A drive device includes a rotor, a stator, a housing including an accommodation portion to store oil and accommodate the rotor and the stator, a pump driven through a motor shaft, and a valve in the housing. The pump includes a pump room in the housing, a suction port through which the oil is to be sucked into the pump room, and a discharge port through which the oil is to be discharged from the pump room. The housing includes a first oil passage connected to the discharge port and a branch oil passage that is connected to the first oil passage and is open to an inside of the accommodation portion on an upper side in a vertical direction of the stator. The motor shaft includes a second oil passage located in the motor shaft and connected to the first oil passage and a first through-hole connecting the second oil passage and an outer circumferential surface of the motor shaft. The valve is provided in the branch oil passage, and switched between a closed state in which a flow of the oil in the branch oil passage is blocked and an open state in which the flow of the oil in the branch oil passage is permitted.

In a drive device, a pump includes a pump room in a housing, a suction port through which oil is to be sucked into the pump room, and a discharge port through which the oil is to be discharged from the pump room. The housing includes an inner lid that holds a bearing journaling a motor shaft and covers one side in an axial direction of a stator, an outer lid that is attached to one side in the axial direction of the inner lid and covers one side in the axial direction of the motor shaft, and a suction oil passage connecting a lower region in a vertical direction in an accommodation portion and the suction port. At least a portion of the suction oil passage is between the inner lid and the outer lid. The inner lid includes an opening penetrating the inner lid and connecting the lower region in the vertical direction and a portion of the suction oil passage between the inner lid and the outer lid. The strainer is provided in the opening.

A drive device includes a rotor, a stator, a housing including an accommodation portion to store oil, and a pump driven through a motor shaft. The pump includes an external gear fixed to an end on one side in an axial direction of the motor shaft, an internal gear surrounding a radial outside of the external gear and meshing with the external gear, a pump room accommodating the internal gear and the external gear, a suction port through which the oil is to be sucked into the pump room, and a discharge port through which the oil is to be discharged from the pump room. The housing includes an outer lid in which the pump room is provided. The outer lid includes a shaft insertion hole that penetrates the outer lid from a surface on the other side in the axial direction of the pump room to a surface on the other side in the axial direction of the outer lid, the motor shaft being inserted into the shaft insertion hole, and a support defining at least a portion of the surface on the other side in the axial direction of the pump room and at least a portion of a radially inside surface of the shaft insertion hole. The support journals the motor shaft on the radial outside of the motor shaft.

A motor assembly includes a shaft, a bearing, at least one fluid channel, a temperature sensor, a lubricant supply pump, and a controller. The bearing defines a bearing interface against which the shaft rotates. The at least one fluid channel is fluidly coupled with the bearing interface. The temperature sensor detects a temperature of the bearing. The lubricant supply pump is fluidly coupled with the at least one fluid channel to transport lubricant from a lubricant supply to the bearing interface via the at least one fluid channel. The controller receives the bearing temperature from the temperature sensor, determines a difference between the bearing temperature and a supply temperature of the lubricant, determines a lubricant flow rate based on the difference, and transmits a control signal to the lubricant supply pump to cause the lubricant supply pump to transport the lubricant to the bearing interface at the lubricant flow rate.

Disclosed are an oil circuit, an oil supply method for lubricating wheel-end electric drive axles, and a dual-circuit oil pump. The oil pump has a motor, first and second pumps with a common rotor shaft driven by the motor, and a seal mounted on the rotor shaft and configured to sealingly isolate the first pump from the second pump. The oil circuit design includes an oil pump, first and second oil filters, and first and second heat exchangers. From first and second housings each receiving a first and second wheel-end electric drive axle, respectively, a lubricating oil flows into a respective oil filter, flows into the oil pump after being filtered, is then pumped into the respective heat exchanger and cooled, and finally flows back into the respective housing.

Oil console equipment includes: a lubrication oil tank in which a lubrication oil is stored; a lubrication oil supply line which is connected to the lubrication oil tank and through which a liquid lubrication oil stored in the lubrication oil tank is supplied to a bearing supporting a rotor; a first cooler which is provided in the lubrication oil supply line and cools the liquid lubrication oil supplied to the bearing; a lubrication oil recovery line which is connected to the lubrication oil tank and through which the lubrication oil recovered from the bearing is introduced into the lubrication oil tank; a first atmosphere discharge pipe which is connected to the lubrication oil tank and through which a lubrication oil mist which exists in a gas phase in the lubrication oil tank and is a misted lubrication oil and a first exhaust gas containing a gas are introduced out.

A device for estimating a temperature of a lubricant in a transmission that transmits power from a motor to a robot joint includes a thermometer and a processor. The processor includes hardware configured to: receive, as input from the motor, a current value of the motor and calculate, as output, a motor heat value based thereon; receive, as input from the motor and the transmission, a rotating speed of the motor and a frictional torque of the transmission, and calculate, as output, a frictional heat value in the transmission based on the rotating speed of the motor and at least one of the frictional torque of the transmission and at least one coefficient of friction of the transmission; and receive, as input from the thermometer, the room temperature, the frictional heat value, and the motor heat value and estimate, as output, the estimated temperature of the lubricant based thereon.

A lubricant collecting device including a lubricant guide and a lubricant container, where the lubricant guide has an outer surface for guiding a first medium and an inner surface for guiding a second medium, and also includes a gap that forms an inlet for the first medium.

A circulation sump device for an electric drive unit of a motor vehicle, which can be lubricated and/or temperature-controlled via a lubricant, comprising a lubricant sump with a first axial region and a second axial region, a lubricant reservoir which extends below the lubricant sump in the first axial region and is connected to the lubricant sump via a lubricant drain opening, and a lubricant sump pump line which is designed to pump lubricant out of the second axial region of the lubricant sump into the lubricant reservoir.

Provided is a life evaluating device that evaluates the life of a lubricant in a machine including a motor and a transmission mechanism that is lubricated by the lubricant and transmits power of the motor to a movable unit. The life evaluating device includes a motor-heat-value calculating unit that calculates a motor heat value on the basis of a current value of the motor, a frictional-heat-value calculating unit that calculates a frictional heat value in the transmission mechanism on the basis of rotating speed of the motor and a coefficient of friction of the transmission mechanism, a lubricant-temperature estimating unit that estimates temperature of the lubricant on the basis of the calculated frictional heat value and the calculated motor heat value, and a life estimating unit that estimates the life of the lubricant on the basis of the estimated temperature of the lubricant.