Drive assembly

A drive assembly including a housing having an opening, a shaft supported for rotation by a bearing assembly received in the opening of the housing, and at least one gear fixed for rotation with the shaft. The bearing assembly includes a bearing that is axially fixed to the shaft, and a sleeve having a tubular section, a radially inwardly extending flange at a first end of the tubular section and a radially outwardly extending flange at a second end of the tubular section. The bearing is received in the tubular section and abuts at least a portion of the tubular section and the radially inwardly extending flange. The radially outwardly extending flange abuts a surface of the housing surrounding the opening of the housing thereby setting an axial position of the at least one gear relative to the opening of the housing.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to drive assemblies. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a bearing assembly for supporting a shaft of a drive assembly.

BACKGROUND

A wide variety of drive assemblies are known. One type of drive assembly includes an input shaft supported for rotation by one or more bearings in a bore of a housing. One or more gears are fixed for rotation to the shaft for driving other components, such as cooperating gears/shafts, etc. In such assemblies, the axial position of the shaft relative to the housing ensures proper meshing between the gears of the shaft and corresponding driven elements. To achieve proper positioning, the bore of the housing is typically provided with additional features such as a machined shoulder or snap ring groove which sets the axial position of the shaft relative to the housing. These additional features increase costs and/or assembly time.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a drive assembly comprises a housing having an opening, a shaft supported for rotation by a bearing assembly received in the opening of the housing, and at least one gear fixed for rotation with the shaft. The bearing assembly includes a bearing that is axially fixed to the shaft, and a sleeve having a tubular section, a radially inwardly extending flange at a first end of the tubular section and a radially outwardly extending flange at a second end of the tubular section. The bearing is received in the tubular section and abuts at least a portion of the tubular section and the radially inwardly extending flange. The radially outwardly extending flange abuts a surface of the housing surrounding the opening of the housing thereby setting an axial position of the at least one gear relative to the opening of the housing.

The at least one gear can include a bevel gear, and the sleeve can resist a separation force generated by the bevel gear along an axis of the shaft. The bearing assembly can include an angular contact ball bearing. The angular contact ball bearing can include an inner race, an outer race, a cage supported between the inner race and the outer race, and a plurality of rolling elements retained by the cage, inner race and outer race. The sleeve can be a unitary, one-piece structure, such as a stamped metal structure. The tubular section of the sleeve can have an axial length greater than an axial length of the bearing. The radially outwardly extending flange of the sleeve can be spaced axially from the bearing. The bearing of the bearing assembly can support a terminal end portion of the shaft.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a bearing assembly comprises a bearing, and a sleeve having a tubular section, a radially inwardly extending flange at a first end of the tubular section and a radially outwardly extending flange at a second end of the tubular section. The bearing is received in the tubular section and abuts at least a portion of the tubular section and the radially inwardly extending flange.

The bearing can be an angular contact ball bearing, including an inner race, an outer race, a cage supported between the inner race and the outer race, and a plurality of rolling elements retained by the cage, inner race and outer race. The sleeve can be a unitary, one-piece structure, such as a stamped metal structure. The tubular section of the sleeve can have an axial length greater than an axial length of the bearing. The radially outwardly extending flange of the sleeve can be spaced axially from the bearing.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of assembling components of a drive assembly comprises providing a housing having an opening, providing a shaft and a bearing assembly mounted to the shaft, the bearing assembly including a bearing, and a sleeve having a tubular section, a radially inwardly extending flange at a first end of the tubular section and a radially outwardly extending flange at a second end of the tubular section, wherein the bearing is received in the tubular section and abuts at least a portion of the tubular section and the radially inwardly extending flange, and inserting the shaft and bearing assembly into the opening of the housing such that the radially outwardly extending flange abuts a surface of the housing surrounding the opening of the housing thereby setting an axial position of the shaft relative to the opening of the housing.

Additional embodiments are disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting. “Axially” refers to a direction along an axis (X), as shown inFIG.1, for example. “Radially” refers to a direction inward and outward from the axis (X) of the connector, i.e. in the “Y” direction as shown inFIG.1, for example.

A reference to a list of items that are cited as “at least one of a, b, or c” (where a, b, and c represent the items being listed) means any single one of the items a, b, or c, or combinations thereof. The terminology includes the words specifically noted above, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.

FIG.1illustrates an exemplary drive assembly in accordance with the present disclosure and identified generally by reference numeral10. The drive assembly10includes a housing14having a bore18in which a shaft22is received. The housing18can be, for example, a case of a transmission assembly or other power transmission device. A proximal end of the shaft22is supported for rotation by a bearing assembly26received in an opening30of the housing14. One or more additional bearings (not shown) may support a distal end of the shaft22and/or at intermediate portions thereof.

In the illustrated embodiment, the housing14is generally tubular and contains the shaft22entirely within the bore18. In other embodiments, the housing can be a bearing support flange that has an opening for receiving the bearing assembly26, but otherwise does not include a bore in which the shaft is contained, such that the shaft is at least partially contained in a further housing or open to the environment. Thus, it should be appreciated that the housing14is exemplary in nature and aspects of the present disclosure can be used in a wide variety of installations.

In the illustrated embodiment, the shaft22includes at least one, and preferably a plurality of axially-spaced apart bevel drive gears34. The bevel drive gears34are fixed for rotation with the shaft22and are configured to engage corresponding bevel driven gear(s) (not shown) mounted to respective driven shafts (not shown) which can be received through shaft openings38in the outer circumference of the housing22. It will be appreciated that other types of gears and/or drive components can be used depending on a particular application.

With additional reference toFIG.2, the bearing assembly26includes a bearing42received in a sleeve46. The bearing42, which in the illustrated example is an angular contact bearing, includes an inner race50, an outer race54, a cage58supported between the inner race50and the outer race54, and a plurality of rolling elements62retained by the cage58, inner race50and outer race54.

The sleeve46has a tubular section66in which the bearing42is received, a radially inwardly extending flange70at a first end of the tubular section66and a radially outwardly extending flange74at a second end of the tubular section66. In the illustrated example, the bearing42is pressed into the sleeve46and the outer race54abuts at least a portion of the tubular section66and the radially inwardly extending flange70.

The sleeve46can be a unitary one-piece structure, such as a stamped metal sleeve, for example. In the illustrated example, the tubular section66of the sleeve46has an axial length LT greater than an axial length of the bearing LB such that the radially outwardly extending flange of the sleeve is spaced axially from the bearing. In one example, the axial length LT of the tubular section66is approximately twice the axial length LB of the bearing42. The axial length LT can be selected to achieve a desired axial positioning of the shaft22within the housing14.

Referring back toFIG.1, the bearing42of the bearing assembly26supports a terminal end portion78of the shaft22. The bearing assembly26is typically pressed onto the shaft22and fixed axially thereto. The sleeve46is received in the opening30in the housing14such that the radially outwardly extending flange74abuts a surface82of the housing14surrounding the opening30of the housing14thereby setting an axial position (e.g., depth) of the bevel drive gears34relative to the opening30of the housing14. As such, special features such as shoulders or snap ring grooves are not required in the bore18of the housing.

A person of skill in the art will recognize that when the bevel drive gears34are mated with corresponding bevel driven gears (not shown) and the shaft22is rotated, a gear separation force is generated along the axis of the shaft22in a direction away from the bearing assembly26. This gear separation force is resisted by the sleeve46due to the abutting engagement of the radially outwardly extending flange74with the housing14such that axial movement of the bearing assembly26and shaft22is restricted.

In certain applications, the radially outwardly extending flange74can act as a wear surface between the housing14and an adjacent component. To this end, certain low friction materials can be coated or otherwise applied to an outwardly-facing surface86of the radially outwardly extending flange74.

Aspects of the present disclosure simplify installation of the shaft22, bearing assembly26, and bevel drive gears34in the bore18of the housing14. In particular, the shaft22with bearing assembly16and bevel drive gears34can be inserted into the bore18until the radially outwardly extending flange74bottoms on the surface82of the housing14surrounding the opening30. In this position, the bevel drive gears34are aligned axially within the bore18for meshing with bevel drive gears (not shown) received through openings38in the housing14. No additional installation steps are necessary, such as the installation of a retaining ring in the bore18.

Having thus described the present disclosure in detail, it is to be appreciated and will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many physical changes, only a few of which are exemplified in the detailed description of the invention, could be made without altering the inventive concepts and principles embodied therein.

It is also to be appreciated that numerous embodiments incorporating only part of an embodiment are possible which do not alter, with respect to those parts, the inventive concepts and principles embodied therein.

The present embodiment and optional configurations are therefore to be considered in all respects as exemplary and/or illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the embodiments being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all alternate embodiments and changes to this embodiment which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of said claims are therefore to be embraced therein.

LOG OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

drive assembly10housing14bore18shaft22bearing assembly26opening30bevel drive gears34shaft openings38bearingsleeve46inner race50outer race54cage58rolling elements62tubular section66radially inwardly extending flange70radially outwardly extending flange74axial length of the tubular section LTaxial length of the bearing LBterminal end portion of the shaft78surface82outwardly-facing surface86