GB2222865A

GB2222865A - Drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter

Info

Publication number: GB2222865A
Application number: GB8916061A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Manfred Kreuer
Original assignee: Ford Motor Co
Current assignee: Ford Motor Co
Priority date: 1988-09-15
Filing date: 1989-07-13
Publication date: 1990-03-21
Also published as: GB8916061D0

Abstract

In a drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter, having a plurality of flat straps which are arranged parallel to the flywheel and in a tangential direction close to the outer peripheries of the two components and which are alternately joined thereto by screwing, the straps are combined to form an integral, polygonal ring (7) which passes through the fastening points (8 and 9) and the radial dimensions of the straps at the fastening points (8 and 9) being such that in the event of bending alternate-stress loading the bending stress is uniformly distributed along the straps. <IMAGE>

Description

DRIVE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FLYWHEEL OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND THE ROUSING OF A TORQUE CONVERTER The invention relates to a drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter, of the type having a plurality of flat straps which are arranged parallel to the flywheel and in a tangential direction close to the outer peripheries of the two components and which are alternately joined thereto by screwing.

A drive connection of this type is known from US Patent 4,689,953, in which the flat straps are in the form of individual plates, the axial resilience of which is reduced or restricted by additional stiffer protection plates jointly secured at the fastening point on the flywheel.

A further drive connection of this type is known from US Patent 2,858,681, in which the flat straps are again in the form of individual plates, which are arranged close to the outer peripheries of the two components to be joined in a tangential orientation and are alternately joined thereto by riveting or screwing.

Designs with three or four plates arranged at the periphery are known from this publication, in which both a fastening of the plates at one end to the flywheel and at the other end to the torque converter and a fastening of the plates at both ends to the flywheel and at the middle of the plates to the torque converter are known.

Although the state of the art disclosed by these publications has the advantage that the production of individual plates of this type is possible with little outlay in terms of material, assembly is more complicated on account of the plurality of the plates to be fastened.

In addition, it follows from the statement of objects in US Patent 4,689,953 that the individual plates of US Patent 2,858,681 evidently have an excessively high degree of axial flexibility, which in accordance with the proposal of the latter patent should be corrected by the protection plates.

The present invention seeks to provide a drive connection in which the tolerance accuracy is improved and assembly is simplified, and in addition the axial resilience of the connection is so reduced that separate protection plates are no longer required.

According to the present invention, there is provided a drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter, having a plurality of flat straps connected to the flywheel and to the converter housing which lie substantially in a plane parallel to that of the flywheel and extend along chords close to the outer peripheries of the two components, wherein the straps are constituted by the sides of an integral polygonal ring which passes through the fastening points and the width of which is increased at the fastening points in such a manner that bending loading is uniformly distributed along the straps.

In this way, the invention achieves simpler assembly and a considerably higher level of strength to bending stresses which results in a longer service life of the drive connection.

If the polygonal ring passing through the fastening points is provided with fastening seats which are bent in alternate directions away from the median plane of the polygonal ring, greater latitude is afforded for fitting to different engines without the resilient behaviour of the ring being thereby adversely affected.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the integral polygonal ring in the direction of the arrow II in Fig. 1.

In the drive connection shown in Fig. 1, the crankshaft 1 of an internal combustion engine is connected to drive the flywheel 3 by means of bolts 2. The flywheel 3 receives in a hub opening 4 an attachment 5 of the housing 6 of a torque converter, the details of which are not shown in detail in the drawing since they are not relevant to the invention.

The drive connection between the flywheel 3 and the housing 6 is made by means of an integral polygonal ring 7 which is secured at the apices of the polygon to the flywheel 3 at the fastening points 8 and on the midpoints of its sides to the housing 6 of the torque converter at the fastening points 9.

The fastening points 8 on the integral polygonal ring 7 are in the form of bores 10 with weld nuts 11 arranged at the rear, while the fastening points 9 are in the form of simple bores 12.

The polygonal ring 7 is secured at the fastening points 8 by means of bolts 13 which extend through bores 14 in the flywheel 3 and which are screwed into the weld nuts 11.

At the fastening points 9, the ring 7 is secured to the housing 6 of the torque converter by means of bolts 15 which are welded to the housing 6 of the torque converter and which extend through the bores 12 and are secured by means of nuts 16.

The radial widths of the integral polygonal ring 7, which are indicated in Fig. 2 by the arrows 17 and 18, are selected in such a way that any loading tending to bend the straps is uniformly distributed along the portions of the ring 7 between the fastening points.

The ring 7 is not totally flat but instead the straps are slightly bent so that the fastening points 8 all lie in the same plane as one another and the fastening points 9 lie in a different plane, the two planes being axially offset from the median plane of the polygonal ring.

Claims

1. A drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter, having a plurality of flat straps connected to the flywheel and to the converter housing which lie substantially in a plane parallel to that of the flywheel and extend along chords close to the outer peripheries of the two components, wherein the straps are constituted by the sides of an integral polygonal ring (7) which passes through the fastening points (8 and 9) and the width of which is increased at the fastening points (8 and 9) in such a manner that bending loading is uniformly distributed along the straps.

2. A drive connection according to Claim 1, wherein the sides of the polygonal ring are slightly bent such that the fastening points for connection to the flywheel lie in a different plane from the fastening points for the torque converter.

3. A drive connection between the flywheel of an internal combustion engine and the housing of a torque converter constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.