TRIPOD JOINT AND MANUFACTURING METHOD

Abstract

A tripod joint includes a multi-part pot having an interior and a plurality of raceways for supporting a plurality of rollers in the interior. The pot includes a housing having an open end and a base at the end of the housing opposite the open end, and the base may be formed separately from the housing or one-piece therewith. The raceways may be formed by inserts mounted in the interior which inserts may have a hardness greater than a hardness of the material of the housing.

Claims

1. A tripod joint comprising: a multi-part pot having an interior and a plurality of raceways for supporting a plurality of rollers in the interior.

2. The tripod joint according to claim 1, wherein the pot comprises a housing having an open end and a base opposite the open end.

3. The tripod joint according to claim 2, including a shaft extending from an exterior surface of the base.

4. The tripod joint according to claim 3, where each of the raceways is formed on an interior surface of the housing.

5. The tripod joint according to claim 3, wherein each the raceways comprises an insert mounted on an interior surface of the housing, and wherein each of the raceways is formed from a material having a hardness greater than a hardness of a material of the housing.

6. The tripod joint according to claim 5, wherein the inserts are formed from hardened steel and the housing is formed from aluminum.

7. The tripod joint according to claim 3, wherein the base is formed separately from the housing and connected to the housing at a joint.

8. The tripod joint according to claim 7, where each of the raceways is formed on an interior surface of the housing.

9. The tripod joint according to claim 7, wherein each the raceways comprises an insert mounted on an interior surface of the housing, and wherein each of the raceways is formed from a material having a hardness greater than a hardness of a material of the housing.

10. The tripod joint according to claim 9, wherein the inserts are formed from hardened steel and the housing is formed from aluminum.

11. The tripod joint according to claim 1, wherein the pot comprises a housing having an interior and an open end, a base opposite the open end and a shaft attached to an exterior wall of the base and projecting away from the housing, wherein the shaft has a longitudinal axis of rotation and extends in an axial direction, wherein three channels are defined in an interior wall of the housing, wherein each of the channels extends in the axial direction, faces into the housing interior, and has a pair of mutually facing side walls, wherein each of the side walls is covered by a raceway insert connected to the housing, and wherein each of the raceway inserts is formed from a material having a hardness greater than a material of the housing.

12. The tripod joint according to claim 11, wherein each of the raceway inserts covers no more than one of the side walls.

13. The tripod joint according to claim 12, wherein the base is formed separately from the housing and connected to the housing at a joint.

14. The tripod joint according to claim 11, wherein each of the raceway inserts covers at least two of the side walls.

15. The tripod joint according to claim 14, wherein the base is formed separately from the housing and connected to the housing at a joint.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a tripod joint according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the tripod joint of FIG. 1.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the tripod joint of FIGS. 1 and 2 with rollers omitted for illustration purposes.

[0027] FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the housing part of the tripod joint of FIGS. 1-3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the following, identical or functionally equivalent elements are designated by the same reference numbers.

[0029] FIGS. 1 and 2 show a tripod joint 1 that can be used with a drive shaft (not shown). The tripod joint 1 includes a pot 2 that comprises a cylindrical housing part 4 and a base 6 formed with or connected to a shaft 8. In the form depicted here, the pot 2 has a tulip shape with internal pockets 10. Alternatively the pot 2 can have a tulip shape only in the interior, and be outwardly cylindrical. The base 6 and the housing part 4 can have the same outer circumference, as is depicted here, but this is not absolutely necessary.

[0030] In the pockets 10, raceways 12 are formed on which rollers 14 of the tripod joint 1 roll. For sealing the transmission housing, the a bottom of the base 6 forms a counter-surface for a seal ring of the transmission 16. Furthermore, ring grooves 18 are present on the shaft 8 in order to pump oil into the transmission.

[0031] In order to allow a simple and cost-effective manufacturing of the tripod joint 1, the tripod joint 1 proposed here is configured multi-part. This multi-part nature can on the one hand be realized by a housing 4 and a base 6 manufactured separately therefrom, and/or by raceway inserts 20 in a one-piece or multi-part housing part 4, which inserts 20 form the raceways 12. Both variants, which can also be realized in combination, are described in the following.

[0032] As described, the pot 2 can comprise the housing part 4 and the base 6 manufactured separately therefrom. These two elements 4, 6 can be connected in various ways, for example, by friction welding or pressing-in. This has the advantage that the housing part 4 can be manufactured in a simple manner, for example, from a cylindrical tube that is cut into corresponding lengths. These tube sections can then be shaped internally to form corresponding pockets 10 and subsequently connected to the base 6. As a result no aligning is required between the base 6 and the housing part 4, but rather the base 6 and the shaft 8 and the housing part 4 merely require the same axis. A precise orienting of the outer circumference of the base 6 with respect to the housing part 4 is not required.

[0033] As already explained, the multi-part nature of the pot 2 can also be realized by inserts 20, which are shown in particular in FIGS. 3 and 4. These inserts 20 can be formed of steel, ceramic, or a similar hard material, in order to ensure the required hardness of the raceways 12. The housing part 4 itself can then also be manufactured from a softer material, such as, for example, aluminum. In the embodiment depicted here, the inserts 20 are configured such that they each provide a rolling surface 22, 24 for two different rollers. This means that a rolling surface 22, 24 is provided by two inserts 20 per roller 14. Alternatively it would also be possible to design the inserts 20 C-shaped such that each one insert 20 provides the rolling surfaces 22, 24 a single one roller 14.

[0034] The inserts 20 are attached in the housing part 4 by any type of connection, such as, for example, a flanging 26 as is used in the FIGS. 1-4 shown here. Alternatively the inserts 20 can also be welded to the housing part 4. A clamping between the inserts 20 and the housing part 4 has the advantage that the inserts 20 can be easily exchanged in the event of wear.

[0035] Due to the tripod joint proposed here, which is configured multi-part, a simple manufacturing is made possible that on the one hand is cost-effective, and on the other hand provides a stable and durable tripod joint.

[0036] Representative, non-limiting examples of the present invention were described above in detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved tripod joints.

[0037] Moreover, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the above detailed description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Furthermore, various features of the above-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims below, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.

[0038] All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indications of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.

TABLE-US-00001 REFERENCE NUMBER LIST 1 Tripod joint 2 Pot 4 Housing part 6 Base 8 Shaft 10 Pocket 12 Raceway 14 Roller 16 Counter-surface 18 Ring groove 20 Insert 22 Rolling surface 24 Rolling surface 26 Flanging