Transmission inertia brake with ball ramp actuator
First Claim
1. An inertia brake for braking the rotation of a freely rotating shaft in a transmission comprising:
- a transmission housing containing a plurality of shafts and gears for changing the gear ratio in a vehicle driveline;
a housing having a cavity therein, said housing attached to said transmission housing;
a transmission shaft having a plurality of gears attached thereto substantially contained within said transmission housing;
a clutch pack having a plurality of drive plates nonrotatably attached to said transmission shaft and a plurality of stationary plates attached to said transmission housing;
a ball ramp actuator for loading said clutch pack comprising;
an activation ring adjacent to said clutch pack where axial movement of said activation ring results in a loading and an unloading of said clutch pack;
a control ring disposed adjacent to said activation ring, said control ring and said activation ring having opposed faces provided with circumferentially extending grooves, said grooves as at least three opposed pairs of grooves having portions of varying depth having a maximum depth at one end and a minimum depth at an opposite end, and rolling members disposed one in each opposed pair of grooves, the grooves on said activation ring and said control ring being arranged so that relative angular movement of said activation ring and said control ring from a starting position thereof causes axial movement of said activation ring away from said control ring to axially load said clutch pack;
an armature nonrotationally coupled to said control ring, said armature having a friction plate in frictional contact with a frictional surface formed in said housing for applying an activating force to said control ring;
an electrical coil disposed adjacent to said friction plate, said friction plate being forced against said friction surface by an electromagnetic field generated by said coil.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An inertia brake is coupled to a rotating shaft of a vehicle transmission where a ball ramp actuator energized by an electrical coil is used to load a clutch pack which frictionally creates a braking torque on the rotating shaft to facilitate synchronous gear engagement. A control system includes an electronic control unit and an inertia brake controller where a variety of sensors provide signals to the electronic control unit uses the sensor signals to generate a deceleration signal to the inertia brake controller which in turn generates and supplies the appropriate level of electrical current to the electrical coil which is used to energize the ball ramp actuator thereby accurately controlling the rate of shaft rotational deceleration.
38 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An inertia brake for braking the rotation of a freely rotating shaft in a transmission comprising:
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a transmission housing containing a plurality of shafts and gears for changing the gear ratio in a vehicle driveline; a housing having a cavity therein, said housing attached to said transmission housing; a transmission shaft having a plurality of gears attached thereto substantially contained within said transmission housing; a clutch pack having a plurality of drive plates nonrotatably attached to said transmission shaft and a plurality of stationary plates attached to said transmission housing; a ball ramp actuator for loading said clutch pack comprising;
an activation ring adjacent to said clutch pack where axial movement of said activation ring results in a loading and an unloading of said clutch pack;
a control ring disposed adjacent to said activation ring, said control ring and said activation ring having opposed faces provided with circumferentially extending grooves, said grooves as at least three opposed pairs of grooves having portions of varying depth having a maximum depth at one end and a minimum depth at an opposite end, and rolling members disposed one in each opposed pair of grooves, the grooves on said activation ring and said control ring being arranged so that relative angular movement of said activation ring and said control ring from a starting position thereof causes axial movement of said activation ring away from said control ring to axially load said clutch pack;an armature nonrotationally coupled to said control ring, said armature having a friction plate in frictional contact with a frictional surface formed in said housing for applying an activating force to said control ring; an electrical coil disposed adjacent to said friction plate, said friction plate being forced against said friction surface by an electromagnetic field generated by said coil. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17)
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9. A gearchange transmission having an inertia brake comprising:
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a transmission having a transmission case with a cavity formed therein, said transmission having a first gearset carried by a rotating transmission countershaft meshed with a second gearset carried by a rotating transmission mainshaft all contained substantially within said cavity; a clutch pack having a plurality of drive plates nonrotatably attached to said transmission countershaft and a plurality of stationary plates attached to said transmission case; a ball ramp actuator for loading said clutch pack comprising;
an activation ring adjacent to said clutch pack where axial movement of said activation ring results in a loading and an unloading of said clutch pack;
a control ring disposed adjacent to said activation ring, said control ring and said activation ring having opposed faces provided with circumferentially extending grooves, said grooves as at least three opposed pairs of grooves having portions of varying depth having a maximum depth at one end and a minimum depth at an opposite end, and rolling members disposed one in each opposed pair of grooves, the grooves on said activation ring and said control ring being arranged so that relative angular movement of said activation ring and said control ring from a starting position thereof causes axial movement of said activation ring away from said control ring to axially load said clutch pack;activation means for applying a braking torque to said control ring. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification