Overview

Driveshafts are systems made up of a number of elements arranged and linked together. A system is characterised in that it can be delineated from its surroundings, with the links to the surroundings at the boundary of the system [5.1; 5.2]. A variety of factors affects the selection of the sub-systems.

The elements of the driveshaft systems the individual parts are shown in Fig. 5.1 together with their functions. These are the connecting shaft 1, the joints 2 and the intermediate shaft 3.

Fig. 5.1a, b: Driveshaft system. a Hooke's jointed shaft in a Z-configuration, b diagrammatic representation of the system elements 1 to 3

The type of joint gives the driveshaft its name, leading to three families:

• Hooke's jointed,

• ball jointed,

• pode jointed.

The function of driveshafts is to transmit torque and rotation from the driving unit to the driven unit as uniformly as possible, with at least one unit being able to change its spatial position within set limits. This overall function can be divided into three individual functions:

• 1 the uniform transmission of torque and rotation,

• 2 the ability to alter the distance between the input and output,

• 3 the ability to alter the angle between the input and output.

In general, the aim is to make one element perform several functions. In the three families of driveshafts, the following elements play a part in functions 1 to 3: