Cone differential

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Simple cone differential

Conical differentials are a simple form of a differential used in vehicle construction .

The purpose of a differential is to compensate for the different wheel speeds of the inner and outer wheels when cornering, so that no slip and no tension occurs.

Components

A cone differential consists of a differential cage (blue), inside which often three or four differential gears are mounted (in the picture the minimum number: one, green). The bevel gears (red and yellow) of the driven axles are located on these .

Mode of action

The driving force of the motor is transmitted to the outer wheel (blue) of the differential carrier via gears . Normally both wheels then turn (on the red and yellow shaft). The differential gear (green) does not rotate on its shaft (but with the differential cage around the half-shafts of the drive wheels).

If one of the wheels gets stuck, the balancing gears (green) compensate for this with their rotation and transfer the power to the other wheel. If, on the other hand, one wheel spins unsteadily (idling over an elevation, ice ...), there is little or no power transmission on the other wheel instead.

A typical feature of a cone differential can be checked for yourself: if you turn one wheel by hand in one direction, the other will turn in the opposite direction. If you hold onto the other wheel, nothing moves anymore. If you turn both wheels in one direction, the power is transferred to the motor: it turns.

Force distribution

Normally the force distribution is 50 to 50.

Next expansion stage

The next stage of expansion of the cone differential is that of the ball differential .