Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Optimal design and enhancement of drive shaft mechanism in

automobiles
R. Kishore, P. Gurusamy ⇑, S. Nagendharan, P. Subash
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chennai Institute of Technology, Chennai 600069, Tamilnadu, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper reports on concentrating and creating an alternate mechanism for the existing differential
Received 1 April 2020 mechanism in All Terrain Vehicles. The differential is a component in automobiles and other wheeled
Accepted 12 May 2020 vehicles which allows the outer wheels to drive in a faster speed than the inner wheel drive during turns.
Available online xxxx
This differential is a very essential part to turn the vehicle smoothly. An increase in one-wheel speed will
be balanced by decreasing the speed of the other wheel. The vehicles with two drive wheels will face the
Keywords: problem when it comes to corners, here the drive wheel must be rotating in different speeds to achieve
Differential Mechanism
traction. Without Differential both driving wheels are forced to drive in same speed which results in very
Driveshaft
Gear box
unpredictable and hectic handling issues and damages tires as well as roads also leads to possible failure
Slip rings of drive train. The existing differential have complicated mechanism and it takes huge space to occupy in
All Terrain Vehicles the constrained cabin to overcome this design has been adapted by disengaging the drive shaft from the
gearbox whenever the turns are taken. This drive shaft with engaging and disengaging mechanism has
been adapted the disengaging driveshaft is a normal driveshaft or output shaft from gearbox with an
additional mechanism attached to it. This mechanism is used to engage or disengage the wheels from
the gearbox. This differential is light-weight, fast, less space-consuming and an economical solution for
improving the turning radius as compared with existing differential gear system.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Nanotechnology: Ideas, Innovation and Industries.

1. Introduction box have engine crankshaft and differential mechanism is in the

All vehicles, the driving force permits the external force wheel
to rotate faster than the internal force wheel in the course of a turn
[1,2]. It is essential that the external force wheel rotate faster than
the internal force wheel and this is very much essential in turning
of automobile. This would help the wheel to rotate effectively. The
external and internal speed of two riding wheels equals the input
pace of the power shaft. The increasing the speed of one wheel is
well-adjusted by means of a decrease within the velocity of the
other wheel.
The differential mechanism is activated through the longitudi-
nal propeller shaft to the pinion, which causes the transverse ring
gear to rotate. This function would reduce the number of gears in
the system. The driving shafts are usually connected with rear
wheel drive for better performance. In front wheel drive the gear
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gurusamyp@citchennai.net (P. Gurusamy).
same location [3].
A separate drive shafts are connected with each wheel. In the
differential mechanism one main shaft is operated by two output
shafts and these are individually connected with wheel [4]. The
eternal and internal wheels rotation radius is defined the track
width of the vehicle. Variation between the wheels have to be
maintained in the two-wheel drive automobile which in turn eval-
uate the performance of the vehicle. In general, the vehicle is
cornering, the external force wheel rotates longer distance as com-
pared with internal force wheel, hence these two wheels have to
maintained the speed. In this case the differential plays a vital role
for all kind of vehicles. These external and internal wheels have to
be rotate at different speeds which has been controlled by differen-
tial mechanism. A common axle driven mechanism is adopted in
vehicles like karts and wheels are designed to rotate at same speed
which leads to effective performance. In addition to these the role
of gear box played a very important role in this system. In this
work, the part contains a locking mechanism for engaging/disen-
gaging the wheels from the gearbox which moves with a linear

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.341
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Nanotechnology: Ideas, Innovation and Industries.

Please cite this article as: R. Kishore, P. Gurusamy, S. Nagendharan et al., Optimal design and enhancement of drive shaft mechanism in automobiles, Mate-
rials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.341
2 R. Kishore et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 1. Comparison of existing model with disengaging design.
actuator for moving powered by a simple 12 V battery supply
through two sets of slip rings.
2. Disengaging design
The modification of the design has been initiated form the base
idea to reduce the weight added towards the All-Terrain Vehicle
transmission system. The existing design modifications cannot be
Fig. 2. CAD model of parts which connects gear box and drive shaft.
Please cite this article as: R. Kishore, P. Gurusamy, S. Nagendharan et al., Optimal design and enhancement of drive shaft mechanism in automobiles, Mate-
rials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.341
achieved in this stage the new modified design has to be created
in such a way that the turns at different speeds and at the same
time the weight of the overall setup should not exceed [5]. The
existing traditional differential design which has many compli-
cated parts in manufacturing and as well as designing.
Fig. 1 shows that the comparison of existing model with new
design of disengaging system. The new modification initiated will
be a simple setup which consist of a coupling mechanism that sep-
arates the driveshaft from the transmission system and gives an
efficient run to the engaging driveshaft and to achieve the turn
without any slips or drift. Thus, the idea of disengaging driveshaft
has been nurturing and the design considerations have been taken
into act. Fig. 3 shows greater turning capabilities on par with the
existing model and the ATV’s can easily take sharp turns than
the existing model of traditional differential which is connected
with the drive shaft.
3. Modelling
The design has been separated into three parts and as per the
requirements the design process has been started the combination
of three different parts were designed using CAD software CATIA
V5. The parts that are designed from CATIA V5 are then manufac-
tured and assembled to make the innovation successfully assem-
bled in the ATV vehicle the designed parts are the following 1.
The connecting part from gearbox 2. The part that connects the
drive shaft 3. The long screw which connects the setup. Fig. 2
 R. Kishore et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 3. Assembled CAD model.
shows that the CAD model of part which connects gear box and
drive shaft.
4. Disengaging mechanism
In All Terrain Vehicles, there is a need for achieving better turns.
The solution needs to be comparatively light, not take too much
space in the vehicle and be economical [6]. The Disengaging drive-
shaft benefits by being lightweight compared to other possible
solutions. By making the changes to the drive shaft itself, it takes
up very little space and is an economical solution without reducing
the drifting capabilities of the ATVs. Since the use of gear is
reduced, the gear wear loss as seen in the differential system is
removed which also reduced the maintenance. The driveshaft is a
component that connects the wheels to the gearbox. In an ATV,
the driveshaft is the output of the gearbox that is connected to
the rear wheels. The front wheels are used for mainly steering.
Depending only on the Front steering for the turning gives us very
little turning capabilities. Usually, to improve this issue, a differen-
tial gear system is used, which does improve the turning capabili-
ties of the vehicle in exchange for consuming more vehicle space,
increasing the vehicle weight and being expensive. A possible solu-
tion to this is the innovation Disengaging driveshaft.
The Disengaging driveshaft is a normal driveshaft or output
shaft from gearbox with an additional mechanism attached to it.
This mechanism is used to engage or disengage the wheels from
the gearbox. The innovation contains a locking mechanism for
engaging/disengaging the wheels from the gearbox which moves
with a linear actuator for moving powered by a simple 12 V battery
supply through two sets of slip rings. The locking mechanism is a
set of two interlocking elements which are designed and machined
in the Lathe and VMC. One of the elements of the mechanism is
kept stationary and the other element is moved linearly with the
help of Linear actuator. The Linear actuator contains a simple high
torque 12 V DC motor, a hollow lead screw placed onto the motor
shaft and a suitable nut of the same pitch size placed fixed tightly
onto the moving locking element. The power supply to the motor is
given from a 12 V battery supply through two sets of two slip rings
which are made in-house. When the locking mechanism is carried
out, and the elements are interlocked, the wheels and the gearbox
are connected to each other and the ATV moves in the usual man-
ner. When the two elements are made to move away from each
other, the wheel is free from the movement from the gearbox.
When the driveshaft is disengaged and the vehicle is accelerated,
Please cite this article as: R. Kishore, P. Gurusamy, S. Nagendharan et al., Optimal design and enhancement of drive shaft mechanism in automobiles, Mate-
rials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.341
3
Fig. 4. Final assembly with drive shaft connected to the new part.
with that wheel as pivot the ATV moves making it turn towards
the direction of the disengaged driveshaft. This can be used to turn
the vehicle in the direction it requires [7]. The driveshaft which
needs to be engaged or disengaged is controlled by the driver itself
using buttons. Fig. 3 shows the assemble part of the model.
The designed alternate part has been manufactured and assem-
bled in the existing vehicle without changing any design. One of
the elements of the mechanism is kept stationary and the other
element is moved linearly with the help of Linear actuator. The Lin-
ear actuator contains a simple high torque 12 V DC motor, a hollow
lead screw placed onto the motor shaft and a suitable nut of the
same pitch size placed fixed tightly onto the moving locking ele-
ment. The power supply to the motor is given from a 12 V battery
supply through two sets of two slip rings which are made in-house.
Fig. 4 shows that the final assembly with drive shaft connected to
the new part. Recently, aluminium or magnesium alloy based non-
ferrous materials are highly used in automobile and aircraft appli-
cations, because of light weight and superior strength compared to
the conventional material [8–42].
The engaged part consist of slip ring will be connected with a
12v DC motor which actuates the setup to rotate and it then disen-
gages from the gearbox the motor acts as abridge between the
gearbox and the innovation setup where the drive shaft is con-
nected with new setup using universal joints [43,44]. The UV joints
are intruded because the drive shaft might have an angular con-
nection with the wheels hubs so the UV joint will act as a greater
support and transmits power without losses.
4 R. Kishore et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
5. Conclusions
The following observations have been made
 The proposed innovation, the disengaging driveshaft is a very
suitable light-weight, fast, less space-consuming and an eco-
nomical solution for improving the turning radius of the ATVs
eliminating the need for differential gear system.
 Using the proposed solution in ATVs improves the turning capa-
bilities without compromising the drifting capabilities of the
vehicle which is equally important.
 This is the base model and further design improvements can be
achieved by incorporating various design factors.
 In future the passenger vehicles this mechanism and the inno-
vation can be integrated with a sensor for engaging or disengag-
ing the driveshaft.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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