Improvement of Rear Axle Cooling Performance

On the basis of the investigation of the airflow and temperature distributions between the car underside and the wind tunnel floor, methods to improve the differential gear lubricant cooling performance in high speed running have been studied. It has been clarified that the differential gear lubricant temperature is nearly dominated by the convective heat transfer coefficient and the air temperature around the differential gear carrier. Control of the heat transfer coefficient and the air temperature around the differential gear carrier through the modification of the car underside configuration was found to be the most efficient method to decrease the temperature of the differential gear lubricant.