US3873237A

US3873237A - Impeller wheel for torque converter or fluid coupling

Info

Publication number: US3873237A
Application number: US425297A
Authority: US
Inventors: Masayoshi Tokunaga
Original assignee: DAIKEN SEISAKUSHO KK
Current assignee: DAIKEN SEISAKUSHO KK
Priority date: 1972-12-30
Filing date: 1973-12-17
Publication date: 1975-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 1992-03-25
Also published as: DE2364168B2; FR2212896A5; IT1008093B; CA977651A; JPS526420B2; GB1437498A; JPS4992467A; DE2364168A1

Abstract

The impeller wheel has a very desirable rigidity by reason of the fact that the shell of the impeller wheel is provided with an annular support member welded to its periphery, and that each blade of the impeller wheel is welded, at its rib, to the shell.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 v 1111 3,873,237

Tokunaga 1 1 Mar. 25, 1975 [54] IMPELLEIR WHEEL FOR TORQUE 2,256,988 9/1941 Michailoff 416/180 UX CONVERTER 01 FLUID COUPLING 2,347,071 4/1944 Bailey 416/180 2,660,957 12/1953 Koskinen 29/1568 FC X Inventor: Masayoshi Tokunaga, Takatsukl, 2,799,228 7/1957 Farrell 416/180 Osal a,.lapan 3,673,659 7/1972 lshii et a1. 29/1568 CF l g sl Neyagawa Osaka 961,408 4/1957 Germany .1 416/221 p 802,837 10/1958 United Kingdom 416/221 [22] F11ed: Dec. 17, 1973 [21] Appl. No: 425,297 Primary ExaminerEverette A. Powell, Jr.

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Pierce, Scheffler & Parker [30] Foreign Application Priority Data 066. .111. 1972 16 m] 48-2817 ABSTRACT.

The impeller wheel has a very desirable rigidity by 1 1 416/180 reason 01 the fact that the shell of the impeller wheel 1 1 f U B211 is provided with an annular support member welded to 1 1 lleld 0 Search FC its periphery, and that each blade of the impeller wheel is welded, at its rib. to the shell. [56} References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 Clams 5 Drawmg F'gures 2,061,997 11/1936 Dunn 416/180 I 11 m H 35 I fl/ I I 1 l I 42 6 2.9. W I

PATEN YEW/H125 1975 SHEET 2 Of: 2

F" H G IMPELLER WHEEL FOR TORQUE CONVERTER OR FLUID COUPLING This invention relates to an improved impeller wheel which can be used as an impeller in a turbine, in a torque converter or fluid coupling, or similar application.

The prior art impeller wheel, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,855,852, was of a type which comprised many stamped blades with pre-determined outer profiles, each blade being fixed between a shell (outer wall of working fluid) and a core ring (inner wall). In this prior type of wheel, since each blade had a few tabs (or projections) on its inner and outer peripheries in one body, and the tabs were inserted and secured in the respective grooves or slits in the shell and core ring, the

.holding rigidity of the blades was low. Therefore, the 7 higher the pressure of fluid around the blades, the more deformation, vibration and separation of the blades occurred.

As is known, the pressure in the casing of a conventional torque converter or liquid coupling for a vehicle is 3 or 4 kg/cm or below, and it is also known that higher pressure minimizes the bad effect of air or gas contained in the liquid (oil) such as cavitation, which phenomenon makes for poor performance of the device. Nevertheless, according to the above-mentioned assembled type of impeller wheel, a pressure higher than above mentioned cannot be applied because of the low rigidity of the structure. Especially, slits in the shell or core ring may easily cause the bursting of the torque converter. Also, the performance of the prior construction gradually deteriorates, because the place and angle of the connection points between the blades and respective parts, and the curvature of the blades, can easily change.

On the other hand, a stamped impeller shell needs, in general, at its outer and or inner peripheries an annular support member, such as a support ring, which is connected to a ring member secured on a rotary housing, or an impeller hub journalled in a stationary housing. The annular support member functions to provide a liquid-tight connection with the ring member or stationary housing. In the case of torque converters for automobiles, the outer periphery of the impeller shell is sometimes directly connected, by welding, to the rotary housing. A stamped shell for turbine wheel has a member (spline hub) to which the shell is secured by rivets. As mentioned above, in manufacturing each impeller wheel for a pump or turbine, a welding or rivetting process is required to attach an annular support member or members in addition to the processes of fixing the blades onto the shell. The cost of manufacturing this prior type of impeller wheel was high in that much labor was required for assembling the parts.

The present invention avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages utilizing the fact that each shell has at least an annular support member secured on its outer or inner periphery and the securing process can also be used at the same time to secure the blades onto the shell.

A principal object of the invention is to provide an impeller wheel of a design favorable to a lower cost of manufacture. The impeller wheel has a shell, many blades and a core ring, each blade having a rib at least at its outer periphery in the same body, and each blade seating on the inner surface of the shell by means of the rib. Each blade is secured at the rib to the shell by tabs provided on each end of the rib, by welding, soldering or equivalent secure way, together with an annular support member, thereby increasing the rigidity and durability of the blades and of the wheel as a whole, and minimizing the labor for assembling the parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide an impeller wheel in which the distance between the blades does not change as time passes. and in which the profile of the blade also does not change, because each blade is strengthened by the rib or ribs and preferably being stamped with the rib or ribs in one piece from sheet metal, thereby giving high performance of the impeller wheel.

A further inventive object is to provide an impeller wheel in which each blade is accurately located in a shell and a core ring by means of blade position-setting means (tabs) provided on the rib, thereby simplifying assembly of the blades with the shell and core ring.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an upper half part of a torque converter according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial view taken along line llll in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a blade used in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are partial sectional views of another impeller wheel embodying principles of the invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, the torque converter 10 comprises a driving impeller wheel 11, powered by an engine, which functions as a pump, a driven impeller wheel 12 which functions a turbine and a bladed stator 13. The rotating pump wheel lltransmits energy to a working fluid which latter transmits energy to and drives turbine wheel 12 which is coupled to an output drive shaft 14.

The bladed stator 13 located intermediate the facing pump and turbine wheels 11, 12 remains stationary below a pre-determined output-input speed ratio of the turbine and pump impellers, to change the direction of the fluid to convert energy thereof.

Pump wheel 11 is connected to the flywheel 16 of an engine (not shown) by means including an annular drive plate 17 which is secured at its outer peripheral portion to the face of the flywheel 16 by a ring of circumferentially spaced bolts 18. The inner peripheral portion of drive plate 17 is secured to a hub 19 by a similar ring of bolts 20, the hub 19 including an axle 21 journalled in flywheel 16 by an anti-friction bearing 22.

Hub 19 in turn is secured to a hub 23 by the same ring of bolts 20, which hub 23 is welded to the inner portion of rotary housing 24 as at 25. Welded as at 26 on the outer periphery of rotary housing 24 is a support ring 27. Around support ring 27 is asupport ring 28 which is fastened to support ring 27 by bolts 29 and a fluid tight seal is provided therebetween by seal ring 30.

Impeller wheel 11 is composed of' the support ring 28, and a stamped shell 32, an impeller hub 33, a core ring 34 and a plurality of ribbed blades 35. Each ribbed blade 35 has

ribs

36, 37 along its outer and inner peripheries. Rib 36 provides a snug fit with the interior surface of shell 32. Rib 37 fits on the core ring 34 in the same manner as rib 36.

Tabs

38, 39 formed at both ends of rib 36 are bent outwardly on the exterior surface of shell 32. Therefore, support ring 28 and shell 32 abut each other having a plurality of tabs 38 interposed therebetween, and an annular clearance 40 (FIG. 2) which is equivalent with the thickness d of tab 38 is left between the tabs 38. Seam welding is applied, as at 41, over the clearance 40 and tabs 38. Tabs 39 are also placed between shell 32 and impeller hub 33, and are bent outwardly. Seam welding is also applied as at 42. Rib 36 may be secured on the interior surface of shell 32 by way of spot welding, soldering or some other secure way if necessary.

Tabs

44, 45 formed at both ends of rib 37 are bent outwardly on the exterior surface of core ring 34 and soldered as at 46, 47. To sum up, the novel concept underlying the present invention is applied to the portions indicated circles A, B in the impeller wheel 11. Impeller hub 33 is journalled in the stationary housing and a fluid-tight seal is provided therebetween by seal ring 31.

The detailed structure of the turbine wheel 12 includes a shell 49, a spline hub 50, a core ring 51 and a plurality of ribbed blades 52. The present invention is applied to the portion C in which tabs 53 formed at I the end of ribs 54 are located in the annular clearance formed between the shell 49 and spline hub 50 abutting each other. The clearance and bent tabs 53 are filled and sealed by seam welding as at 55.

The spline hub 50 engages with a spline 57 on the previously mentioned output drive shaft 14 (i.e., a turbine shaft). Shaft 14 is journalled on a bearing 58 mounted inside hub 19 and support ring 23. A ring 59 prevents the shaft 14 from slipping off axially.

Stator 13 preferably is cast in one piece, and is journalled on a fixed sleeve 61 through a oneway cluuth 62 which includes an outer race 63 which engages with stator 13 through spline 64. Thus, as is well known in the art, during the accelerating process of converting torque up to a predetermined output-input velocity ratio, stator 13 is fixed on stationary sleeve 61, whilst at a velocity above said velocity ratio, the stator is free to rotate in the same direction as that of driven impeller wheel or turbine 12, to make the converter act as a fluid coupling.

In assembling the impeller wheel 11, first a plurality of ribbed blades in the form of that shown in FIG. 3 are put on the interior annular surface of shell 32 at regular intervals with an assemble jig (not shown) and

tabs

38, 39 are bent outwardly as arrows shown in FIG. 3 and pressed on the exterior surface of shell 32. Then, support ring 28 and impeller hub 33 are placed at the outer and inner peripheries of shell 32 respectively in a pressed abutting relation with their end surfaces. Next, core ring 34 is placed on the array of ribs 37 and on its exterior (left side in FIG. 1) surface, tabs 44, are bent. Finally, seam welding is applied as at 41, 42. Portions 46, 47 are soldered. Between shell 32 and ribs 36, and between core ring 34 and ribs 37, spot welding, soldering or some other secure way may be applied.

In the prior art impeller wheel blades were fixed independently of (or apart from) the junction between the shell and support members such as support ring (corresponding to support ring 380, impeller hub (33) and spline hub Therefore, much labor was required. Strong construction against pressure was difficult to obtain.

But according to the present invention, for example, shell 32, tabs 38 and support ring 28 are welded at the same time to make a unitary construction. Therefore. the construction is not only easy to manufacture but also is strongly resistant to pressure. In the connection portions B, C, the same advantages are provided.

In FIG. 4, support ring 28 overlaps the array of tabs 38 which are bent and seated on the outer peripheries of the exterior surface of shell 32'. Besides, tabs 38' are engaged in recesses (indents) 66 which are circumferentially spaced at regular intervals and function as position-setting means. Rightmost ends of tabs 38' are aligned with the rightmost end surface of support ring 28' and welding is applied annularly as at 41'. Thus three parts, i.e., tabs 38, support ring 28 and shell 32'. are connected in one procedure of seam welding. To strengthen the construction, additional welding may be applied as at 67.

In the circle B in FIG. 4, about the same construction is employed. Impeller hub 33' has an annular recess 69 in which inner portion of shell 32' is engaged interposing tabs 39' which are regularly spaced by means of indents 70 formed on the inner periphery of shell 32. Weldings 42' and 71 are applied, if necessary.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, strength and rigidity of the construction increase, and accurate centering (or aligning of center lines) between shell 32' and its support members such as support ring 28' and impeller hub 33' is easy to set.

In the circle C in FIG. 4, indents 73 are formed on the inner periphery of shell 40'. The indents 73 help blades 52 to dispose at regular intervals. It will be understood that the feature shown incircle C may be applicable in conjunctions shown in circles A, B, C in FIG. 1.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, rotary housing 24' laps on shell 32 and welding is applied annularly as at 41 This unitary construction advantageously is employed in torque converters for automobiles.

I claim:

1. An impeller wheel for torque converter or fluid I coupling (11) comprising a shell (32); a core ring (34); a circular array of circumferentially spaced blades (35); and

a support ring member (28, 33) connected at at least one of the inner and outer peripheries of said shell (3 each of said blades having a least a rib (36) with a configuration complementary to that of the interior surface of said shell (32),

said rib (36) having a tab (38, 39) at at least one of t intervals on the periphery of said shell (32').

l l l l l

Claims

1. An impeller wheel for torque converter or fluid coupling (11) comprising a shell (32); a core ring (34); a circular array of circumferentially spaced blades (35); and a support ring member (28, 33) connected at at least one of the inner and outer peripheries of said shell (32), each of said blades having a least a rib (36) with a configuration complementary to that of the interior surface of said shell (32), said rib (36) having a tab (38, 39) at at least one of the opposite ends of said rib (36), said shell (32) and support ring member (28) being welded annularly together with said tabs (38) interposed therebetween.

2. An impeller wheel for torque converter or fluid coupling according to claim 1, in which said support ring member (28'') laps on the exterior periphery of the shell (32'').

3. An impeller wheel for torque converter or fluid coupling according to claim 1, in which each of said tabs (38'') engages in an indent (66) formed at regular intervals on the periphery of said shell (32'').