This invention relates to a lubricating device for a transmission and more particularly to a lubricating device for transmission having an oil separator which encloses the lower part of the power transmission gear wheels which scoops up the lubrication oil.
Generally, a lubrication oil is sealed in the casing for lubricating necessary portions of the vehicle transmission. The sealed lubrication oil is reserved in the lower portion (of the casing) by influence of gravity. By using the power transmission gear wheels which scoop up the lubrication oil reserved in the lower portion of the casing by rotation to thereby scatter the reserved lubrication oil over to the portions necessary for lubrication. Such portions are normally not directly immersed in the lubrication oil. However, when the vehicle stops or operated at a low speed, most of the lubrication oil gathers in the lower portion and the power transmission gear wheels are immersed in the oil to receive a large stirring resistance. In order to reduce such stirring resistance, for example, in Patent Literature 1, an oil separator is disposed in the casing. The oil separator extends in an axis direction of the power transmission shaft to enclose the lower part of the power transmission gear wheels which scoop up the lubrication oil.
Further, for example, in a transmission which is positioned in a rear side lowered arrangement, if the vehicle is running on an up-hill road, the transmission is positioned in further lowered position at the rear side. This may cause a deficiency in scooping up the lubrication oil at the front side of the power transmission shaft, i.e., a front side of the oil separator because of the downward shifting of the oil surface of the lubrication oil and a deficiency of lubrication at the portions necessary for lubrication becomes remarkable. In order to make up for such lowering of the oil surface at the front side of the oil separator, the Patent Literature 1 discloses the guide ribs formed on the outer peripheral surface of the oil separator as a dam by the guide ribs so that among the oil surfaces of the lubrication oil at the outside of the separator, the oil surface at the front side (oil introducing side) in a rotational direction of the power transmission shaft is raised more than the oil surface at the rear side (oil scooping side) in the rotational direction of the power transmission shaft due to the damming effect. Further, the structure that the upper brim portion of the front side of the oil separator which is lowered more than the other upper brim portions is disclosed. By this structure, the lubrication oil which oil surface is raised at the outside of the oil separator due to the damming effect can flow in on a priority basis from the lower side upper brim portion of the oil separator, i.e., the upper brim portion of the front side of the oil separator. Accordingly, the lowered oil surface of the lubrication oil at the inside of the front side of the oil separator can be complemented or supplemented.
Patent Document 1: JP2010-223278 A
However, according to the lubricating device for a transmission disclosed in the Patent Literature 1, the oil surface of the lubrication oil reserved outside of the oil separator is raised by the damming effect of the guide ribs provided at the outer peripheral surface of the oil separator and then the dammed lubrication oil is necessary to be introduced into the inside of the oil separator at front side from the upper brim portion of the oil separator. Thus, it takes a time to sufficiently raise the oil surface of the lubrication oil by the damming effect. Accordingly, an improved lubricating device for a transmission has been desired that can make up for the reduced oil surface of the lubrication oil which is scooped up by the power transmission gear wheels at the inside of the oil separator without utilizing the damming effect.
The present invention was made in consideration with the above drawbacks and an object of the invention is to provide a lubricating device for a transmission which can complement the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil which is scooped up by the power transmission gear wheels by the lubrication oil reserved inside of the oil separator.
The lubricating device for a transmission associated with the invention includes a casing in which a lubrication oil for the transmission is sealed, a power transmission shaft disposed along in a front/rear direction of the transmission and supported in the casing for transmitting power, a plurality of power transmission gear wheels arranged on the power transmission shaft at positions different from each other in the front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft and an oil separator arranged at a lower side of the plurality of power transmission gear wheels along in the front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft and having an inner wall. The oil separator includes a first gear wheel cover portion which encloses a lower side of a first gear wheel among the plurality of power transmission gear wheels positioned at one side of a front side and a rear side of the power transmission shaft and which reserves the lubrication oil scooped up by the first gear wheel and falling down along the inner wall of the oil separator, a second gear wheel cover portion which encloses a lower part of a second gear wheel among the plurality of power transmission gear wheels positioned at the other side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft relative to the first gear wheel and which reserves the lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel and falling down along the inner wall of the oil separator and a descending sloped fluid passage which is provided on the inner wall of the oil separator, sloped downward from the other side of the power transmission shaft to the one side thereof, accepting a scooped lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel and introducing the scooped up lubrication oil into the first gear wheel cover portion.
According to the structure explained above, the lubrication oil is directly introduced from the second gear wheel cover portion to the first gear wheel cover portion by means of the descending sloped fluid passage provided on the inner wall of the oil separator. Accordingly, the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil scooped up by the power transmission wheel can be complemented by the lubrication oil reserved inside of the oil separator. In more concrete, for example, when the vehicle is running on an uphill and the transmission is in an inclined positioned in a rear side lowered or the vehicle is running on a downhill and the transmission is in an inclined positioned in a front side lowered, the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil at the first gear wheel cover portion positioned at the upper side relative to the second gear wheel cover portion can be complemented.
One embodiment of the invention will be explained hereinafter with reference to the attached drawings.
The transmission 1 to which the lubricating device for a transmission of the embodiment of the invention is adopted is arranged, for example, as a vehicle rear side lowered arrangement. As shown in
The lubrication oil is sealed in the casing 20. The power transmission shaft 30 is arranged along in front/rear direction of the transmission 1 and is supported in the casing 20 to transmit the power. The power transmission shaft 30 includes an input shaft, an output shaft, a counter shaft arranged in parallel with the input shaft and a reverse idler shaft for reverse speed change, in addition to the output shaft of the transmission 1.
Each of the plurality of power transmission gear wheels is positioned at a different position from each other in a front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft 30. The first gear wheel 40 is positioned at either one of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30. In the embodiment shown in
It is noted that in
The oil separator 60 is arranged at the lower side of the first gear wheel 40 and the second gear wheel 50 along in the front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft 30 and is formed with an inner wall 61. The oil separator 60 is provided with a first gear wheel cover portion 62 which encloses the lower side of the first gear wheel 40 and reserves the lubrication oil which is scooped up by the first gear wheel 40 and is falling down along the inner wall 61 of the oil separator 60. Further, the oil separator 60 is provided with a second gear wheel cover portion 63 similarly which encloses the lower side of the second gear wheel 50 and reserves the lubrication oil which is scooped up by the second gear wheel 50 and is falling down along the inner wall 61 of the oil separator 60.
As shown in
Similarly, as shown in
In
In
Accordingly, under the oil surface of the lubrication oil being the level L2, the lubrication oil flows into the second gear wheel cover 63 via the second penetrating hole 65 from the casing 20. However, since the position of the first penetrating hole 64 is formed above the oil surface L2, the lubrication oil cannot flow into the first gear wheel cover 62 via the first penetrating hole 64 from the casing 20. Accordingly, the first gear wheel 40 may not lubricate the lubrication necessary parts due to the insufficiency of lubrication oil to be scooped up.
Next, a lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to an embodiment of the invention will be explained with reference to
The lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to the invention is provided with a descending sloped fluid passage 66 which is formed with a downward inclination towards either one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30, i.e., in the example shown in
As shown in
In the second gear wheel cover portion 63, the descending sloped fluid passage 66 receives the lubrication oil which scooped height is lower among the lubrication oil scooped up by the rotation of the second gear wheel 50 at the inlet portion 67a. The lubrication oil received at the inlet portion 67a falls down to the communication portion 67b and further falls down through the communication portion 67b and finally flows into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 from the outlet portion 67c.
The lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel 50 flows down, as indicated in the outlined arrows in
The lubrication oil can be directly flown into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 from the second gear wheel cover portion 63 via the descending sloped fluid passage 66. Accordingly, when the transmission 1 arranged in a rear side lowered position is inclined at the rear side due to the vehicle (transmission in a rear side lowered arrangement) being on an uphill road, even the transmission 1 is inclined in a rear side, the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil of the first gear wheel cover portion 62 positioned at an upper side relative to the second gear wheel cover portion 63, i.e., the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil positioned at the front side of the separator 60 can be complemented. Thus, even the transmission 1 arranged in a rear side lowered arrangement is inclined in a rear side lowered position, the lubrication oil introduced into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 via the descending sloped fluid passage 66 can be scooped up to lubricate the lubrication necessary parts.
The lubricating device 10 for a transmission is provided with the second penetrating hole 65 at the bottom surface of the second gear wheel cover portion 63, as shown in
As shown in
The lubricating device 10 for a transmission is more preferably configured that when the first gear wheel 40 is positioned at the front side which is one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30, the second gear wheel 50 is formed by a helical gear wheel, a tooth flank 50a of which is formed such that the side that the first gear wheel 40 is positioned, for example, as shown in
The inlet portion 67a of the recessed portion 67, preferably, as shown in
As explained above, the lubricating device 10 for a transmission is more preferably configured that when the first gear wheel 40 is positioned at the front side which is one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30, the second gear wheel 50 is formed by the helical gear wheel, the tooth flank 50a of which is formed such that the side that the first gear wheel 40 is positioned, for example, as shown in
The oil separator 60, as shown in
It is noted that the lubricating device 10 for the transmission according to the invention is explained to be configured such that the first gear wheel 40 among the plurality of power transmission gear wheels is positioned at the front side which is one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 and according to this configuration, the lowering of oil surface of the lubrication oil in the first gear wheel cover portion 62 which is positioned at an upper side relative to the second gear wheel cover portion 63 can be complemented when the transmission 1 is inclined in a rear side lowered position on an uphill road.
However, the invention is not limited to this configuration and the lubricating device 10 for the transmission according to the invention can be modified which will be explained hereinafter so that the lowering of oil surface of the lubrication oil in the first gear wheel cover portion which is positioned at upper side relative to the second gear wheel cover portion can be complemented when the transmission 1 is inclined in a front side lowered position on a downhill road. It is noted that the lubrication oil moves towards the front side of the casing 20 by an inclination of the transmission 1 towards the front side lowered position in response to the inclination degree of the downhill road, when the transmission 1 is on the downhill road. Due to the movement of the lubrication oil towards the front side of the casing 20, the oil surface of the oil in the gear wheel cover portion positioned at the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 becomes low.
The first gearwheel 40 among the plurality of power transmission gearwheels 40, 50 shown in
Further, accompanying this, instead of the second gear wheel 50 which is formed by a helical gear wheel, the tooth flank 50a thereof being formed such that the front side which is the one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 is twisted from the front side which is the other side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 in a rotational direction towards front side, the second gear wheel 50 is formed by a helical gear wheel, the tooth flank of which is formed such that the rear side which is the one side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 is twisted from the front side which is the other side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 in a rotational direction towards front side.
As explained, the lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to the embodiment includes a casing 20 in which a lubrication oil for the transmission 1 is sealed, a power transmission shaft 30 disposed along in a front/rear direction of the transmission 1 and supported in the casing 20 for transmitting power, a plurality of power transmission gear wheels 40, 50 arranged on the power transmission shaft 30 at positions different from each other in the front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft 30 and an oil separator 60 arranged at a lower side of the plurality of power transmission gear wheels 40, 50 along in the front/rear direction of the power transmission shaft 30 and having an inner wall 61. The oil separator 60 includes a first gear wheel cover portion 62 which encloses a lower side of a first gear wheel 40 among the plurality of power transmission gear wheels 40, 50 positioned at one side of a front side and a rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 and which reserves the lubrication oil scooped up by the first gear wheel 40 and falling down along the inner wall 61 of the oil separator 60, a second gear wheel cover portion 63 which encloses a lower part of a second gear wheel 50 among the plurality of power transmission gear wheels 40, 50 positioned at the other side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 relative to the first gear wheel 40 and which reserves the lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel 50 and falling down along the inner wall 61 of the oil separator 60 and a descending sloped fluid passage 66 which is provided on the inner wall 61 of the oil separator 60, sloped downward from the other side of the power transmission shaft 30 to the one side thereof, accepting a scooped lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel 40 and introducing the scooped up lubrication oil into the first gear wheel cover portion 62. Thus, the lubrication oil is directly introduced from the second gear wheel cover portion 63 to the first gear wheel cover portion 62 by means of the descending sloped fluid passage 66 provided on the innerwall 61 of the oil separator 60. Accordingly, the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil scooped up by the power transmission wheels 40, 50 can be complemented by the lubrication oil reserved inside of the oil separator 60. For example, when the vehicle is running on an uphill road and the transmission 1 is inclined to be positioned in a rear side lowered position or the vehicle is running on a downhill road and the transmission 1 is inclined to be positioned in a front side lowered position, the lowering of the oil surface of the lubrication oil at the first gear wheel cover portion 62 positioned at the upper side relative to the second gear wheel cover portion 63 can be complemented.
As explained above, the lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to the embodiment of the invention is provided with a second penetrating hole 65 which establishes a fluid communication between the inside of the oil separator 60 and the outside of the oil separator 60 at the bottom surface of the second gear wheel cover portion 63. This assures the introduction of the lubrication oil in the oil separator 60 into the second gear wheel cover portion 63 via the second penetrating hole 65 even the state that the transmission 1 is inclined in a rear side when the transmission 1 is on an uphill road.
The lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to the embodiment of the invention includes a first penetrating hole 64 provided at an off-set position off-set upwardly from the bottom portion of the first gear wheel cover portion 62. Thus, lubrication oil flown into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 is prevented from flowing out via the first penetrating hole 64. Accordingly, the lubrication oil flown into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 via the descending sloped fluid passage 66 can be reserved therein.
According to the lubricating device 10 for a transmission according to the embodiment of the invention, the second gear wheel 50 is a helical gear wheel which tooth flank 50a is formed such that the one side, at which the first gear wheel 40 is positioned, of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 is twisted from the other side of the front side and the rear side of the power transmission shaft 30 in the rotational direction towards front side and the descending sloped fluid passage 66 is formed on the bottom surface of the recessed portion 67 which is provided at a lower part of a side wall portion 61a of the oil separator 60 in a radially outward direction from the second gear wheel cover portion 63 over to the first gear wheel cover portion 62 and the recessed portion 67 includes a wall surface 68 formed in the second gear wheel cover portion 63 extending along in the peripheral direction of the second gear wheel 50. The lubrication oil scooped up by the second gear wheel 50 is scattered onto the wall surface 68 and falls down along the wall surface 68 to reach the bottom surface of the recessed portion 67. Thus, since the fluid flow is generated at the lubrication oil scooped up by the rotation of the second gear wheel 50 and scattered towards the wall surface 68, the lubrication oil scooped up by the rotation of the second gear wheel 50 is received at the wall surface 68 and is introduced into the descending sloped fluid passage 66 in addition. Accordingly, the lubrication oil can be effectively introduced into the first gear wheel cover portion 62 from the second gear wheel cover portion 63. Since the second gear wheel 50 is formed by a helical gear wheel, each gear tooth becomes engaged with another tooth little by little to advantageously reduce the gear noise generated upon engaging.
Further, when a plurality of embodiments exists, it is apparently possible to combine features of each embodiment, unless otherwise stated.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-187738 | Sep 2016 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2017/031707 | 9/4/2017 | WO | 00 |