1. A wheel assembly for a vehicle having a body, a power plant and a drivetrain for transmitting drive to said wheel assembly, comprising:
a wheel including rim and hub portions;
a roller bearing having inner and outer races, disposed within said rim portion of said wheels, coaxially therewith;
first support means having a steering axis, mounted on said outer race of said bearing connectable to said body;
second support means mounted to said inner race of said bearing and rigidly secured to said hub portion of said wheel; and
an axle operatively connected at an inner end thereof to a portion of said drivetrain and an outer end extending into the inner race of said bearing and connected by means of a single universal joint to one of said second support means and said hub portion of said vehicle;
wherein said steering axis intersects the center of said single universal joint.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said bearing is provided with a set of cylindrical rollers.
3. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said bearing is provided with raceways in inner and outer annular portions thereof which are inclined at an angle of 45\xb0 relative to the axis of said bearing, between which said cylindrical rollers are alternately oriented 90\xb0 relative to each other.
4. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said single universal joint is disposed within said rim portion of said wheel.
5. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein the inner end of said axle is connected to said portion of said drivetrain with a universal connection.
6. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said first support means includes a support member mounted on the outer race of said bearing, a lower control arm pivotally connectable at one end to a first portion of said body and universally connected at the other end thereof to said support member, and an upper control arm pivotally connectable to a second portion of said body and universally connected at the other end thereof to said support member, defining said steering axis intersecting the rotational axis of said wheel.
7. An assembly according to claim 6 wherein a portion of said steering axis is disposed within said rim portion of said wheel.
8. An assembly according to claim 7 wherein said steering axis is inclined at an angle in the range of 7\xb0 to 9\xb0 relative to the vertical.
9. An assembly according to claim 6 wherein said connections of said upper and lower control arms to said support member comprise ball joint connections and wherein said steering axis intersects the centers of the ball portions thereof.
10. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said first and second support means and said wheel include a passageway intercommunicating a source of air pressure on said body and a tire mounted on said wheel.
11. An assembly according to claim 6 wherein said lower control arm comprises a panel.
12. An assembly according to claim 11 wherein said panel has a triangular configuration.
13. An assembly according to claim 6 including a spring interposed between said upper control arm and said body.
14. An assembly according to claim 13 including a shock absorber cooperable with said air spring.
15. An assembly according to claim 6 including an air spring disposed between said upper control arm and said body.
16. An assembly according to claim 15 including a bracket pivotally connected to said upper control arm, and wherein said air spring is interposed between said bracket and said body.
17. An assembly according to claim 1 including a gearbox comprising a portion of said drivetrain, supported on said body, and wherein said axle is connected to an output shaft of said gearbox through a universal connection.
18. An assembly according to claim 17 including a disc brake operatively connected to said output shaft.
19. An assembly according to claim 17 wherein said gearbox includes longitudinally aligned input and output shafts.
20. An assembly according to claim 17 wherein said gearbox comprises a differential gear assembly.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A multi-phase periodic signal generator comprising:
a plurality of delay elements including a first delay element, an intermediate delay element, and a third delay element, each of the plurality of delay elements coupled such that an output of a respective delay element is coupled to an input of a next delay element, each of the respective delay elements configured to delay a signal applied to an input of the respective delay element and couple the delayed signal to the respective next delay element, the first delay element configured to receive a first periodic signal, the intermediate delay element configured to output an intermediate periodic signal, and the third delay element configured to output a last periodic signal;
a first pulse generator configured to receive the first and intermediate signals and generate a first pulse having a width corresponding to a time between a rising edge of the intermediate signal and a next rising edge of the first signal;
a second pulse generator configured to receive the intermediate and third signals and generate a second pulse having a width corresponding to a time between a rising edge of the intermediate signal and a next rising edge of the third signal; and
a control signal generator configured to receive the first and second pulses and generate a control signal to configure the delay of the plurality of delay elements such that the first, intermediate, and third signals have a particular phase relationship.