(1) THE BASICS Introduction “Over the next few issues of this magazine | will endeavour to shed some light’ on the mysterious world of the differential, or diff for short. The Meccano world is no stranger to the use of differentials. Most of us have at some time or other in our past built 2 model incorporating such a device. A few of us actually worked out tow the little devil Worked! I hope to enlighten those still confused and also present a personal approach to my uses of the diff. At first we will look at some theory, $0 we all speak the same language and then | will describe three incredibly simple differentials that can be built in matter of ten minutes each. In the next article there will be a detailed description of my three speed epicyclic gearbox which has performed perfectly over a number of years, This is an example of the differential arrancement that can be used as a normal gearbox. To take the use of diffs to @ conclusion, in the final article in this short series 1 will explain the Workings of tank steering mechanisms, as these. systems are fascinating combinations of differentials and gearboxes. ‘Some theory Question: What exactly is a differential? ‘Answer : The reason why | am not ae Differential definitions: DIFFERENTIALS, THE THEORY AND PRACTICE PHILLIP EDWARDS 18 .: 7 paid 25 much as Fred Blogs, or alternatively a device than can” sum angular velocities. The differential relies Heavily on a fact of life called the second law of thermodynamics, or to you and me ‘what goes in must come out Well, that's it, the theory dealt with! Some more detail required | hear you say ~ 0.K, here is the mathematical Approach. igure 1 shows @ block diagram of & differential. It shows the centre ‘cage! and the two ‘half shafts’. Let us not worry about what is inside the cage for the moment, that comes later, Let the left half shaft" be rotating at’ an angular velocity of 'X' degrees per second, in the shown direction. Let the velocities of the other parts be 'Y' and 'Z! also. as shown, in the same rotational direction. This conformance ta a particular reference direction is very important, if you get it wrong you might as well give up and go home! The standard formula (fora symmetric diff only) is: 2 +x say To those of you not blessed with the pleasure of a University degree, that Says that the sum of the two half shaft angular velocities is equal to twice the age angular velocity. Any device that does not conform to this Is not a Symmetric differential. Let me explain what | mean by a symmetric diff, This Is the type that most of us have driving our car wheels, whereas a non-symmetric diff is a device used in epieyelic arrangements. More on that In a later article! This fittle formula yields some interesting results. Let us look at some of these now, = a) The car rear axle case. cage 1s driven, so 'Y' is known, All we know about 'X' ‘and '2' from this equation is that their sum represents twice the cage velocity. If the car is moving in @ straight line then clearly XZ, and as 1+1=2, than X=¥=2 and bence S.M.G. MAGAZINE - December IEGthe cage drives the wheels. This is what 2 mathematician would call proof by Induction, Find an intuitive answer and low and ‘behold it fits the mathematical medel. It's not really a con job, it's useful! If on the other hand the steering is set so that the car will travel in a circular path then clearly 2 and X are not equal and the geometry of the car's wheel base will provide the extra equation to enable the one and only possible solution of Z and X tobe found. Z and X can take an infinite number of combinations of velocities, the particular answer being dependent on the vehicle's. geometry and steering angle. The differentia! is being used here as a device for allowing an infinitely variable speed to be generated at a very high efficiency. b) Nelocity addr ‘This hoe Ts quite slaple,-One inputs power into two out of three of X, ¥ and Z and takes power out of the third, For example one inputs two speeds, to X and 2. The magic formula willl then describe. the velocity of the cage. Les let X=9 rpin 3 ram Y= (4013) rpm Liars) ep ‘then = 85 rpm lt con be seen therefore that with careful choice of input speeds, derived from standard Meccano gear reductions, with enough perseverance almost any. weird and wonderful gear reduction can be obtained through using @ diff. ©) Torque Converters Ge Geives Tne ohe part of the aiff, say for example X. One takes power out of, say, Z. That leaves ¥ to play with. This is attached to a sprung arm so that the angular position of ¥ is dependent on the stretch of the spring. Due to our old friendly law of physics mentioned earlier, ‘one does not get something for nothing. in this instance the energy which stretches the spring must come from somewhere. It comes in fact from the power inthe drive motor being diverted From the intended output of the device and into the spring: This. sccurs when the output 1s lauded,” Ie. prevented trom rotating at its full spaed. ‘The motor would “rather stratch “the spring “than tmave the loed, 0 the cage rotates, TNs continues untli the energy. stored. in the Spring Is sufficient to overcome the toed andthe output. restanes normal” speed, S.M.G. MAGAZINE ~ December 1986 One therefore has a. device which gives an output, the relative angle of which is dependent an the normal output loading. If this load sensor is placed after a Suitable gearbox, then the sensor can change the gear automatically, as and when the load demands. This type of arrangement has been fully and neatly described in an article written by Robin Schoolar in one of the old ‘Neccano Engineer! magazines. (1 think either issue 8 or 10). Care must be taken as a ino neutral’ Gearbox must be used, else the torque sensor will oscillate at the instant of the gear changing. @)) Clutch brake Inversion i many systems have 2 clutch of some kind. This however can lead to difficulties in finding a strong enough clutch, This is exacerbated in the Meccano world as good clutches tend to be incredibly inefficient due to friction between the controlling fork and socket. A neat solution to this is to place a differential in the power path instead of the clutch, using the two half shafts as input and output respectively. The cage is connected to a brake. When the brake is on the power Is transmitted through the differential and when, it is off the brake freewheels. A fittle experimentation on the part of the modelier will show that this is fr more efficient as the frictional forces only appear when the brake is on and then’ no-one really cares as the more friction the better! Three simple DIF s TEST ie SUandara Gesign (of diterentiat consists of a set of either bevel or Gontrate and pinion gears inside a cave. Figure 2 shows a schematic of a bevel-based differential. This is the type that appeared many 2 time in the Meccano literature over the years, ond necessary to Fig. 2 Standard Differential owas favoured in the set 10 model leaflets ‘of the 50's onwards, The left half shaft is connected to bevel 'c!, the fight half shaft to 'd! and tha two bevels ‘a! and ‘bY are purely left to rotate dt will on spindles fixed to the cage 'e!. The cage is driven via a toothed edge through the input gear 'f, Let us try and visualise what happens. If 'c' is rotated and ‘et hheld stationary, then the internal bevels force ‘d to rotate in the opposite direction. Notice that this checks with the formula given earlier. Y=0 therefore X=2. The minus sign indicates the direction is reversed. If one now holds fe! still and powers the cage 'e', then 'd! will rotate at twice the cage speed. This also ties in with the equation so. the Practice agrees with the theory. 1) The all-pinion different Th Meccano The above doston isa bit of “a pain’ in the neck! The construction of the cage is far from easy if a lightweight powerful diff is required. The designs offered in the Meccano literature are far from perfect and always cause problems. | overcome this problem by using all pinion diffs. These use a set of similar 19 tooth pinions to achieve the same effect as a set_of bevels, i.e. one half shaft contra-rotates the other If the cage is held stationary. Figure 3 shows my design of diff. Figure ¥ shows the half shafts removed. The diff is balanced by having two seis of pinions, one either side of the cage. The pinion fixed to one half shaft drives an idler pinion which In turn drives another, which drives the other half shaft. A little bit of thought will show. that this system does in fact work! Describing the Meccano side of things, the cage is built up of tuo six hole Wheel Dises (2%), held together by two 2" Screwed Rods. The use of hexagonal nuts Is recommended here as they are thicker metal than the square Fig. All-Pinion Differential Fig.4_All-Pinion Differential Showing half shaft Pinions nuts and held the thing tagether Squarer. A suitable spur gear is fitted fever one end of the Screwed Rods as shown and prevented from falling off by two lock nuts. The gear should be mounted with plenty of slack. Bulld the cage on a rod and it will automatically Straighten up an tightening. Check for free motion of the rod. Next insert the half shafts, designed as shown. Finish off with ‘the idler pinion rods also as shown and ‘there you go — on differential. Make sure everything runs free and mount in at least three bearings. As long as one half shaft is held in bearings at either end then one ‘only needs one bearing on the other half shaft, Make sure that only counter-sunk grub screws are used else the pinions Will be fouled. 2) inside-out differentials iifferentisl can be turned inside-out and this can_be an. advantage especially in Meccano. See figure 5. The ‘one long rod becomes the cage and the half shafts are units that rotate on this rod. In the first example at top of the figure the differential is a pinion and contrate design. The contrate is free to revolve on a Pivot Bolt attached vie a Threaded Coupling fixed to the cage rod. The half shafts are merely 25 tooth inions and are driven from spur gears on separate shafts (not shown). You might find that the odd Electrikit thin washer is required under the contrate to space the teeth correctly. This simple design is very easy to make and can withstand vast amounts of power with no Gistortion of the cage! Another nice feature of this design is its size and it will just fit_ in’ a 1" centred rod arrangement: The cage is not balanced, 'S.M.G. MAGAZINE - December 1905Fig. S inside-out Gifferenti so the main use for this design is as a torque sensor, where the cage is sprung and never really moves much. The second design is a fully balanced inside-out differential and is of bevel gear design. Once again the mai rod acts as cage and the half shafts rotate upen it. In this case two Socket Couplings are ‘used to connect the half shaft bevels to the gears of your choice. With care these ‘half shafts' can be made to run very smoothly indeed. The precise design can be seen from the figure, sithough | am not saying that this is the only design, I'm sure there are others equally simple and effective, it Is the principle of the design that is important! Please note that one nice feature of these designs is that one only needs to build two supports as the inside-out diff naturally supports itself on the main Well | hope that was not too tong and boring. | hope you have found this article interesting and that it starts many hours of happy frustration in the building of these little beasties!