UD: MECHANICAL

TRANSMISSIONS
COMPONENTS OF THE DIFFERENTIAL SYSTEM

The rear axle's function is to support the weight at the rear of the vehicle at the same time as it
is responsible for transmitting movement when the vehicle moves forward. It is used to
support the braking system of the rear wheels; In vehicles in which the rear axle is used as the
drive axle, the bridge is generally formed by a tubular piece called the rear axle casing, this
piece in turn serves as support and protection of the mechanical elements responsible for
transmitting the movement to the wheels.

The rotation of the engine communicated to the rear axle through the transmission shaft has
to be applied to the wheels located on an axis perpendicular to it, so the rotation changes at
an angle of 90 ⁰ which is achieved by means of the bevel pinion and the crown.

The conical pinion or drive pinion receives the movement of the transmission shaft and
communicates it to the crown, which through the differential passes it to the bearings and
subsequently to the wheels.
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In the central part of the rear axle crankcase there is a widening in which the mechanisms of
the conical pair or crown pinion group and the differential group in all-front or all-rear vehicles
are housed, this assembly is housed in the box of speeds .

THE CONICAL GROUP .

It is made up of the pinion and crown assembly, which are responsible for performing the
functions of speed reduction and transmission between axles. In the case of vehicles with a
longitudinal engine, the drive pinion and crown are conical, in the case of transverse engines
they are cylindrical.

CONICAL GROUP CLASSIFICATION.

According to the geometric arrangement of the teeth of the conical group, they are classified
into two large groups.

SPIRAL CONICAL GROUP.

They are conical gears with helical teeth, in which the pinion and crown axes are concurrent;
they are used when they have to transmit high torque. To do this, the design allows the teeth
to mesh at an acute angle, instead of 90º as in a straight gear.

HYPOID CONICAL GROUP. It consists of a gear with special teeth capable of transmitting
movement between two non-concurrent axles, so that the pinion is displaced with respect to
the center of the crown, to achieve a separation between axes equal to 0.2 times the diameter
of the ring. crown, which results in longer and larger teeth and therefore greater robustness,
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due to the presence of large thrusts between the gear wheels, which requires careful selection
of the bearings and the use of lubricant.

Both the conical pinion and the crown have a helical toothing that has the advantage of being
the most suitable for the low floor bodies that are used today, resulting in greater stability.

ATTACK PINION.
The drive pinion is built in a single piece and consists of a gear and a pinion, which must have
high resistance to mechanical stress and wear on the surface of the teeth. It is generally
mounted on two conical roller bearings. , which in turn are mounted in the machined housings
in the differential mechanism housing.

For the construction of the drive pinion, tempered steel 709 / AISI 4140 is used. As a rule, steel
709 is supplied quenched and tempered (tempered tenacious quenching), so a subsequent
heat treatment would not be required, unless otherwise required. demands the application
and in that case, a special steel would be tempered to obtain higher mechanical properties.

CROWN.

It is a large toothed element with a high number of teeth that have a helical shape, used to
transmit movement from the drive pinion to the differential mechanism and subsequently to
the wheels.

In contrast to a pinion, the largest toothed wheel, and therefore the largest number of teeth in
each stage of reduction or speed multiplication, is called a crown, in the case of being part of a
speed-reducing mechanism such as In the case of the differential mechanism, the crown is a
driven wheel.
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PINION-CROWN GROUP OPERATION .

The drive pinion receives the movement from the gearbox through the transmission shaft, and
transmits it to the crown, arranged in a transverse position to transmit the movement to the
wheels; The speed reduction is achieved by having the pinion with a smaller number of teeth
than the crown, which also increases the torque. The reduction ratio is between 3:1 and 6:1,
which will depend on the size of the wheels and the power of the engine.

THE DIFFERENTIAL SET.

If the driving wheels of the vehicle were attached directly to the crown of the bevel pair, the
rotational movement of the engine would be transmitted from the drive pinion to the crown
and from this to the wheels; The differential set is made up of planetary gears and satellites.

PLANETARIUMS.
In a differential, the planetary gears are the 2 gear wheels attached to the semi-shafts of the
driving wheels and that mesh with the satellites. Because both are only in relative motion for a
limited time (in curves) at low speeds, they have straight teeth; In normal differentials, the
planetary gears are made up of conical wheels, but there is no shortage of models in which
planetary gears and satellites are cylindrical wheels.
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SATELLITES .
In a differential, the planets are gear wheels which are joined by a transverse shaft,
and must rotate freely on the planetary pinions; Through the satellites, an increase and
decrease in speed is obtained in each of the planetary gears depending on the turning
path taken by the vehicle.

DIFFERENTIAL BOX.
Its mission is to adopt an independent rotation of the wheels, according to the route
each one of them makes and also to manage the driving force in the wheels in charge
of traction, based on the rotation of one wheel with respect to the other.
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FUNCTION OF THE DIFFERENTIAL.

The function of the differential mechanism is to allow the drive wheels to rotate at
different speeds, whether the front or rear wheels.

differential group, the wheels will be attached directly to the crown of the bevel pair, the
rotational movement of the engine would be transmitted from the drive pinion to the crown
and from this to the wheels, both rotating at the same speed; With this arrangement, the
vehicle in a straight path the movements of both wheels would be identical, but when the
vehicle travels in a curved path in which the outer wheel has to travel longer than the inner
one, dragging or skidding of the wheels would occur. , since the wheels are driven by the
crown at the same speed and must travel different routes.

The gears in the differential mechanism are arranged in a "U" shape on the shaft. When both
wheels travel the same path, because the vehicle is traveling in a straight line, the gear
remains in neutral. However, in a curve the gears shift slightly, thereby compensating for the
different speeds of rotation of the wheels.
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TYPES OF DIFFERENTIALS
OPEN DIFFERENTIALS.

They are conventional differentials, they are made up of two planetary gears and two, three or
four satellites; The planetariums rotate through the satellites. This type of differential is not
suitable for 4x4, since, in the case of driving on terrain with little grip, the differential will send
more revolutions to the axle with less or no grip. Open differentials are the most common in
vehicles and are standard on most; It consists of a gear system that maintains the same
amount of pressure on the gear faces that operate each of the axle shafts.

SLIP DIFFERENTIAL LIMITED .

In this type, the axes of the satellites are not supported in the box but in V-shaped
notches in the pressure plates. These have external projections that fit into the grooves
of the box to produce drag while they can move. laterally between each
of the pressure plates and the satellite box.

TORSEN DIFFERENTIAL.
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Its operation is based on the principle of a worm screw, the screw can move the crown, but
the crown cannot move the screw. It is an irreversible system, this differential is the only one
capable of distributing the slip independently of the speed. of rotation of the semi-shafts.

It works by combining three pairs of helical wheels that mesh through straight teeth located at
their ends (concatenation gears). Retention or increased friction occurs because the worm
wheels act as a worm gear mechanism, the point of contact between the teeth moves in a
straight line along the tooth itself, which means the union of movement rotation of the wheels
with the sliding movement that involves friction. The setting or degree of resistance is
determined precisely by the angle of the helix of these worm wheels.

The most interesting thing about this type of differential is that it can distribute the engine's
force to each semi-axle depending on the resistance that each wheel opposes to rotation, but
at the same time it allows the inner wheel in a curve to rotate less than the outer one,
although the latter receives less torque.

EPICYCLOIDAL DIFFERENTIAL.

This differential is made up of a simple planetary gear train, although depending on the
elements used, such as inputs and outputs, the set of satellites can be double, it is used as a
torque distributor between the differentials of the front and rear axles and as a front
differential on four-wheel drive cars; When the input is made through the satellite box, the
outputs to the front and rear axles are made through the planet and crown axes.
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Controlled differentials. They are classified by their drive, among which are:

By manual lock. They consist of the same components as a conventional bevel wheel
differential in which a partial locking system has been added between the differential box and
planetary gears that can be made to act at will.