at the interface of the front/rear axle shaft and the front/rear axle housing, of the prior art;
Figure 3 illustrates a detail of the Figure 1;
Figure 4 illustrates an exploded view of the Figure 3;
Figure 5 illustrates a detail of the Figure 3; and
Figure 6 illustrates another detail of the Figure 3;
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
10 – first section
15 – front/rear axle shaft
20 – cavity
30 – second section
32 – cylindrical section
40 – lubrication passage
42 – first end of lubrication passage
44 – second end of lubrication passage
50 – metal face seal assembly
51 – annular space
52 – first part of seal assembly
54 – second part of seal assembly
56 – O-ring
60 – universal joint
100 – front/rear axle housing
1000 – front/rear axle shaft assembly
L – operative longitudinal direction
T – operative transverse direction
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Embodiments are provided to convey the scope of the present disclosure to the person skilled in the art. Numerous details are set forth, relating to specific components, and methods, to provide a complete understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the details provided in the embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, well-known processes, well-known apparatus structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail.
The terminology used, in the present disclosure, is only for the purpose of explaining a particular embodiment and such terminology shall not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used in the present disclosure, the forms “a”, “an”, and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly suggests otherwise. The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “including”, and “having”, are open ended transitional phrases and therefore specify the presence of stated features, elements, modules, units and/or components, but do not forbid the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The particular order of steps disclosed in the method and process of the present disclosure is not to be constructed as necessarily requiring their performance as described or illustrated. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element is referred to as being “mounted on”, “engaged to”, “connected to”, or “coupled to” another element, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed elements.
The terms first, second, third, etc., should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure as the aforementioned terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another component, region, layer or section. Terms such as first, second, third etc., when used herein do not imply a specific sequence or order unless clearly suggested by the present disclosure.
Terms such as “inner”, “outer”, “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper”, and the like, may be used in the present disclosure to describe relationships between different elements as depicted from the figures.
Referring to the figure 2, a front/rear axle shaft assembly 1000’ of the prior art is shown. The prior art teaches a first section 10’ of a front/rear axle shaft 15’ being attached to a second section 30’. The first section 10’ and the second section 30’ are configured in a housing 100’. The second section 30’ is attached to a universal joint. A seal assembly 50’ is disposed between the first section 10’ and the housing 100’ to prevent ingress of debris between the clearances defined between the first section 10’ and the second section 30’. The seal assembly 50’ includes lip seals that are suitable to applications involving axial displacement between components. The lip seal maintains point contacts with the front/rear axle shaft 15’. However, due to the axial movement between the front/rear axle shaft 15’ and the housing 100’, and by virtue of the lip construction, the lip seal wears out at a faster rate. The worn out assembly 50’ allows incoming of slurry and mud. Due to the axial displacement of the front/rear axle shaft 15’ in the event of the vehicle making a turn, debris flows through the clearances between the contact points of the seal assembly 50’ and the front/rear axle shaft 15’. The path followed by the debris is shown by dotted lines in the figure 2. The presence of debris inside the front/rear axle assembly 1000’ is detrimental to the operation thereof. It is desired to eliminate the ingress of debris via combi seal assembly 50’ and the front/rear axle shaft 15’.
Referring to figures 1, 3-6 a front/rear axle assembly 1000 of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris is shown. The front/rear axle assembly 1000 is configured to be connected to the front/rear wheels of the vehicle. The front/rear axle assembly 1000 includes a front/rear axle shaft 15 and a differential gear box disposed on the front/rear axle shaft 15 for distributing the mechanical power received from the engine via a propeller shaft. The differential gear box is positioned in a central portion of the front/rear axle assembly 1000. The front/rear axle shaft 15 has an operative right side and an operative left side. The operative left side is configured to be connected to the left wheel while the operative right side is configured to be connected to the right wheel of the vehicle. A universal joint 60 is configured on the operative right side of the front/rear axle shaft 15. Similarly, another universal joint is configured on the operative left side of the front/rear axle shaft 15. The universal joint 60 facilitates power transfer between the sections of the front/rear axle shaft 15, even when the sections of the front/rear axle shaft 15 have axes oriented at an angle to each other.
As shown in the figures 1, 3-6 the front/rear axle assembly is depicted, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The front/rear axle assembly 1000 comprises a first section 10 defined on the front/rear axle shaft 15 configured to be supported inside the front/rear axle housing 100 of the vehicle. A cavity 20 is defined inside said first section 10. A second section 30 is defined on the front/rear axle shaft 15 and is configured to be slidably supported in the cavity 20 in the operative longitudinal direction L. A lubrication passage 40 is defined on the first section 10 for transporting a lubricant fluid. The lubrication passage 40 facilitates transporting the lubricant fluid into clearances defined between the second section 30 and the first section 10. An annular space 51 is defined between the first section 10 and the front/rear axle housing 100. A metal face seal assembly 50 is fitted in the annular space 51 defined between the first section 10 and the front/rear axle housing 100. The metal face seal assembly 50 has mating faces defined on the metal faces thereof. The mating faces of the metal face seal assembly 50 contact each other. A desired contact pressure is maintained between the mating faces of the metal face assembly 50, as the second section 30 slides in the cavity 20 of the first section 10. The mating faces of the metal face seal assembly 50 are maintained in contact, as the second section 30 is linearly displaced with respect to the first section 10. This facilitates prevention of ingress of debris through the annular space 51 defined between the first section 10 and the housing 100. The second section 30 has a cylindrical portion 32 on one end of the second section 30, and the universal joint 60 connected on the other end of the second section 30. The lubrication passage 40 spans coaxially with the longitudinal direction L of the front/rear axle assembly 1000. The lubrication passage 40 has a first end 42 configured to be in fluid communication with a lubricant sump (not shown in figures). The lubrication passage 40 has a second end 44 configured to be in fluid communication with the clearances between the first section 10 and the second section 30. The front/rear axle assembly 1000 of the present disclosure has a three-part construction as shown in the Figure 4, which includes the universal joint 60, the first section 10 and the second section 30. The universal joint 60 experiences a linear displacement in the operative longitudinal direction L which is referred as ‘axial float’. This displacement in the operative longitudinal direction L (referred to as ‘axial flow’) is a result of the turning of the vehicle. The first section 10 and the second section 30 are configured with splines to be engaged together for enabling mechanical power transfer there in-between. This construction of the front/rear axle assembly 1000 is suitable for a metal face seal assembly 50 in controlling the ingress of debris, which is better option than the lip seal of the prior art. The lubrication passage 40 facilitates transporting of the lubricant fluid between the splines on the first section 10 and the second section 30 to counter spline-wear.
In another embodiment, the lubrication passage 40 is oriented at an angle to the operative longitudinal direction L.
The clearances between the first section 10 and the second section 30 span in the operative longitudinal direction L as well as the operative transverse direction T, as shown in the figure 6.
The metal face seal assembly 50 has a two-part construction. Each of the first part 52and the second part 54 of the metal face seal assembly 50 includes an O-ring 56 sandwiched between the two annular metal parts 52, 54.
In an embodiment, the cavity 20 spans coaxially with the front/rear axle assembly 1000 in the operative longitudinal direction L.
In an operative configuration of the assembly, the lubricant fluid is transported through the lubricant passage 40 into the clearances between the first section 10 and the second section 30, and the mating faces of the metal face seal assembly 50 contact each other under pressure, to prevent ingress of debris into the clearances as well as the annular space 51. The relative motion between the first section 10 and the second section 30 arises when the vehicle makes a turn on the road. In such an event, the universal joint 60 pushes the second section 30 to cause sliding of the second section 30 into the cavity 20 of the first section 10. This action of sliding of the second section 30 into the cavity 20 of the first section 10 is commonly termed as ‘floating’ of the front/rear axle shaft 100.
The present disclosure discloses elimination of lip seals and cassette seals. The present disclosure also discloses mechanical metal face seals i.e., the metal face seal assembly 50 which is known to offer superior sealing performance over the lip seals and the cassette seals. Thus, point contact of the lip seals and the cassette seals is overcome by the surface contact of the metal face seal assembly 50 of the present disclosure.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Individual components of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, are interchangeable. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.
TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT
The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages including, but not limited to, a front/rear axle assembly of a vehicle having an arrangement for preventing ingress of debris, which:
• offers enhanced sealing performance;
• accommodates axial displacement of shaft without compromising the sealing performance;
• offers increased resistance to wear of the front/rear axle assembly; and
• increases the working life of the front/rear axle assembly.
The disclosure has been described with reference to the accompanying embodiments which do not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully revealed the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element or group of elements, but not the exclusion of any other element or group of elements.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of articles or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form a part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation. , Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. An arrangement for preventing ingress of debris for a front/rear axle assembly (1000) of a vehicle, said front/rear axle assembly (1000) comprising:
• a front/rear axle housing (100);
• a front/rear axle shaft (15) supported by the front/rear axle housing (100);
• a first section (10) defined on the front/rear axle shaft (15);
• a cavity (20) defined inside said first section (10);
• a second section (30) defined on the front/rear axle shaft (15) and configured to be slidably supported inside said cavity (20);
• a lubrication passage (40) defined on said first section (10) for transporting a lubricant fluid;
• an annular space (51) defined between said first section (10) and the housing (100); and
• a metal face seal assembly (50) fitted in said annular space (51), said metal face seal assembly (50) having mating faces defined on said metal face seal assembly (50).
2. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second section (30) has a cylindrical portion (32) on one end thereof and a universal joint (60) connected on the other end (34) of said second section (30).
3. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lubrication passage (40) spans coaxially with the longitudinal direction (L) of said front/rear axle assembly (1000).
4. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lubrication passage (40) has a first end (42) configured to be in fluid communication with a lubricant sump and a second end (44) configured to be in fluid communication with clearances defined between said first section (10) and said second section (30).
5. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lubrication passage (40) is oriented at an angle to the operative longitudinal direction (L).
6. The arrangement as claimed in claim 4, wherein the clearances between said first section (10) and said second section (30) span in the operative longitudinal direction (L) and the operative transverse direction (T).
7. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metal face seal assembly (50) has a two-part construction with each part (52, 54) including an O-ring (56).
8. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cavity (20) spans coaxially with said front/rear axle assembly (1000) in the operative longitudinal direction (L).
9. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mating faces of said metal face seal assembly (50) are maintained in contact, as the second section (30) is linearly displaced with respect to the first section (10).
10. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein in an operative configuration of said assembly, the lubricant fluid is transported through said lubricant passage (40) into the clearances between said first section (10) and said second section (30), and the mating faces of said metal face seal assembly (50) contacts each other under pressure, to prevent ingress of debris into the clearances as well as the annular space (51).
Dated this 05th day of January, 2023

_______________________________
MOHAN RAJKUMAR DEWAN, IN/PA – 25
of R.K.DEWAN & CO.
Authorized Agent of Applicant

TO,
THE CONTROLLER OF PATENTS
THE PATENT OFFICE, AT CHENNAI