The drive device serves for driving the motor vehicle and, in this regard, therefore, for supplying a torque directed at driving the motor vehicle. The drive device supplies the torque, which may also be referred to as a drive torque, to the driven shaft of the drive device. For example, the driven shaft is operatively connected rigidly and/or permanently to a wheel axle of the motor vehicle or to at least one wheel of the motor vehicle that can be associated with the wheel axle. The operative connection between the driven shaft and the wheel axle or the wheel can be produced via a transmission, such as, for example, a differential transmission, in particular a center differential transmission, and/or an axle differential transmission.
The drive device provides a plurality of drive assemblies, namely, at least the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly. The two drive assemblies can basically be designed in any way. For example, the drive assemblies are of different type, so that in this respect, the drive device is designed as a hybrid drive device. In this case, the first drive assembly can be present, for example, in the form of an internal combustion engine and the second drive assembly can be designed as an electric motor.
The two drive assemblies, namely, the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly, can be coupled to each other by means of the shift clutch. This means that, by use of the shift clutch, an operative connection, in particular a direct operative connection, can be produced between the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly. The direct operative connection is understood to mean, in particular, a coupling of the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly that is not made through the epicyclic gear train. When the shift clutch is closed, the coupling is preferably rigid.
The second drive assembly can be coupled to the driven shaft additionally or alternatively via the epicyclic gear train. The epicyclic gear train may also be referred to as planet gear train and is preferably designed as an epicyclic toothed gear train. The operative connection lies between the second drive assembly and the driven shaft, provided it is produced via the epicyclic gear train. For this purpose, for example, the second drive assembly is connected to a transmission element of the epicyclic gear train, whereas the driven shaft is connected to a different transmission element of the epicyclic gear train.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds