JPH04258529A - Liquid clutch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform an accurate control constantly by adjusting the amount of oil promptly and highly precisely in response to various conditions of the cooling fan roll control of an engine. CONSTITUTION:A drive disc 5, which makes a rotation drive by means of a rotation axis 2 rotated by virtue of the drive of an engine 1, and a closed case 4, which contains the drive disc 5 and which rotates freely centering the rotation axis 2, are arranged. The closed case 4, on which a fan 19 is fitted, is divided into a torque transfer chamber 8, containing an oil chamber 7 and the drive disc 5, using a partition plate 6. Oil in the oil chamber 7 is supplied to the torque transfer chamber 8 through an outflow adjusting passage 27 to transfer the torque drive of the drive disc 5 to the closed case 4. The amount of oil supplied to the torque transfer chamber 8 and the discharged amount of oil thus supplied to the oil chamber 7 through a circulating flow passage 13 are controlled by means of electro-magnets 12a, 12b, which have a valve member 10 and a secondary valve member 15 on their outside, to control the oil supplied to a torque transfer gap 9 in response to the engine drive conditions and the like.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a liquid clutch that transmits the driving torque of a drive disk to a sealing case by oil supplied to a torque transmission chamber, and in particular, rotates a cooling fan of an automobile engine installed in the sealing case. Related to liquid clutches such as controlling fan coupling devices.

0002

[Prior Art] The inside of a sealing box is divided into a torque transmission chamber and an oil reservoir chamber by a partition plate, and a drive disk fixed to a drive unit is rotatably provided in the torque transmission chamber to partition the oil in the oil reservoir chamber. For example, a liquid clutch with a structure in which oil is supplied to a torque transmission chamber through an outflow adjustment hole formed in a plate and returned to an oil reservoir chamber through a circulation path is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-2, for example.
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 1048. According to this type of liquid clutch, the driving torque of the drive disk is transmitted to the sealing case by oil supplied from the oil sump chamber to the torque transmission chamber, and the fan attached to the sealing case is rotated, for example, in an automobile engine. cooling is performed.

However, in such conventional liquid clutches, the atmospheric temperature is detected by a bimetal, and when this temperature rises, the opening degree of the outflow adjustment hole is increased to increase the amount of oil in the torque transmission chamber, thereby increasing the amount of oil in the sealed container. Increase the rotation speed,
The fan rotates at high speed to increase the cooling effect.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, automobile engines are driven under various conditions, for example, when driving on a highway, the drive disk rotates at high speed, but the air cooling effect of the driving wind is enhanced. If there is no need to rotate the fan at a very high speed, or if the fan rotation speed is high during a cold start, it will inhibit warm-up operation and generate fan noise, so it is preferable to rotate the fan at a low speed. Depending on the situation, control is required to keep the engine cooling water temperature almost constant without overshooting. In order to meet this demand, it is insufficient to control the amount of oil based only on the ambient temperature.

[0005] As described above, in the conventional technology, it is not possible to perform accurate control by adjusting the oil amount with high precision according to various operating conditions.

The present invention was made in view of the current state of this type of liquid clutch as described above, and its purpose is to quickly and accurately adjust the amount of oil in accordance with various operating conditions, and to constantly and accurately adjust the amount of oil. It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid clutch that performs precise control.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides that the interior of a sealed container case on the driven side, which is supported by a bearing on a rotating shaft having a driving disk fixed to the tip of a driving part, is partitioned by a partition plate. It is divided into an oil reservoir chamber and a torque transmission chamber in which the drive disk is housed, and a dam is provided on a part of the inner peripheral wall surface on the sealing case side facing the outer peripheral wall of the drive disk where oil collects during rotation. Along with this dam, a circulation flow path is formed from the torque transmission chamber side to the oil sump chamber side, and an outflow adjustment path is formed from the oil sump chamber side to the torque transmission chamber side, and is sealed with the internal drive disk. In the liquid clutch that controls the transmission of rotational torque from the rotating shaft on the drive side to the sealed container case on the driven side by increasing or decreasing the effective contact area of oil within the torque transmission gap formed by the surface facing the container case, A pair of electromagnets is provided on the front side or the rear side of the sealing box, a magnetic valve member is provided opposite to one of the electromagnets to open and close the outflow regulating passage, and a magnetic valve member is provided opposite to the other electromagnet to open and close the circulation flow passage. The gist is that a sub-valve member having magnetism that opens and closes is provided, and a control device that controls excitation of the electromagnet is provided, and the control device detects an output signal of a sensor that detects the temperature of cooling water that cools the drive unit, Furthermore, in addition to this, the excitation current to each electromagnet is controlled based on the output signal of a sensor that detects the rotation speed of the sealing case or the rotation speed of the rotation shaft.

[0008]

[Operation] In the present invention, in such a configuration, the opening and closing of the valve member and the auxiliary valve member provided in the outflow adjustment path and the circulation flow path are controlled by electromagnets, so that the oil flows from the oil sump chamber through the outflow adjustment path and the torque is applied. The oil in the torque transmission chamber is supplied to the torque transmission gap between the drive disk of the transmission chamber and the sealing case, and the oil in the torque transmission chamber is returned to the oil sump chamber via the circulation passage through the dam. In addition, oil supply is controlled based on the temperature of the cooling water in the drive unit, more preferably the rotation speed of the fan, or the rotation speed of a rotating shaft rotated by driving the drive unit. In this way, the appropriate amount of oil, such as desired linear characteristics, is always quickly and accurately controlled, and the sealing case, specifically the fan, is rotated in accordance with various operating conditions.

[0009]

[Embodiment] Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the liquid clutch of the present invention, in which a case 4a is connected to a rotating shaft 2 via a bearing 3, which is rotated by the drive of an engine 1, which is a driving part.
It is mounted so that it can rotate freely around its axis. A cover 4b is sealed to the front surface of the case 4a to constitute a sealing case 4 as a driven side. The inside of the sealing box 4 is divided into an oil reservoir chamber 7 and a torque transmission chamber 8 by a partition plate 6, and a disk-shaped drive disk 5 fixed to the end of the rotating shaft 2 is installed inside the torque transmission chamber 8. A torque transmission gap 9 is provided between the opposing surfaces of the drive disk 5 and the sealing case 4. Also, on the surface of the partition plate 6, from the oil reservoir chamber 7 to the torque transmission chamber 8,
A circulation flow passage 13 communicating from the torque transmission chamber 8 to the oil reservoir chamber 7 is provided on the inner wall of the sealing box 4.

Further, a valve member 10 has one end riveted to the partition plate 6 on the side of the oil reservoir chamber 7, and the other end is located in the outflow adjustment hole 27a portion as the outflow adjustment path 27, and the intermediate portion thereof A magnetic piece 11 is attached to the outflow adjustment hole 6a according to the presence or absence of excitation current to a concentric ring-shaped electromagnet 12a provided at a position facing the magnetic piece 11 on the front side of the sealing case 4. Open and close.

[0011] Also, on the inner circumferential wall of the sealing case 4, an oil feed port 8 is provided which communicates the circulation flow passage 13 with the torque transmission chamber 8.
A dam 14 as a pumping mechanism is provided at position a,
Oil is pumped from the torque transmission chamber 8 side to the circulation flow path 13 side. Note that a cooling fan 19 is fixed to this sealing box 4. Further, a slide valve as an auxiliary valve member 15 made of a magnetic material is attached to the outlet of the circulation flow passage 13, and the circulation flow passage 13 is Open and close the outlet (opening on the oil sump chamber side). The center portions of the pair of ring-shaped electromagnets 12a and 12b are attached via bearings 17 to a support shaft 16 provided at the center of the outside of the sealing case 4, and the other is fixed to a part of the vehicle body. Without being limited thereto, as shown in FIG. 2A, single-piece electromagnets 12a, 12b may be fixed and excited via the slip ring contact 23. Furthermore, a support piece having electromagnets 12a and 12b in the form of a single piece rather than a ring is fixed to the outside at a position corresponding to the rotation locus of the valve member 10, the auxiliary valve member 15, or the magnetic piece 11 provided thereon. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2C, an electromagnet may be provided on the rear side of the sealing case 4, that is, on the rotating shaft 2 side.

On the other hand, as the sub-valve member 15, in addition to the slide valve shown in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, embodiments shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C can also be applied. That is, in FIG. 2B, a belt-shaped auxiliary valve member 15' made of spring steel is provided approximately parallel to the valve member 10, one end of which is riveted to the partition plate 6, etc., and the other end is bent to open the circulation passage 13. The electromagnet 1 is configured to open and close on the exit side.
A magnetic piece 24 is provided at a position corresponding to electromagnet 12b, and a spring 25 is provided at a position corresponding to electromagnet 12b in FIG. 2C.
A spool valve 15'' is provided through the spool valve 15'' to open and close the circulation passage 13 midway.

In addition, when the outflow adjustment hole 27a is opened in the inner circumferential wall of the oil reservoir chamber 7 and is bored in the cover 4b to communicate with the torque transmission chamber 8 as shown in FIG. 2A, it can be used as an auxiliary valve member. Valve member 1 instead of the slide valve or spool valve that was used
A shape such as 0 can also be used.

The electromagnets 12a and 12b are controlled by an excitation current from a control device 18. This control device 18 has a fan 1.
9, an output signal of the rotation speed sensor 21 that detects the rotation speed of the rotating shaft 2, and an output signal of the cooling water temperature sensor 22 that detects the temperature of the cooling water of the engine 1. is being supplied. Note that 26 indicates cooling fins provided on the cover 4b.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the control operation of one embodiment. In this embodiment, the fan speed signal Nf as the rotation speed of the fan, the engine speed signal Ne as the rotation speed of the rotating shaft, and the engine cooling Water temperature signal T as water temperature
w is taken into the control device 18 as an output signal S from each sensor 20, 21, 22. Based on these output signals S, the characteristic data calculation circuit section of the control device 18 calculates the characteristic data (A) between fan speed and engine speed shown in FIG.
Characteristic data between fan speed and cooling water temperature (B) and time characteristic data of engine speed (C) are calculated as characteristic data.

These characteristic data D((A)(B)(C)
)) and the output signal S (Ne, Tw, Nf), control data is calculated in the control data calculation circuit section of the control device 18, and the electromagnet 12a is calculated based on the obtained control data.
, 12b for a necessary period of time to control the amount of oil in the torque transmission gap 9. That is, in step S1 of FIG. 3, the engine speed signal Ne and the engine speed time characteristic data (
Based on C), the conditional expression dNe/dt>dne/dt (where d
ne/dt is determined based on the rate of change in engine speed stored in the control device 18. The determination in step S1 is Y.
If it is ES, the process proceeds to step S2, where Nf=Noff, the fan speed Nf is set to the minimum fan speed Noff, and the process proceeds to step S5. Note that depending on the required characteristics of the vehicle, even if the determination in step S1 is NO, step S may be performed during outgoing acceleration and/or while maintaining a high engine speed after acceleration.
2, or maintain step S2 for a predetermined period of time after the Noff signal is output, or continue while the cooling water temperature is slightly overheated even if the determination in step S1 is YES.
Alternatively, when the air conditioner is in the ON state and the engine speed is relatively low, the process may be configured to return to step S3, or the process may proceed to step S5 with Nf=Non. Then, in step S5, control is determined by comparing the fan calculation speed nf and the input fan speed signal Nf,
In step S6, the electromagnet 12
a and 12b are controlled.

If the determination in step S1 is NO, the process proceeds to step S3 where the maximum fan speed Non and minimum fan speed Noff are calculated, and then step S4
and set the fan speed to nf=f(Noff, Non, T
w, T1, T2). For example, when controlling the fan speed linearly with respect to the cooling water temperature, control is determined by comparing the fan calculation speed nf obtained by proceeding to step S5 and the input fan speed signal Nf, According to the judgment in step S5, in step S6, the electromagnet 1
Controls 2a and 12b are performed.

By controlling in this manner, the amount of silicone oil in the torque transmission gap 9 can be varied with high precision over a wide range. For this reason, for example, when accelerating the fan 19, an appropriate amount of silicone oil corresponding to the temperature of the cooling water of the engine 1, the rotation speed of the rotating shaft 2 (proportional to the rotation speed of the engine 1), and the rotation speed of the fan 19 is applied to the valve member 19. By opening the auxiliary valve member 15 and closing the auxiliary valve member 15, silicone oil is sent into the torque transmission gap 9 from the outflow adjustment path 27, and when decelerating the fan 19, the amount of silicone oil in the torque transmission gap 9 is adjusted to be appropriate. By closing the valve member 10 and opening the auxiliary valve member 15, the silicone oil flows out from the torque transmission gap 9 through the circulation passage 13, or if there is no need for acceleration or deceleration, the silicone oil in the torque transmission gap 9 flows out. Both the valve member 10 and the sub-valve member 15 are closed so as to maintain a constant rotation with a constant value. Then, the driving torque of the driving disk 5 is transmitted to the sealing case 4 through an appropriate amount of silicone oil in the torque transmission gap 9, and the fan 19 rotates steadily.

In the embodiment, when the temperature of the cooling water of the engine 1 is near the upper limit water temperature and the temperature of the cooling water increases significantly, the fan rotation speed is increased. Conversely, when the temperature of the cooling water drops, the fan rotation speed is reduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the rotation speed of the rotating shaft 2 suddenly increases, the fan rotation speed is controlled to decrease as shown by the dotted line, and the fan rotation speed is reduced as shown by the diagonal line. Demonstrate.

Furthermore, in the rotational characteristics of the rotating shaft 2 and fan 19 shown in FIG. 5, control is performed in region B when the cooling water temperature of the engine 1 is at a normal temperature, but when the cooling water temperature exceeds the upper limit water temperature. Control is performed in area A.

In this manner, according to the embodiment, the temperature of the cooling water of the engine 1, the rotation speed of the engine 1, and the fan 19
An optimum amount of silicone oil corresponding to the rotational speed of the fan 19 is present in the torque transmission chamber 8, and control is performed in a state where the rotational speed of the fan 19 does not change significantly as shown in FIG. The temperature of the cooling water in the engine 1 is also kept almost constant, and control is performed under optimal conditions to accommodate cold starts, driving on highways, and sudden acceleration, reducing noise from the fan 19 and reducing wasteful fuel consumption. is prevented.

[0023]Although in the embodiment, the amount of oil in the torque transmission chamber is controlled based on the engine cooling water temperature, the engine rotation speed, and the fan rotation speed, the present invention is limited to the embodiment. For example, at least one of the above factors, or in addition to these factors, running air volume, outside temperature, intake air temperature, vehicle speed, throttle opening, air pressure, presence or absence of knocking, air conditioner condition, exhaust brake condition, etc. It can also be configured in addition to the control factors.

[0024]

As explained above, the liquid clutch of the present invention can control the oil supplied to the torque transmission gap between the drive disk and the sealing case quickly and with high precision in accordance with the drive conditions of the drive unit. By doing so, the drive torque of the drive disk can always be transmitted to the sealed case in an optimal transmission state corresponding to the various drive conditions, and optimal clutch operation can be performed under various drive conditions, reducing fan noise. Many effects can be expected, such as reducing fuel consumption and improving acceleration performance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a partially enlarged sectional view of another embodiment of the electromagnet of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a partially enlarged sectional view of another embodiment of the sub-valve member of the present invention.

FIG. 2C is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of still another embodiment of the sub-valve member.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operating characteristics of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is another diagram showing the operating characteristics of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Engine 2 Rotation axis 3 Bearing 4 Sealed container 5 Drive disk 6 Partition plate 7 Oil sump room 8 Torque transmission chamber 9 Torque transmission gap 10 Valve member 11 Magnetic piece 12a, 12b Ring-shaped electromagnet 13 Circulation outflow path 14 Dam 15 Sub-valve member 18 Control device 19 Fan 27 Outflow control channel 27a Outflow adjustment hole

Claims (11)

[Claims] Claim 1: The inside of a sealed case on the driven side, which is supported by a bearing on a rotary shaft having a driving disk fixed to the tip of the driving part, is separated by a partition plate into an oil reservoir chamber and a torque transmission chamber containing the driving disk. A dam is installed on a part of the inner circumferential wall surface on the side of the sealing case opposite to the outer circumferential wall of the drive disk where oil collects during rotation. In addition to forming a circulation flow path to the chamber side, an outflow adjustment path leading from the oil sump chamber side to the torque transmission chamber side is also formed. In a liquid clutch that increases or decreases the effective contact area of oil to control the transmission of rotational torque from a rotating shaft on a driving side to a sealing case on a driven side, a pair of electromagnets are installed on the front side or the rear side of the sealing case. A magnetic valve member is provided opposite to one of the electromagnets to open and close the outflow regulating passage, and a magnetic sub-valve member is provided opposite to the other electromagnet to open and close the circulation flow passage. and liquid clutch. 2. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein a cooling fan is fixed to the sealing case. 3. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, further comprising a control device for controlling excitation of the electromagnet. 4. The liquid clutch according to claim 3, wherein the control device controls the excitation current to each electromagnet based on an output signal from a sensor that detects the temperature of cooling water that cools the drive section. 5. The control device further controls the excitation current to each electromagnet based on an output signal from a sensor that detects at least the rotation speed of the case or the rotation speed of the rotating shaft.
Liquid clutch as described. 6. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the valve member and the sub-valve member is made of a magnetic material. 7. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein magnetic pieces are attached to the valve member and the sub-valve member. 8. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnet is attached to a vehicle body or an engine block and arranged in a ring shape or a single piece shape. 9. The liquid clutch of claim 1, wherein the electromagnet is fixed to an outer wall of the sealer housing. 10. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein the valve member or the sub-valve member comprises a slide valve or a band-shaped bent portion that opens and closes the outlet side or the inlet side of the outflow adjustment path or the circulation flow path. 11. The liquid clutch according to claim 1, wherein the valve member or the auxiliary valve member comprises a spool valve that opens and closes an intermediate part of the outflow adjustment path or the circulation flow path.