JP2009127654A - Torque converter and press device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form blades of high assemblability by only a press working process. <P>SOLUTION: The torque converter is configured of a plurality of blades 11 fixed to a shell 10. The blade 11 is equipped with a claw part 110 for fitting with the shell 10. The shell 10 is equipped with a groove part 101 in which the claw part 110 is fitted. The blade 11 is formed by press working a plate-like member by a punch and a die. In the punch and the die, a clearance amount of a position corresponding to the claw part 110 is set larger than a clearance amount of a position corresponding to parts other than the claw part 110. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a torque converter blade and a press device for forming the blade.

The torque converter includes a plurality of blade-like members (blades) in a shell for power transmission via a fluid. In general, each blade is formed by pressing or the like. In addition, the blade is assembled to the shell by forming the blade with a plurality of claw portions, and fitting the claw portions into recessed portions previously formed on the shell, and assembling them by a process such as welding (Patent Document 1, reference.).
JP 05-104268 A

  The conventional blade as described above has a problem that the assembling property is poor due to interference between the claw portion of the blade and the recessed portion (groove portion) of the shell when the blade is assembled to the shell.

  For this problem, the number of steps increases if measures such as crushing the tip of the claw or performing coining are taken by changing the thickness of the tip of the claw of the blade to improve assembly. However, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost increases.

  Further, when the tip of the nail part is coined, there is a problem that a molding mark is made and strength and durability are inferior. In addition, when coining is performed, there is a problem that the number of tamasei man-hours is required to determine the optimum crushing amount, and the cost is increased.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and the tip portion of the blade claw portion can be processed into an appropriate shape only by press processing, and can be assembled without increasing the number of steps. An object of the present invention is to provide a torque converter having a high blade and a press device for forming the blade.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the blade 11 includes a plurality of blades 11 fixed to the shell 10, and the blade 11 includes a claw portion 110 for fitting into the shell 10, and the shell 10 has the claw portion 110 fitted therein. The blade 11 is formed by pressing a plate-shaped member with a punch 61 and a die 71, and the punch 61 and the die 71 have a clearance amount at a position corresponding to the claw portion 110. The clearance amount is set to be greater than the clearance amount corresponding to a portion other than the claw portion 110.

  According to the present invention, since the blade having high assemblability can be formed by the press device only by the pressing process, the assemblability can be improved without increasing the manufacturing cost of the torque converter.

  First, the configuration of the torque converter according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The torque converter 1 is a fluid coupling disposed between the vehicle engine and the automatic transmission.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the torque converter 1 includes a front cover 2 to which rotation from an engine (not shown) is transmitted, a rear cover 3 that is attached to the front cover 2 and constitutes a shell 10 that rotates together with the front cover 2, A pump impeller 4 composed of a plurality of blades 11 provided on the inner wall of the shell 10, a turbine runner 5 disposed facing the pump impeller 4, and an output for transmitting the rotation of the turbine runner 5 to an automatic transmission (not shown). And a shaft 6.

  The turbine runner 5 includes a substantially annular shell 12 and a plurality of turbine blades 8 joined to the shell 12. The shell 10 includes a blade 11 on the inner wall, and the blade 11 includes a core member 40. The core member 40 is a member that is provided to hold each blade 11 and to appropriately maintain the flow of the fluid that is stirred inside the shell 10 and to increase the operating efficiency of the fluid coupling.

  Next, the configuration of the shell 10 and the blade 11 will be described with reference to FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the shell 10, and FIG. 2B is a plan view of the blade 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the shell 10 has an annular shape like a donut ring. On the inner surface of the shell 10, a groove portion 101 for fitting a claw portion formed on the blade 11 is formed. The shell 10 includes three rows of groove portions (101C, 101D, 101E) from the outer periphery to the inner periphery of the shell 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the blade 11 is a thin plate-like member and has a substantially crescent shape. The blade 11 has a shape such that its periphery follows the inner surface of the shell 10. The blade 11 is curved in a three-dimensional direction into a shape that is preferable for stirring the fluid.

  The blade 11 includes five claw portions (110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, and 110E) each having a protruding shape for fitting to the shell 10 and the core member 40.

  Among these, the three claw portions 110C, 110D, and 110E protruding to the inner surface side of the shell 10 are fitted into the three groove portions 101C, 101D, and 101E of the shell 10, respectively. Further, the claw portions 110A and 110B are fitted into groove portions (not shown) provided in the core member 40 (see FIG. 1).

  The numbers and widths of the claw portions 110 and the groove portions 101 are determined in consideration of assembling properties when the blade 11 is assembled to the shell 10. More specifically, it is preferable that the blade 11 has a structure that can be easily assembled to the shell 10 and does not easily come off.

  Next, the process of assembling the blade 11 to the shell 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3 </ b> B, and 3 </ b> C are cross-sectional views from the center of the rotation axis of the shell 10 to the outer peripheral side. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a circle A portion in FIG.

  In the step of assembling the blade 11 to the shell 10, first, as shown in FIG. 3A, the claw portion 110 </ b> C is fitted into the groove portion 101 </ b> C provided on the outermost peripheral side of the shell 10. At this time, the claw portions 110D and 110E are not yet fitted in the groove portions 101D and 101E.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the blade 11 is rotated and moved so as to contact the inner surface of the shell 10 with the claw portion 110C already fitted into the groove portion 101C as a fulcrum. At this time, a part of the claw portion 110 </ b> D is fitted into the groove portion 101 </ b> D provided in the middle of the shell 10. Then, the claw portion 110E of the blade 11 is in contact with the groove portion 101E provided on the innermost peripheral side of the shell 10.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the claw portion 110 </ b> E located on the inner peripheral side of the shell 10 has a substantially rectangular shape. This rectangular shape comprises two tops (110E-1 and 110E-2). Among these, the shape and position of each claw part 110 and the shape of each groove part 101 of the shell 10 and the shape of each groove part 101 of the shell 10 so that the top part 110E-1 on the inner periphery side is located slightly on the inner periphery side from the top part 101E-1 of the groove part 101E. The position is set.

  Next, pressure is applied to the blade 11 to fit the claw portion 110E into the groove portion 101E. For example, the blade 11 is pressed into the shell 10 by hitting the blade 11 with a hammer or the like. Thereby, the top part 110E-1 of the claw part 110E gets over the top part 101E-1 of the groove part 101E of the shell 10, and the claw part 110E is completely fitted in the groove part 101E.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 3C, the claw portions 110 </ b> C, 110 </ b> D, and 110 </ b> E of the blade 11 are fitted into the groove portions 101 </ b> C, 101 </ b> D, and 101 </ b> E of the shell 10. At this time, when the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110E is fitted to the top portion 101E-1 of the groove portion 101E, the blade 11 is fixed so as not to be easily detached.

  Through the above steps, the blade 11 is fixed to the shell 10. Thereafter, the annular core member 40 is fitted into the claw portions 110 </ b> A and 110 </ b> B of the blade 11. As a result, each blade 11 is securely fixed in the circumferential direction of the shell 10, and a space for efficiently agitating the fluid between the blade 11 and the core member 40 is formed. Thereafter, all the blades 11 are welded to the shell 10 and the core member 40 by brazing or the like.

  As described above, the blade 11 is configured to be fixed to the shell 10 by fitting the claw portion 110 into the groove portion 101 of the shell 10.

  Next, the configuration of the press device 50 for forming the blade 11 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the press device 50.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the press device 50 includes an upper mold 60 and a lower mold 70. The upper mold 60 includes a punch 61 for punching a plate-like member. The lower die 70 is provided with a die 71 corresponding to the punch 61. Further, between the upper mold 60 and the lower mold 70, a pressing portion 62 for fixing the plate member is provided.

  The press device 50 punches the plate-shaped member into a predetermined shape defined by the punch 61 and the die 71 when the upper die 60 is pushed down to the lower die 70 side by hydraulic pressure or the like. In general, a thin plate-like member such as the blade 11 is formed by a press process that finally leaves the shape of the blade 11 through a plurality of steps of punching the periphery of the shape of the blade 11 from the plate-like member. The

  Here, in the press working, the clearance is set so that the opening area of the die 71 is slightly larger than the area of the punched surface of the punch 61. For example, in a plate-like member made of iron as a main raw material used for a blade, the clearance amount is most preferably set to 5% to 10% of the plate thickness of the plate-like member.

  Here, it is preferable that the claw part 110 of the blade 11 has a shape that allows the top part 110E-1 to be easily inserted into the groove part 101 in order to improve the assembling property to the shell 10. For example, it is preferable to shape the top of the claw portion 110 in a taper shape in the plate thickness direction. However, in order to form the claw portion 110 into a tapered shape or the like, it is necessary to add a process for that purpose. Therefore, there has been a problem that the number of steps increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

  Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the shape of the blade 11 that improves the assemblability is formed without increasing the number of manufacturing steps by the characteristic configuration described below.

  FIG. 6 shows the shapes of the main portions of the punch 61 and the die 71 for processing the vicinity of the claw portion 110E of the blade 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As described above, the most appropriate clearance amount between the punch 61 and the die 71 is 5% to 10% of the plate thickness. Therefore, the portions other than the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110E are set to this clearance amount (hereinafter referred to as “normal clearance amount”).

  On the other hand, the clearance amount of the crest portion 110E on the inner peripheral side 110E-1, that is, the portion indicated by the symbol B in FIG. 6 is increased, and the clearance amount is set larger than the normal clearance amount. For example, it is set to about twice the normal clearance amount.

  Further, in the vicinity of the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110E, a setting is made so as to gradually change from a normal clearance amount to a large clearance amount toward the top portion 110E-1.

  That is, the shapes of the punch 61 and the die 71 are set so that the clearance amount is continuously changed from the normal clearance amount to the large clearance amount from the symbol A portion to the symbol B portion.

  Similarly, the shape of the punch 61 and the die 71 is set so that the clearance amount is continuously changed from the normal clearance amount to the large clearance amount from the symbol C portion to the symbol B portion.

  Thus, the amount of sagging in the press working at the top is increased by making the clearance amount larger than usual around the top of the claw portion 110E of the blade 11.

  FIG. 7 shows a blade 11 formed by press working with a large clearance amount.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in the vicinity of the top portion 110 </ b> E- 1 of the claw portion 110 </ b> E, a hatched portion is a portion where the amount of sagging is enlarged. That is, the portion where the clearance amount is increased with the top portion 110E-1 as the center is the portion where the sagging amount is enlarged in a substantially fan shape.

  Further, since the clearance amount is continuously changed, the sag amount is continuously changed around the top without causing the sag amount to change rapidly.

  Thus, the amount of sagging of the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110E is increased. As a result, the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110E is formed into a tapered shape. Thereby, the assembling property of the blade 11 is improved.

  Thus, since the top part 110E-1 of the nail | claw part 110E was shape | molded in the taper shape, the workability | operativity of the process of fitting the nail | claw part 110E in the groove part 101E shown in above-mentioned FIG.3 (b) and (c) improves. To do. That is, the taper shape of the top portion 110E-1 reduces the contact area between the claw portion 110E and the groove portion 101E, and the resistance when the claw portion 110E is fitted into the groove portion 101E is reduced. The number of times and time of press-fitting with a hammer or the like can be reduced.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the top portion 110E-1 of the claw portion 110 of the blade 11 is pressed by the punch 61 and the die 71 having a large clearance amount. Was expanded. Thereby, since the top part 110E-1 of the nail | claw part 110E is processed into a taper shape, while the assembly | attachment property of the braid | blade 11 improves, the manufacturing cost of a torque converter can be made low.

  Further, the sagging process similar to the crushing process can be processed into the claw part 110 without adding a crushing process or the like to the claw part 110. In particular, when a crushing process is added, a die for crushing and a ball-making period for determining the crushing amount are required, but these are no longer necessary, so both the manufacturing cost and assembly performance of the torque converter are compatible. be able to.

  In the crushing process, the crushing amount varies depending on the height of the die 71 and the thickness of the material, but the sagging amount is almost determined by the clearance amount, and therefore varies depending on the shape of the punch 61 and the die 71, the thickness of the material, and the like. Less is. Accordingly, the shape after the molding process is stabilized, and the assembling property is improved.

  In addition, since the clearance amount is continuously changed around the top of the claw portion 110, the amount of sag changes smoothly without abrupt change, so that assemblability is improved and a molding mark is formed. The strength of the claw portion 110 does not decrease.

  Thus, in general, increasing the clearance amount increases the sag, fracture surface, etc., and is therefore not preferable in press working. However, the increase in sag improves assembly performance and increases the number of processes. The present invention is characterized in that the effect of reduction is brought about.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the top part of the claw part 110E of the blade 11 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this part. For example, the amount of sagging may be increased by setting the clearance amount of the claw portion 110C on the outer peripheral side as described above. By increasing the amount of sagging at the top of the claw portion 110C, the assemblability of the step of fitting the claw portion 110C into the shell 10 shown in FIG.

  Similarly, you may set the clearance amount of the top part (outer peripheral side and inner peripheral side) of other nail | claw parts 110A, 110B, and 110D as mentioned above.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the blade 11 to be assembled to the shell 10 on the pump impeller 4 side has been described. However, the blade to be assembled to the turbine runner 5 side may be processed by the above-described process.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the blade 11 used in the torque converter 1 and can be applied to a member having a claw portion formed by press working. By expanding the sagging at the top of the claw, the workability when the claw is fitted into the member having the groove is improved.

  It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications and improvements that can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a torque converter according to a first embodiment of the present invention. (A) It is a perspective view of the shell of embodiment of this invention. (B) It is a top view of a braid | blade. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process of assembling | attaching the braid | blade of embodiment of this invention to a shell. It is an enlarged view of the circle A part of Drawing 3 (b) of an embodiment of the invention. It is sectional drawing of a structure of the press apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the shape of the principal part of the punch and die | dye of embodiment of this invention. (A) It is an enlarged view of the top part of the nail | claw part of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Torque converter 5 Turbine runner 10 Shell 101A, 101B, 101C, 101D, 101E Groove part 101E-1 Top part 11 Blade 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E Claw part 110E-1, 110E-2 Top part 50 Press apparatus 61 Punch 71 Die

Claims (6)

Consists of multiple blades fixed to the shell,
The blade includes a claw portion for fitting to the shell,
The shell includes a groove portion for fitting the claw portion,
The blade is formed by punching a plate-like member by pressing with a punch and a die in which a clearance amount at a position for forming the claw portion is larger than a clearance amount at a position for forming other than the claw portion. A featured torque converter.   The blade punches a plate-like member by pressing with a punch and a die in which a clearance amount at a position near the top of the claw portion is larger than a clearance amount at a position other than near the top of the claw portion. The torque converter according to claim 1, wherein the torque converter is molded.   The blade presses a plate-like member with a punch and a die which are continuously increased from a clearance amount at a position other than the vicinity of the crest portion to a clearance amount at a position where the crest portion is formed. The torque converter according to claim 2, wherein the torque converter is formed by punching. In a press apparatus for forming a predetermined shape having a claw portion by punching a plate-like member by press working with a punch and a die,
The press apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a clearance amount between the punch and the die is set such that a clearance amount at a position where the claw portion is formed is larger than a clearance amount at a position where the portion other than the claw portion is formed.   The clearance amount between the punch and the die is characterized in that a clearance amount at a position where the vicinity of the top portion of the claw portion is formed is larger than a clearance amount at a position where the portion other than the vicinity of the top portion of the claw portion is formed. 4. The press device according to 4.   A clearance amount between the punch and the die is continuously increased from a clearance amount at a position other than the vicinity of the top of the claw portion to a clearance amount at a position where the top of the claw portion is formed. The press apparatus according to claim 5.

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