An actuator is used to longitudinally move a spline sleeve for controlling drive mode of a differential on an off-road vehicle. The actuator's motor rotates an eccentric knob through a drive train including intermediate gears and a worm gear. The eccentic knob is linked to the spline sleeve through a torsion spring carried on a pivot plate, with legs of the torsion spring pushing a slide block, transferring a moment provided by the eccentric knob into a linear slide force. The pivot plate and torsion spring are jointly mounted on the actuator housing by a hub, opposite the rotational axis of the eccentric knob from the slide block. The slide block includes a contact which completes a circuit through conductive pads on the actuator housing, so the position of the slide block can be directly sensed.

Systems and methods for road disturbance detection and torque vectoring control. A vehicle may comprise: a torque vectoring system for independently varying torque to a plurality of wheels, an external sensor suite, and an electronic control unit. The control unit may comprise one or more processors and memory storing executable instructions that, as a result of execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement an appropriate torque vectoring strategy. The torque vectoring strategy may comprise biasing torque towards or away from a wheel/motor/axle.

A clutch device for a motor vehicle drive train includes an input shaft, a first clutch arranged on the input shaft, a housing wall, a support bearing on the housing wall, an actuating force introduction mechanism, and a first actuating unit. The first clutch has a first clutch component with a carrier and a second clutch component. The first clutch component is directly connected to and axially supported on the input shaft. The actuating force introduction mechanism is rotationally fixed to the first clutch component such that an actuating force which adjusts the first clutch from its open position into its closed position is introduced directly into the input shaft via the carrier and is supported by the input shaft via the support bearing. The first actuating unit is operatively connected to the first clutch and includes a movable actuating bearing arranged to interact with the actuating force introduction mechanism.

An improved twin clutch, two-speed disconnect secondary drive unit, which may be configured as a rear drive unit (RDU) for an all wheel drive vehicle is provided. The RDU is driven through an input shaft, which is connected to a vehicle drive source such as a motor, and includes a twin clutch assembly, which is connected to the drive shaft and is selectively actuated to drive left and right main shafts, which drive respective wheels of the vehicle. The RDU further includes a modular a shift assembly mountable to one or both of said main shafts to drive output shafts, wherein each shift assembly is selectively operable between the hi-range and lo-range modes to shift driving operation of the output shafts between hi-speed and lo-speed operation. The shift assembly may be controlled by improved mono-stable or bi-stable actuators.

A front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle includes: (a) a front-wheel drive unit including a front-side drive source configured to drive a front wheel of the vehicle and a front-side transmission mechanism disposed in a power transmission path between the front-side drive source and the front wheel and having a constant gear ratio; and (b) a rear-wheel drive unit including a rear-side drive source configured to drive a rear wheel of the vehicle and a rear-side transmission mechanism disposed in a power transmission path between the rear-side drive source and the rear wheel and having a constant gear ratio. The front-wheel drive unit and the rear-wheel drive unit are spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism is higher than the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism.

A secondary drive unit (SDU) for the secondary axis of an all wheel drive vehicle consists of an SDU housing defining a first section for receiving a main shaft which is connected to a drive source and a second section for enclosing a twin clutch assembly. The twin clutch assembly has a common clutch housing connected to the main shaft, a left clutch for selectively connecting a left output shaft and the clutch housing, a right clutch for selectively connecting a right output shaft and the clutch housing, and a rigid center plate separating the left and right clutches. The twin clutch assembly may be activated by a dual action piston assembly to decrease all wheel drive synchronization and connection response times.

A vehicle includes a first axle, a second axle, a driveshaft, a first clutch, a second clutch, a third clutch, and a controller. The second axle has first and second half shafts. The second axle has first and second wheels. The driveshaft is disposed between the first and second axles and is coupled to the second axle. The first clutch is configured to selectively couple the driveshaft to the first axle. The second clutch is configured to selectively couple the first wheel to the first half shaft. The third clutch is configured to selectively couple the second wheel to the second half shaft. The controller is programmed to control the clutches to connect the second axle to the first axle via the driveshaft.

A vehicle control device mounted on a four-wheel drive vehicle including a driving force transmission system includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit calculates a command torque based on vehicle information. The electronic control unit estimates a temperature of a heat generating location in the driving force transmission system based on the command torque. The electronic control unit estimates the temperature of the heat generating location based on an estimated value of a driving force input to an input rotating member, when it is not possible for the driving force corresponding to the command torque to be transmitted to auxiliary drive wheels due to a magnitude of the driving force generated by a drive source or occurrence of a wheel slip.

A drive train for a hybrid vehicle, in particular for a temporarily four-wheel-driven motor vehicle, wherein the drive train comprises a first partial drive train assigned to a primary axle and a second partial drive train assigned to a secondary axle, and wherein the first partial drive train comprises a first drive unit configured as an internal combustion engine and a second drive unit configured as an electric machine and a change transmission, is refined in that the hybrid drive train is inexpensive to produce, has low CO2 emissions in operation, and may be used in a drive train of a temporarily four-wheel-driven motor vehicle. This is achieved in that change transmission comprises an input shaft and an output shaft, wherein the first drive unit is coupled to the primary axle via the change transmission, and wherein the second drive unit is coupled to the primary axle via the input or output shaft of the change transmission, and wherein the drive train furthermore comprises a clutch arrangement, wherein the secondary axle can be coupled in a driving manner to the primary axle by means of the clutch arrangement.

An actuator is used to longitudinally move a spline sleeve for controlling drive mode of a differential on an off-road vehicle. The actuator's motor rotates an eccentric knob through a drive train including intermediate gears and a worm gear. The eccentric knob is linked to the spline sleeve through a torsion spring carried on a pivot plate, with legs of the torsion spring pushing a slide block, transferring a moment provided by the eccentric knob into a linear slide force. The pivot plate and torsion spring are jointly mounted on the actuator housing by a hub, opposite the rotational axis of the eccentric knob from the slide block. The slide block includes a contact which completes a circuit through conductive pads on the actuator housing, so the position of the slide block can be directly sensed.