Diferenciály

Diferenciály, also known as differential gears, are a type of gear train that allows a vehicle's drive wheels to rotate at different speeds while still transmitting power. This is crucial for smooth turning. When a car turns, the outer wheel must travel a longer distance than the inner wheel. Without a differential, this would cause the wheels to drag and potentially damage the drivetrain.

The most common type of differential is the open differential. It consists of a set of gears, including a ring gear, pinion gear, spider gears, and side gears. The ring gear is driven by the driveshaft. The pinion gear meshes with the ring gear and rotates the differential carrier. The spider gears are mounted on the carrier and mesh with the side gears, which are connected to the drive axles. In a straight line, the spider gears remain stationary relative to the carrier, and both wheels turn at the same speed. During a turn, the spider gears rotate, allowing one side gear (and thus one wheel) to spin faster than the other.

While open differentials are simple and inexpensive, they have a drawback: if one wheel loses traction, the differential will send most of the power to that wheel, causing the vehicle to get stuck. More advanced differentials, such as limited-slip differentials (LSDs) and locking differentials, are designed to overcome this limitation by distributing power more evenly between the wheels, even when traction varies. LSDs can partially lock to limit the speed difference, while locking differentials fully lock the two axles together.