Patent Application
20080000702
In the following, the rotatably mounted shafts which are coupled to one another via an electrical machine in the meaning of the present invention are individually identified on one hand as a function of their function. On the other hand, the coupled shafts are additionally provided with the general identification W. This is to improve the overview and to clarify the generally valid principle of the present invention.
The device according to the present invention for torque distribution between two rotatably mounted and directly or indirectly driven shafts W is advantageously a component of a drivetrain of a motor vehicle or a component of an indirectly driven vehicle shaft, such as a non-driven vehicle axle (e.g., front axle of a rear wheel drive vehicle). The device includes a first and a second rotatably mounted and directly or indirectly driven shaft W, which are connected to one another via coupling means in such a way that shaft speeds and/or shaft torques deviating from one another are possible. Furthermore, the device includes an electrical machine EM having a rotor R and a stator S, as well as a power supply unit supplying the electrical machine. According to the present invention, the rotor R and the stator S are each coupled support-free (i.e., without support on a fixed part, such as the motor vehicle body and/or the suspension) to one of the two shafts W. In this way, the rotational movement of the particular shaft W is at least partially transmitted to the stator S or the rotor R (and/or the rotational movement of the particular shaft W is at least partially also performed and/or transmitted to stator S or rotor R—i.e., possibly at another speed). Furthermore, a control unit SE coupled to the electrical machine EM for the purpose of control signal transmission is provided, via which the electrical machine EM is drivable as a function of the control signals of the control unit SE in such a way that an additional torque is impressed by the electrical machine EM between the two shafts W (and/or onto the two shafts), and thus targeted transmission of torque between the two shafts W is possible.
In the embodiment shown in
Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
In all embodiments of the present invention, the control signals may be generated by the control unit SE as a function of vehicle operating parameters p1, . . . , pn for vehicle stabilization (for example, as in the DSC described at the beginning or the like) and/or for the chassis and suspension control system.
The power supply of the electrical machine EM may be performed using a separate power source, which is electrically connected via brush contacts to one of the rotating drive parts (stator S/rotor R).
The power supply is advantageously contactless, for example, by induction of a current, in that a magnetic field is generated via a fixed exciter coil, which generates a current in the secondary coil (e.g., stator coil) of the rotating system (electrical machine). In particular, the coils (primary coil and secondary coil) are situated in such a way that no torque feedback occurs on the rotating system due to the inductive power transmission. This is particularly achieved by the constructive configuration of primary coil and secondary coil to one another—e.g., by transmission of a fixed primary coil wound in the peripheral direction to a secondary coil of the rotating system which is situated axially offset or coaxially thereto. Alternatively, the decoupling may also be performed by decoupling in the frequency range. For this purpose, the fixed primary coil is clocked using one or more frequencies which do not contribute to torque production in the rotating system. This is achieved by a speed-dependent control or regulation.
A supplementary possibility for power supply of the rotating electrical machine includes situating an additional (also rotating) power source on one of the rotating machine parts (stator S or rotor R) themselves. The chronological power demand of the system according to the present invention is exploited for transverse torque distribution, because the system only briefly requires larger amounts of energy during a required torque distribution and this power demand by the configuration according to the present invention is also only very small in comparison to typical systems.
The possibly additionally provided power supply (in particular the inductive power transmission unit) may be dimensioned for small permanent outputs by the installation of an additional power accumulator on the rotating system itself, which is dimensioned sufficiently large to ensure the power supply in the event of single or multiple brief intervention (torque distribution).
The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102006030197.8 | Jun 2006 | DE | national |
