File:BAUMA_2004_ZF_Differentialgetriebe.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
differential
Sign in to savetype of simple planetary gear train
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- epicyclic gearing
- Image
- NonSynchronousGearBoxSF.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Automobile differentials
- described by source
- Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A differential is a gear train with three drive shafts that has the property that the rotational speed of one shaft is the average of the speeds of the others. A common use of differentials is in motor vehicles, to allow the wheels at each end of a drive axle to rotate at different speeds while cornering. Other uses include clocks and analogue computers. Differentials can also provide a gear ratio between the input and output shafts (called the "axle ratio" or "diff ratio"). For example, many differentials in motor vehicles provide a gearing reduction by having fewer teeth on the pinion than the ring gear.
History
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “differential” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.