Some work vehicles, such as end loaders, must change their directions of movement frequently. To do this, wheel or live axle brakes are generally used to first bring the vehicle to a stop. When this is done frequently, the brakes become overheated.
This has sometimes been resolved by placing the brakes inside an axle housing, where the heat generated by brake friction is removed from the brake by an axle lubricating bath. The lubricant spreads the heat over the entire interior surface of the axle housing, whereupon thermal conduction through the walls of the axle housing heat the exterior surface of the axle housing and provide increased surface area for heat to be convected away by ambient air.
In some instances, however, convection to and from the axle housing surfaces is insufficient to remove braking heat rapidly enough, and the axle lubricant consequently becomes excessively hot (e.g., above 300 degrees Fahrenheit). This is injurious not only to the lubricant itself (accelerating oxidation and breakdown), but also to the bearings and seals associated with the axle shaft.
Typically, the brake is a wet multiple disk brake; “wet”, because the disks rotate through a bath of lubricating oil. As the multiple brake disks rotate through the lubricating oil, braking heat is transferred from the disks to the lubricating oil.
The temperature of the lubricating oil consequently increases, and some of the heat within the lubricating oil is transferred to the axle shaft and to the axle housing. The axle shaft and axle housing are of limited size and mass and, hence, of limited heat capacity. Therefore, their temperatures begin to approach (under the duty cycle of frequent stops characteristic of a loader) the temperature of the lubricating oil because ambient air typically does not convect heat from the axle housing as rapidly as the brake convects heat into the lubricating oil. It is therefore necessary to actively cool the lubricating oil.
While one can add a cooling loop to an axle assembly and pump hot lubricating oil through a fan-cooled radiator, this is a costly and cumbersome approach. Further, it increases the number of opportunities for leakage or contamination of the lubricating oil in what is typically a dirty and dusty environment.
It would be advantageous to provide an apparatus and method of removing excessive heat from the axle lubricant, thereby cooling the axle assembly, without substantially increasing the risks of lubricant leakage and/or contamination.