Electromechanical drive for track-laying vehicles

Abstract

An electromechanical drive for track-laying vehicles in which the two drive sides have no mechanical coupling and permits smaller overall lengths and overall diameters. As a result, the flexibility of the arrangement of the drive components compared is further increased. The drive includes an electric traction motor, at least one variable-speed mechanical gear unit, and at least one brake. At least one of these components is arranged inside the rotor of the electric motor, and the remaining components are arranged laterally at the electric motor in such a way as to lie coaxially in approximately one plane.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The invention relates track laying vehicles, and more particularly to an electromechanical drive for track-laying vehicles.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]It is known that electric drives for track-laying vehicles, compared with conventional, fully automatic, hydromechanical power-shift transmissions, permit increased flexibility in the component arrangement as well as a more favorable energy management of the vehicle with infinitely variable traction drive. The high demands made on the traction motor and on the power electronics in purely electic drives—without mechanical shift stages—leads to electric motors of large diameters. These motors require a lot of construction space and can only be arranged in vehicles to a limited extent.[0005]Avoiding these disadvantages has led to the development of electromechanical drives. German Patent No. 37 28 171 C2 shows an electromechanical drive block which has an el...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]An object of the present invention is to provide a more highly integral, more compact drive which retains the aforementioned advantages.

[0008]Due to the mechanical gear stages, it is possible to revert to electric motors which have a smaller output and a substantially smaller diameter. As a result, it is possible, for example, to coaxially drive a side transmission gear of the track drive sprocket attached to the rear hull end of the vehicle. As a result, an additional gear unit for compensating for axial misalignment may be dispensed with.

[0010]Since the friction brake is arranged of the outside on the output shaft, the braking power which is required by the tracks is absorbed directly and the brake can easily be cooled by ambient air. A further advantage of this arrangement is the ease of maintenance of the brake. The construction of the drive unit permits both electrical and mechanical-hydraulic actuation of the friction brake and of the clutches for the gear-change operations. When traveling around curves, motors on the inside of the curve work as generators, which supply energy to the motors on the outside of the curve via power electronics, as a result of which regenerative steering is possible. The flexibility of the arrangement of the drive components compared with the prior art is further increased in an advantageous manner by the invention.

Problems solved by technology

These motors require a lot of construction space and can only be arranged in vehicles to a limited extent.

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