US 12,334,799 B2
Vented electric drive unit for a vehicle
Andreas Holzlöhner, Langenargen (DE); Vyacheslav Brushkivskyy, Kressbronn (DE); and Marcel Neurohr, Friedrichshafen (DE)
Assigned to ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen (DE)
Filed by ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen (DE)
Filed on Jun. 30, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/855,341.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2021 207 712.9 (DE), filed on Jul. 20, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0024621 A1, Jan. 26, 2023
Int. Cl. H02K 5/20 (2006.01); B60K 1/00 (2006.01); H02K 9/19 (2006.01)
CPC H02K 9/19 (2013.01) [B60K 1/00 (2013.01); H02K 5/203 (2021.01); B60K 2001/006 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A drive unit comprising: a housing, an electric motor that defines a rotational axis and is radially enclosed inside the housing, a radially extending housing cover having axially opposite interior and exterior faces that extend radially, a radially outer region of the housing cover is connected to an axial end of the housing, at least one oil chamber disposed in the housing on an axial end region of the electric motor, the interior face of the housing cover defines an axial extent of the oil chamber remote from the electric motor, the oil chamber comprises an oil region and an air region and is closed off to the outside by the housing cover, and wherein the housing cover comprises at least one vent opening that extends axially through the housing cover from the interior face to the exterior face for venting the oil chamber, the at least one vent opening is disposed at a distance from the radial outer region of the housing cover and fluidically connected to an element for venting the oil chamber,
wherein the at least one vent opening opens into the air region of the oil chamber at a n on-perpendicular angle relative to the interior face of the housing cover, and
wherein the electric motor has a rotor shaft that rotates about the rotational axis, the rotor shaft axially extends into the oil chamber and has an end that supports a component of the drive unit within the oil chamber adjacent the interior face of the housing cover, the component extends radially within the oil chamber and has an outer periphery, the at least one vent opening is located on the inner side of the housing cover at a radial distance from the rotational axis that is shorter than a radial distance of the outer periphery of the component from the rotational axis.