Application
current location： Home > Application
Release time：2025-09-19
page views： Coupling Applications in the Automotive Industry
Couplings are critical mechanical components in automotive transmission systems, responsible for transmitting power and motion between non-linearly connected shafts while compensating for various relative displacements. They ensure smooth, reliable, and efficient power delivery.
Propeller Shaft / Drive Shaft:
Function: Connects the transmission output shaft to the input shaft of the drive axle (rear or front axle).
Requirements: Compensates for relative positional changes (primarily angular and length variations) between the transmission and drive axle caused by road bumps and vehicle body movements.
Half Shaft / Axle Shaft:
Function: Connects the differential to the drive wheels.
Requirements: Compensates for large angular changes between the wheels and differential during wheel bounce and steering while transmitting significant drive and braking torque.
Steering System:
Function: Connects the steering column to the steering gear.
Requirements: Compensates for installation errors and body deformations while demanding extremely high reliability for safety.
Four-Wheel Drive (4WD/AWD) System:
Function: Connects the transfer case to the front/rear drive axle or links left and right wheels (e.g., torque vectoring systems).
Requirements: Enables power transmission at complex angles and lengths with fast response times.
Large Angular Misalignment Compensation: Must accommodate significant angular changes caused by suspension movement and body torsional deformation.
High Torque Capacity and Fatigue Resistance: Must reliably transmit the engine’s full output torque and withstand millions of cyclic loads.
High Efficiency and Low Vibration: Minimizes power loss and avoids vibrations at specific angles and speeds, impacting NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) performance.
Compact Size and Lightweight: Fits into limited chassis space and helps reduce unsprung mass to improve handling.
Maintenance-Free and Long Service Life: Designed to last the vehicle’s lifetime, typically requiring no maintenance.
Cross Groove Universal Joint:
Features: Simple structure, high load-bearing capacity, and low cost.
Applications: Traditional commercial trucks and off-road vehicle drive shafts.
CV Joint (Constant Velocity Joint):
Features: The most common type in modern passenger vehicles. Enables true constant velocity transmission, offering high efficiency, low vibration, and large angles (up to 50° or more).
Applications: Half shafts of front-wheel-drive vehicles (both inner and outer CV joints) and drivetrains of four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Classifications: Fixed type (RF joint, for wheel ends) and plunging type (VL joint, for differential ends).
Weiss Universal Joint:
Features: Used in early vehicle models, offering high load capacity but limited angles and non-constant velocity.
Applications: Rarely used today, occasionally found in off-road or agricultural machinery.
In automotive transmission systems, couplings (universal joints) are the core components enabling power to "turn corners" and "adjust length." Their performance directly affects a vehicle’s power delivery, smoothness, comfort, and reliability. The evolution from traditional cross-groove joints to modern precision CV joints reflects the automotive industry’s relentless pursuit of higher performance and better user experiences.
Hotline：
+8615066616606
15066565000@163.com
No. 188 Kunlun Road, Hongyun Development Zone, Qingyun County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province