Differential (mechanical device) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Differential_(mechanical_device)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A differential is a gear train with three shafts that has the property that
the angular velocity of one shaft is the average of the angular velocities
of the others, or a fixed multiple of that average.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Epicyclic differential
4 Spur-gear differential
5 Non-automotive applications
A spur gear differential constructed by
6 Application to vehicles
engaging the planet gears of two co-axial
7 Functional description
epicyclic gear trains. The casing is the
8 Loss of traction
carrier for this planetary gear train.
9 Active differentials
10 Automobiles without differentials
11 See also
12 References
13 External links

In automobiles and other wheeled vehicles, the differential allows the

outer drive wheel to rotate faster than the inner drive wheel during a
turn. This is necessary when the vehicle turns, making the wheel that is
traveling around the outside of the turning curve roll farther and faster
than the other. The average of the rotational speed of the two driving
wheels equals the input rotational speed of the drive shaft. An increase
in the speed of one wheel is balanced by a decrease in the speed of the
other.

When used in this way, a differential couples the longitudinal input shaft
(or prop shaft) to the pinion, which in turn drives the transverse ring
Automotive differential: The drive gear
gear of the differential. This also works as reduction gearing. On rear
2 is mounted on the carrier 5 which
wheel drive vehicles the differential may connect to half-shafts inside an
supports the planetary bevel gears 4
axle housing, or drive shafts that connect to the rear driving wheels.
which engage the driven bevel gears 3
Front wheel drive vehicles tend to have the engine crankshaft and the attached to the axles 1.
gearbox shafts transverse, and with the pinion on the end of the
main-shaft of the gearbox and the differential enclosed in the same
housing as the gearbox. There are individual drive-shafts to each wheel. A differential consists of one input, the
drive shaft, and two outputs which are the two drive wheels, however the rotation of the drive wheels are
coupled to each other by their connection to the roadway. Under normal conditions, with small tire slip, the ratio
of the speeds of the two driving wheels is defined by the ratio of the radii of the paths around which the two

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wheels are rolling, which in turn is determined by the track-width of the

vehicle (the distance between the driving wheels) and the radius of the
turn.

Non-automotive uses of differentials include performing analog

arithmetic. Two of the differential's three shafts are made to rotate
through angles that represent (are proportional to) two numbers, and the
angle of the third shaft's rotation represents the sum or difference of the
two input numbers. The earliest known use of a differential gear is in the
Antikythera mechanism, circa 80 BCE, which used a differential gear to
ZF Differential. The drive shaft enters
control a small sphere representing the moon from the difference
from the front and the driven axles run
between the sun and moon position pointers. The ball was painted black
left and right.
and white in hemispheres, and graphically showed the phase of the
moon at a particular point in time.[1] See also the Chinese South-pointing
chariot. An equation clock that used a differential for addition was made
in 1720. In the 20th Century, large assemblies of many differentials were
used as analog computers, calculating, for example, the direction in
which a gun should be aimed. However, the development of electronic
digital computers has made these uses of differentials obsolete. Military
uses may still exist, for example, for a hypothetical computer designed
to survive an electromagnetic pulse. Practically all the differentials that
are now made are used in automobiles and similar vehicles.
Car differential of a koda 422

There are many claims to the invention of the differential gear, but it is possible that it was known, at least in
some places, in ancient times. Some historical milestones of the differential include:

1st millennium BC: Differential gear systems used in China, with the south-pointing chariot dated to this
period.[2]
100 BC70 BC: The Antikythera mechanism has been dated to this period. It was discovered in 1902 on a
shipwreck by sponge divers, and modern research suggests that it used a differential gear to determine the
angle between the ecliptic positions of the Sun and Moon, and thus the phase of the Moon.[1][3]
227239 AD: Ma Jun from the Kingdom of Wei in China invents the first
historically verifiable south-pointing chariot, which provided cardinal
direction as a non-magnetic, mechanized compass. Some such chariots
may have used differential gears.
658, 666 AD: two Chinese Buddhist monks and engineers create south-
pointing chariots for Emperor Tenji of Japan.
1027, 1107 AD: Documented Chinese reproductions of the south-pointing
chariot by Yan Su and then Wu Deren, which described in detail the
mechanical functions and gear ratios of the device much more so than
earlier Chinese records.
South-pointing chariot model
1720: Joseph Williamson uses a differential gear in a clock.
1810: Rudolph Ackermann of Germany invents a four-wheel steering
system for carriages, which some later writers mistakenly report as a
differential.
1827: modern automotive differential patented by watchmaker Onsiphore Pecqueur (17921852) of the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers in France for use on a steam wagon.[4][5]

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1832: Richard Roberts of England patents "gear of compensation", a differential for road locomotives.
1874: Aveling and Porter of Rochester, Kent list a crane locomotive in their catalogue fitted with their
patent differential gear on the rear axle.[6]
1876: James Starley of Coventry invents chain-drive differential for use on bicycles; invention later used
on automobiles by Karl Benz.
1897: first use of differential on an Australian steam car by David Shearer.
1958: Vernon Gleasman patents the Torsen dual-drive differential, a type of limited-slip differential that
relies solely on the action of gearing, instead of a combination of clutches and gears.

An epicyclic differential can use epicyclic gearing to split and apportion

torque asymmetrically between the front and rear axles. An epicyclic
differential is at the heart of the Toyota Prius automotive drive train,
where it interconnects the engine, motor-generators, and the drive
wheels (which have a second differential for splitting torque as usual). It
has the advantage of being relatively compact along the length of its axis
(that is, the sun gear shaft).
Epicyclic gearing is used here to
Epicyclic gears are also called planetary gears because the axes of the apportion torque asymmetrically. The
planet gears revolve around the common axis of the sun and ring gears input shaft is the green hollow one, the
that they mesh with and roll between. In the image, the yellow shaft yellow is the low torque output, and the
carries the sun gear which is almost hidden. The blue gears are called pink is the high torque output. The force
planet gears and the pink gear is the ring gear or annulus. applied in the yellow and the pink gears
is the same, but since the arm of the pink
Ring gears are also used in starter motors. one is 2 to 3 as big, the torque will be
2 to 3 as high.

This is another type of differential that was used in some early automobiles, more recently the Oldsmobile
Toronado, as well as other non-automotive applications. It consists of spur gears only.

A spur-gear differential has two equal-sized spur gears, one for each half-shaft, with a space between them.
Instead of the Bevel gear, also known as a miter gear, assembly (the "spider") at the centre of the differential,
there is a rotating carrier on the same axis as the two shafts. Torque from a prime mover or transmission, such as
the drive shaft of a car, rotates this carrier.

Mounted in this carrier are one or more pairs of identical pinions, generally longer than their diameters, and
typically smaller than the spur gears on the individual half-shafts. Each pinion pair rotates freely on pins
supported by the carrier. Furthermore, the pinion pairs are displaced axially, such that they mesh only for the
part of their length between the two spur gears, and rotate in opposite directions. The remaining length of a
given pinion meshes with the nearer spur gear on its axle. Therefore, each pinion couples that spur gear to the
other pinion, and in turn, the other spur gear, so that when the drive shaft rotates the carrier, its relationship to
the gears for the individual wheel axles is the same as that in a bevel-gear differential.

A spur gear differential is constructed from two identical coaxial epicyclic gear trains assembled with a single
carrier such that their planet gears are engaged. This forms a planetary gear train with a fixed carrier train ratio
R = -1.

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In this case, the fundamental formula for the planetary gear train yields,

or

Thus, the angular velocity of the carrier of a spur gear differential is the average of the angular velocities of the
sun and annular gears.[7]

In discussing the spur gear differential, the use of the term annular gear is a convenient way to distinguish the
sun gears of the two epicyclic gear trains. The second sun gear serves the same purpose as the annular gear of a
simple planetary gear train, but clearly does not have the internal gear mate that is typical of an annular gear.

Chinese south-pointing chariots may also have been very early

applications of differentials. The chariot had a pointer which constantly
pointed to the south, no matter how the chariot turned as it travelled. It
could therefore be used as a type of compass. It is widely thought that a
differential mechanism responded to any difference between the speeds
of rotation of the two wheels of the chariot, and turned the pointer
appropriately. However, the mechanism was not precise enough, and,
after a few miles of travel, the dial could have very well been pointing in
the complete opposite direction.

The earliest definitely verified use of a differential was in a clock made

by Joseph Williamson in 1720. It employed a differential to add the
Differential used to control the take-up
equation of time to local mean time, as determined by the clock
reel of a paper tape reader made by
mechanism, to produce solar time, which would have been the same as Tally circa 1962. The bevel gears spin
the reading of a sundial. During the 18th Century, sundials were freely on their shafts, unless a brake shoe
considered to show the "correct" time, so an ordinary clock would stops the left gear. This causes the planet
frequently have to be readjusted, even if it worked perfectly, because of gear to drive the output shaft at half the
seasonal variations in the equation of time. Williamson's and other speed of the driven gear on the right.
equation clocks showed sundial time without needing readjustment.
Nowadays, we consider clocks to be "correct" and sundials usually
incorrect, so many sundials carry instructions about how to use their readings to obtain clock time.

In the first half of the twentieth century, mechanical analog computers, called differential analyzers, were
constructed that used differential gear trains to perform addition and subtraction. The U.S. Navy Mk.1 gun fire
control computer used about 160 differentials of the bevel-gear type.

A differential gear train can be used to allow a difference between two input axles. Mills often used such gears
to apply torque in the required axis. Differentials are also used in this way in watchmaking to link two separate
regulating systems with the aim of averaging out errors. Greubel Forsey use a differential to link two double
tourbillon systems in their Quadruple Differential Tourbillon.

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A vehicle with two drive wheels has the problem that when it turns a corner the
drive wheels must rotate at different speeds to maintain traction. The
automotive differential is designed to drive a pair of wheels while allowing them
to rotate at different speeds. In vehicles without a differential, such as karts,
both driving wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed, usually on a common
axle driven by a simple chain-drive mechanism.

When cornering, the inner wheel travels a shorter distance than the outer wheel,
so without a differential either the inner wheel rotates too quickly or the outer
wheel rotates too slowly, which results in difficult and unpredictable handling,
damage to tires and roads, and strain on (or possible failure of) the drivetrain. Planetary differential used to
drive a chart recorder circa
In rear-wheel drive automobiles the central drive shaft (or prop shaft) engages 1961. The motors drive the sun
the differential through a hypoid gear(ring and pinion). The ring gear is mounted and annular gears, while the
on the carrier of the planetary chain that forms the differential. This hypoid gear output is taken from the planet
is a bevel gear that changes the direction of the drive rotation. gear carrier. This gives 3
different speeds depending on
which motors are on.

The following description of a differential applies to a traditional

rear-wheel-drive car or truck with an open or limited slip differential
combined with a reduction gearset using bevel gears (these are not
strictly necessary see spur-gear differential):

Thus, for example, if the car is making a turn to the right, the main ring
gear may make 10 full rotations. During that time, the left wheel will
make more rotations because it has farther to travel, and the right wheel
will make fewer rotations as it has less distance to travel. The sun gears
(which drive the axle half-shafts) will rotate at different speeds relative
to the ring gear (one faster, one slower) by, say, 2 full turns each (4 full Video explaining the purpose and the
turns relative to each other), resulting in the left wheel making 12 principle of a differential (8 minutes,
with subtitles).
rotations, and the right wheel making 8 rotations.

The rotation of the ring gear is always the average of the rotations of the
side sun gears. This is why if the driven roadwheels are lifted clear of the ground
with the engine off, and the drive shaft is held (say, leaving the transmission in
gear preventing the ring gear from turning inside the differential), manually
rotating one driven roadwheel causes the opposite roadwheel to rotate in the
opposite direction by the same amount.

When the vehicle is traveling in a straight line there will be no differential

movement of the planetary system of gears other than the minute movements
necessary to compensate for slight differences in wheel diameter, undulations in Hypoid gear pair that connects
the road which make for a longer or shorter wheel path, etc. an automotive drive shaft to a
differential.

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One undesirable side effect of an open differential is that it can limit

traction under less than ideal conditions. The amount of traction
required to propel the vehicle at any given moment depends on the load
at that instanthow heavy the vehicle is, how much drag and friction
there is, the gradient of the road, the vehicle's momentum, and so on.

The torque applied to each driving wheel is the result of the engine,
transmission, and drive axle applying a twisting force against the
resistance of the traction at that roadwheel. In lower gears, and thus at
lower speeds, and unless the load is exceptionally high, the drivetrain Input torque is applied to the ring gear
can supply as much torque as necessary, so the limiting factor becomes (blue), which turns the entire carrier
the traction under each wheel. It is therefore convenient to define (blue). The carrier is connected to both
traction as the amount of force that can be transmitted between the tire sun gears (red and yellow) only through
and the road surface before the wheel starts to slip. If the torque applied the planet gear (green). Torque is
to one of the drive wheels exceeds the threshold of traction, then that transmitted to the sun gears through the
wheel will spin, and thus provide torque only at the other driven wheel planet gear. The planet gear revolves
equal to the sliding friction at the slipping wheel. The reduced net around the axis of the carrier, driving the
traction may still be enough to propel the vehicle slowly. sun gears. If the resistance at both
wheels is equal, the planet gear revolves
An open (non-locking or otherwise traction-aided) differential always without spinning about its own axis, and
supplies close to equal torque to each side. To illustrate how this can both wheels turn at the same rate.
limit torque applied to the driving wheels, imagine a simple rear-wheel
drive vehicle, with one rear roadwheel on asphalt with good grip, and
the other on a patch of slippery ice. It takes very little torque to spin the
side on slippery ice, and because a differential splits torque equally to
each side, the torque that is applied to the side that is on asphalt is
limited to this amount.[8][9]

Based on the load, gradient, etc., the vehicle requires a certain amount
of torque applied to the drive wheels to move forward. Since an open
differential limits total torque applied to both drive wheels to the amount
used by the lower traction wheel multiplied by 2, when one wheel is on If the left sun gear (red) encounters
a slippery surface, the total torque applied to the driving wheels may be resistance, the planet gear (green) spins
lower than the minimum torque required for vehicle propulsion.[10] as well as revolving, allowing the left
sun gear to slow down, with an equal
A proposed alternate way to distribute power to the wheels, is to use the speeding up of the right sun gear
concept of a gearless differential, about which a review has been (yellow).
reported by Provatidis,[11] but the various configurations seem to
correspond either to the "sliding pins and cams" type, such as the ZF
B-70 available on early VWs, or are a variation of the ball differential.

Many newer vehicles feature traction control, which partially mitigates the poor traction characteristics of an
open differential by using the anti-lock braking system to limit or stop the slippage of the low traction wheel,
increasing the torque that can be applied to the opposite wheel. While not as effective as a traction-aided
differential, it is better than a simple mechanical open differential with no traction assistance.

A relatively new technology is the electronically controlled 'active differential'. An electronic control unit (ECU)

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uses inputs from multiple sensors, including yaw rate, steering input
angle, and lateral accelerationand adjusts the distribution of torque to
compensate for undesirable handling behaviours like understeer. Active
differentials used to play a large role in the World Rally Championship,
but in the 2006 season the FIA has limited the use of active differentials
to only those drivers who have not competed in the World Rally
Championship in the last five years.

Fully integrated active differentials are used on the Ferrari F430,

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and on the rear wheels in the Acura RL. A
version manufactured by ZF is also being offered on the B8 chassis Audi
S4 and Audi A4.[12] The Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk7 in Performance trim
also has an electronically controlled front-axle transverse differential ARB, air-locking differential
lock, also known as VAQ.[13]

The second constraint of the differential is passiveit is actuated by the

friction kinematics chain through the ground. The difference in torque
on the roadwheels and tires (caused by turns or bumpy ground) drives
the second degree of freedom, (overcoming the torque of inner friction)
to equalise the driving torque on the tires. The sensitivity of the
differential depends on the inner friction through the second degree of
freedom. All of the differentials (so called "active" and "passive") use
clutches and brakes for restricting the second degree of freedom, so all
suffer from the same disadvantagedecreased sensitivity to a
A cutaway drawing of a car's rear axle,
dynamically changing environment. The sensitivity of the ECU
showing the crown wheel and pinion of
controlled differential is also limited by the time delay caused by sensors
the final drive, and the smaller
and the response time of the actuators.
differential gears

Although most automobiles in the developed world use differentials

there are a few that do not. Several different types exist:

Race cars and trucks in certain classes. Drag racing is done in a

straight line (and often on a prepared surface), which obviates the
need for a differential. A spool is used to make a solid connection
between both drive wheels, which is simpler and less likely to
break under very heavy acceleration. Racing on dirt or mud tracks
also allows the use of spools, because the loose surface gives way A cutaway view of an automotive final
while cornering. NASCAR mandates the use of spools in their drive unit which contains the differential
cars, which does cause axle wind-up, and degrades handling in
turns. Other forms of racing without differentials include tractor
pulling, mud bogging, and other 4x4 motorsports where differential action is not needed.
Vehicles with a single driving wheel. Besides motorcycles, which are generally not classified as
automobiles, this group includes most three-wheeled cars. These were quite common in Europe in the
mid-20th Century, but have now become rare there. They are still common in some areas of the
developing world, such as India. Some early four-wheeled cars also had only one driving wheel to avoid
the need for a differential. However, this arrangement led to many problems. The system was unbalanced,
the driving wheel would easily spin, etc. Because of these problems, few such vehicles were made.
Vehicles using two freewheels. A freewheel, as used on a pedal bicycle for example, allows a road wheel

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to rotate faster than the mechanism that drives it, allowing a cyclist to stop pedalling while going downhill.
Some early automobiles had the engine driving two freewheels, one for each driving road wheel. When
the vehicle turned, the engine would continue to drive the wheel on the inside of the curve, but the wheel
on the outside was permitted to rotate faster by its freewheel. Thus, while turning, the vehicle had only
one driving wheel. Driving in reverse is impossible as is engine braking due to the freewheels.
Vehicles with two continuously variable transmissions, such as the DAF Daffodil. The Daffodil, and other
similar vehicles which were made until the 1970s by the Dutch company DAF, had a type of transmission
that used an arrangement of belts and pulleys to provide an infinite number of gear ratios. The engine
drove two separate transmissions which ran the two driving wheels. When the vehicle turned, the two
wheels could rotate at different speeds, making the two transmissions shift to different gear ratios, thus
functionally substituting for a differential. The slower moving wheel received more driving torque than the
faster one, so the system had limited-slip characteristics. The duplication also provided redundancy. If one
belt broke, the vehicle could still be driven.
Light vehicles with closely spaced rear wheels, such as the Isetta and Opperman Unicar, or very low mass
vehicles.
Vehicles with separate motors for the driving wheels. Electric cars can have a separate motor for each
driving wheel, eliminating the need for a differential, but usually with some form of gearing at each motor
to get the large wheel torques necessary. A multi-motor electric vehicle such as the Dual Motor Tesla
Model S can electronically control the power distribution between the motors on a millisecond scale, in
this case acting as a centre differential where open differentials are still employed left-to-right.[14]

Ball differential
Equation clock
Hermann Aron#Electricity meters
Limited slip differential
Locking differential
Torque vectoring
Whippletree (mechanism)
Tests on rollers

1. Wright, M. T. (2007). "The Antikythera Mechanism reconsidered" (http://fsoso.free.fr/antikythera

/DOCS/TheAntikytheraMechanismReconsidered.pdf) (PDF). Interdisciplinary science reviews. 32 (1).
Retrieved 20 May 2014.
2. Joseph Needham (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 2, page 298. Taipei: Caves
Books, Ltd.
3. Presentation given to the NHRF in Athens, 6 March 2007 M. T. Wright
4. Britannica Online
5. "History of the Automobile" (http://www.gmcanada.com/inm/gmcanada/english/about/OverviewHist
/hist_auto.html). General Motors Canada. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
6. Preston, J.M. (1987), Aveling & Porter, Ltd. Rochester., North Kent Books, pp. 1314,
ISBN 0-948305-03-7 includes sectional drawing.
7. J. J. Uicker, G. R. Pennock and J. E. Shigley, 2003, Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, Oxford
University Press, New York.
8. Bonnick, Allan. (2001) "Automotive Computer Controlled Systems (https://books.google.com
/books?id=odUZ0O_OWZwC&pg=PA22) p. 22

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9. Bonnick, Allan. (2008). "Automotive Science and Mathematics (https://books.google.com

/books?id=78HoZb-ohbIC&pg=PA123) p. 123
10. Chocholek, S. E. (1988) "The development of a differential for the improvement of traction control"
(http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/Torsen/Torsen.htm)
11. Provatidis, Christopher, G. (2003). "A critical presentation of Tsiriggakis gearless differential". Mobility
& Vehicles Mechanics 29 (4): 2546; also: http://users.ntua.gr/cprovat/index_en.htm
12. "ZF Press release" (http://www.zf.com/corporate/en/press/press_releases/products_press
/products_detail.jsp?newsId=21442669). Zf.com. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
13. "Golf VII GTI" (http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25303). pistonheads.com.
Retrieved 2013-06-24.
14. Davies, Alex (2014-10-10). "The Model D Is Teslas Most Powerful Car Ever, Plus Autopilot"
(https://www.wired.com/2014/10/tesla-reveals-details-big-model-d-announcement/). Wired.com.
Retrieved 2014-10-11. "Musk said the added efficiency is thanks to the electronic system that will shift
power between the front and rear motors from one millisecond to the next, so each is always operating at
its most efficient point"

A video of a 3D model of an open differential (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBm-SzO3ggE)

An article explaining differentials with illustrations and video (http://www.drivingfast.net/technology
/Differentials.htm)
"Around the Corner" (https://archive.org/details/Aroundth1937) (1937), a Jam Handy film made for
Chevrolet explaining very clearly how an open differential works.
Popular Science, May 1946, How Your Car Turns Corners (https://books.google.com
/books?id=kiEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76), a large article with numerous illustrations on how differentials
work.

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