Patent Application
20130035187
This application claims the priority of German Patent Application, Serial No. 10 2011 010 091.1, filed Feb. 1, 2011, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention relates to a motor vehicle with a combustion engine and an electric machine.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Drive systems for driving auxiliary units of a combustion engine are known. Auxiliary units may be, for example, the generator, i.e. an electric machine, or an air-conditioning compressor.
In conventional systems, a ring gear of a planetary gear train can freely rotate, but can also be locked with a brake device, e.g. a brake disk, wherein the brake disk is integrated into the outer peripheral surface of the ring gear like a radial flange. Brake shoes are positioned at a significant distance from the pulley, necessitating the entire assembly with a planetary gear train to have large dimensions in the axial direction.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved assembly of a planetary gear train and pulley having a relatively compact form.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a motor vehicle includes a combustion engine, an electric machine, a belt drive having a pulley, a brake disk forming part of a disk brake on the combustion engine, said brake disk extending farther radially outwardly than the pulley, and a planetary gear train coupling the electric machine with the combustion engine, said planetary gear train having a first element connected to the pulley for rotation about a rotation axis, and a second element connected with the brake disk and rotating about the rotation axis.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, a ring gear of the planetary gear train may be connected with the brake disk. This embodiment can be particularly easy constructed, because the ring gear is the radially outermost element of the planetary gear train, so that the brake disk (as a ring disk) can then be integrated on the ring gear, also like a radial flange.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the planet carrier (planetary gear land) of the planetary gear train may be coupled with a crankshaft of the combustion engine and a sun gear of the planetary gear train may be connected with the pulley, wherein additionally the sun gear and the planet carrier are coupled with each other via a freewheel or can be coupled with each other via a clutch. In this embodiment, the combustion engine can be particularly easily coupled with the electric machine by way of the planetary gear train and the pulley, without requiring that the rotation speeds have always a predetermined ratio. In particular, the electric machine may preferably overtake the combustion engine, so that the rotor of the electric machine can rotate at a greater rotation speed than the rotation speed of a crankshaft multiplied with the gear ratio of belt drive/planetary gear train.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the brake disk may be braked by a brake element that is fixed in relation to the combustion engine of the motor vehicle, wherein in particular a caliper support may be affixed to the body, with the brake shoes being movable in the caliper support. Because the brake element is fixed in relation to the combustion engine, the ring gear can be particularly effectively locked with respect to the additional elements of the planetary gear train.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the disk brake may have two brake elements which are offset with respect to one another by an angle between 135° and 225°, preferably between 175° and 185° (in relation to the rotation axis of the elements of the planetary gear train). The positions of the two brakes advantageously meet the requirement not to interfere with the path of the belt in an axially similar position relative to the belt and not to introduce significant radial forces into the bearings during simultaneous actuation. In addition, these positions suppress tumbling movements of the brake disk.
According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the disk brake may be controlled electromechanically, electro-hydraulically, electromagnetically, hydraulically or mechanically or with a combination of these types of controls. Therefore, those elements may be selected as brake elements which are particularly well-suited for locking the ring gear and/or which are cost-effective and/or space-saving.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent upon reading the following description of currently preferred exemplified embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
Throughout all the figures, same or corresponding elements may generally be indicated by same reference numerals. These depicted embodiments are to be understood as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting in any way. It should also be understood that the figures are not necessarily to scale and that the embodiments are sometimes illustrated by graphic symbols, phantom lines, diagrammatic representations and fragmentary views. In certain instances, details which are not necessary for an understanding of the present invention or which render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted.
Turning now to the drawing, and in particular to
As shown more clearly in
While the invention has been illustrated and described in connection with currently preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and practical application to thereby enable a person skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims and includes equivalents of the elements recited therein:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2011 010 091.1 | Feb 2011 | DE | national |
