Combined brake and clutch unit, combined brake and clutch unit with a yaw brake and method for operation thereof

摘要

A combined brake and clutch unit 23 for a drivetrain of a road vehicle. A brake ring 34 is provided at a housing 32 of a clutch 30 which is enclosed by a brake actuator 35. The housing 32 of the clutch 30 is connected to a wheel axis 21 and a clutch surface is connected to an axis of a vehicle 28. A planetary gear set may also be integrated with the unit whether it is an incomplete planetary gearset (50, fig 3) or a complete planetary gearset (50', fig 4). Furthermore, a multi-plate clutch for use as an interaxle differential is disclosed (fig 10). A method of operating the combined clutch and brake unit equalizes the torque across a wheel pair by applying actuators of the brake/clutch (es).