JPH0893852A - Spring for damper device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To facilitate manufacturing of a device and make a device whole body compact. CONSTITUTION: A torsion spring 11 is interposed between a retaining plate 9-side plate 10 and a driven plate 12 capable of angular displacement relatively to these plates. The torsion spring 11 is slightly shorter than a half circumference of each of these plates 9, 10, 12, and is of an arc shape in its natural state. A flexible spring guide 14 is inserted through the inside of the torsion spring 11 and expansion/contraction deformation of the spring 11 is thereby guided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a clutch disc,
The present invention relates to a spring used for a damper device in a torque converter or a flywheel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a fluid transmission device for transmitting torque through a fluid, which includes a direct coupling clutch for directly transmitting torque mechanically. Such a direct coupling clutch is provided with a damper mechanism (lock-up damper) for absorbing and mitigating shock and vibration generated when the direct coupling clutch is engaged (see FIGS. 4 and 5).

The structure will be briefly described. The lock-up damper 7 is interposed between the turbine 3 and the front cover 5. The lock-up damper 7 allows the power of the front cover 5 to be transmitted to the hub 6. Has become. The lock-up damper 7 has a friction facing 13 and is movable in the axial direction (left and right direction in the drawing), a retaining plate 9 and a side plate 10 fixed to the piston 8, and a hub 6. Driven plate 12 and this driven plate 12
And a torsion spring 20 interposed between the plates 9 and 10.

The holding of the torsion spring 20 is performed as follows. Windows 9a, 1 for holding the torsion springs 20 are provided at corresponding positions of both the retaining plate 9 and the side plate 10.
0a are opened in a plurality of places on the same circumference in an arc shape, and at the corresponding positions of the driven plate 12, similar window portions 12a are also opened. On the other hand, the torsion spring 20 has a straight shape in the natural state, but these window portions 9a, 1
For 0a and 12a, they are installed so as to follow the arc shape of the window and are appropriately compressed in advance,
Furthermore, the windows 9a, 1 of the three plates 9, 10, 12
A spring force can be applied to the end edges of these windows so as to extend over 0a and 12a. And, in particular, to guide the compression deformation of the torsion spring 20,
The upper and lower edges of the window portions 9a and 10a of both plates 9 and 10 are slightly bent outward so as to be bent outward, and the guide edge 21 is formed.
Has been formed.

[0005]

By the way, recently, there is a demand for increasing the maximum twist angle to improve the vibration absorbing performance. For this purpose, it has been considered as an effective means to use a torsion spring 20 having an overall length longer than that of the conventional one and to lengthen the extension / contraction stroke. However, such a long spring cannot be directly incorporated into the above-mentioned conventional one. In other words, when it comes to a torsion spring that is straight in its natural state and has a long spring length,
It is not easy to transform it into an arc shape when assembled,
Moreover, there is a possibility that normal expansion and contraction may not be obtained due to buckling after installation. Further, it is not easy to form the guide edge 21 corresponding to such a long spring.

Further, although not shown, in the conventional torsion spring used in the flywheel damper, the arc spring-shaped spring guide is provided along the outer peripheral edge of the spring, instead of the method of guiding by the guide edge as described above. However, the presence of this spring guide has been a major limitation in reducing the radial dimension of the damper device.

The present invention has been developed and devised in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a spring for a damper device which contributes to simplification of the manufacturing of the damper device and downsizing of the damper device. Is.

[0008]

The structure of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object is a spring incorporated in a window formed substantially concentrically with a damper device. A flexible spring guide for guiding is incorporated so as to penetrate the inside of the spring.

[0009]

[Operation] When the damper device operates and the spring expands and contracts,
Since the spring is guided for expansion and contraction deformation by a spring guide that penetrates the inside of the spring, the spring does not require any external guide means.

[0010]

The effects of the present invention are as follows. Since the expansion and contraction deformation of the spring is guided by the spring guide, it is not necessary to form a guide edge as in the conventional case, and the labor of difficult processing can be saved accordingly. Moreover, since the spring guide is passed through the inside of the spring, a compact structure can be achieved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, the torque converter 1 is composed of a pump 2, a turbine 3, a stator 4 and the like. The pump 2 and the front cover 5 are connected by welding, and the space formed by these is filled with hydraulic fluid such as oil. Further, the front cover 5 is fitted to a crank shaft (not shown) at its central portion. On the other hand, the turbine 3 is spline-fitted to an output shaft (not shown) not shown via the hub 6, and the output shaft is further linked to the subsequent transmission.

A lockup damper 7 is arranged between the turbine 3 and the front cover 5. The lockup damper 7 plays a role of absorbing shock and vibration generated at the time of lockup and absorbing and mitigating engine torque fluctuation after the lockup clutch is engaged. The lock-up damper 7 includes a piston 8, a retaining plate 9 and a side plate 10, a torsion spring 11, and a driven plate 12.

The piston 8 is provided so as to be slidable in the axial direction (left and right direction in FIG. 2). For example, when the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined value, the piston 8 operates and the front cover 5 is moved.
The friction facing 13 attached to the outer periphery of the surface opposite to the frictionally engages the front cover 5 so that a direct connection state (lock-up state) in which torque is mechanically directly transmitted is obtained. Has become. Further, a retaining plate 9 and a side plate 10 which is in an integrated state with the retaining plate 9 are connected to the piston 8. As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of window portions 9 for incorporating a torsion spring 11 are provided near the outer circumferences of the retaining plate 9 and the side plate 10.
a and 10a are opened at symmetrical positions, and are arranged at positions where these plates 9 and 10 are aligned with each other. Each of the windows 9a and 10a is formed to have an angular range slightly narrower than a half circumference of both plates 9 and 10 and to form concentric arcs.

A driven plate 12 is interposed between the retaining plate 9 and the side plate 10. The driven plate 12 is fixed to the hub 6 by rivets, and can be angularly displaced relative to the retaining plate 9 and the side plate 10. On the peripheral surface of the driven plate 12, a pair of windows 12a are opened at positions corresponding to the windows 9a and 10a described above and over substantially the same angular range. Therefore, both torsion springs 11 are 3
Window part 9 forming a set of the plates 9, 10, 12
The plates 9a, 10a, and 12a are assembled so as to straddle a, 10a, and 12a, and are in contact with the edges of the windows 9a, 10a, and 12a of the plates 9, 10, and 12 while applying a predetermined preload thereto. Thus, the power input to the piston 8 is transmitted to the torsion spring 11 via the retaining plate 9 and the side plate 10, and this spring force is transmitted to the hub 6 after acting on the driven plate 12.

The window portion 1 in the driven plate 12
In this example, the portion connecting the 2a is bent in a substantially U-shape toward the piston 8 side as shown in FIG. 2, and a relief groove portion 15 for allowing a spring guide 14 to be described below to pass therethrough is formed. At the same time, its edge becomes the contact surface of the torsion spring 11. The U-shape is used because the end face of the torsion spring 11 can be more stably received as compared with the case where the U-shape is not provided and formed straight.

In the natural state, the torsion spring 11 has a substantially semicircular shape along the central axis thereof.
It has the same curvature as each of the windows 9a, 10a, 12a described above. The windows 9a, 10a, 12a are assembled with a predetermined preload applied. And the torsion spring 11 is composed of three plates 9, 10, 1
2 has an outer diameter capable of straddling each of the windows 9a, 10a, 12a, and is always in contact with the edges of the windows 9a, 10a, 12a of the plates 9, 10, 12 at the same time. . In addition, the expansion and contraction deformation (compression and return deformation) of the springs 11 inside the torsion springs 11.
The spring guide 14 for guiding the is inserted. In this example, the spring guide 14 is made of a metal wire having good flexibility. Further, in this embodiment, the spring guides 14 are simultaneously inserted along the central axes of both torsion springs 11, and the interference with the driven plates 12 is avoided by passing through the respective escape grooves 15. Further, both ends of the spring guide 14 are welded to each other to form an endless ring shape. Further, the outer diameter of the spring guide 14 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the torsion spring 11, and it is desirable that the spring guide 14 be inserted as closely as possible without hindering the elastic deformation of the spring.

This example is constructed as described above. When the damper device is activated to cause relative angular displacement between the retaining plate 9, the side plate 10 and the driven plate 12, and a positional deviation in the circumferential direction occurs between the windows 9a, 10a, 12a, both torsions are generated. Spring 11
Is compressed and deformed. In this case, both torsion springs 11 are compressed and deformed along the spring guides 14, that is, while maintaining their curvatures. Therefore, even if the long-stroke torsion spring 11 is used as in the present example, buckling or the like does not occur in the middle, and the deforming operation can be performed normally. Further, in this embodiment, since the escape groove 15 is set in the driven plate 12 and is formed in a U shape,
The contact area of the torsion spring 11 with respect to the seat surface increases, and the spring force can be more stably received. Therefore, the desired vibration absorbing function is achieved in addition to the above-described normal deformation operation of the torsion spring 11.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the deformation of the torsion spring 11 can be reliably guided without setting the guide edge on the plate as in the prior art, the trouble of forming the guide edge on the plate is eliminated. It Also,
Torsion spring 1 like flywheel damper
Since it is not necessary to set a spring guide on the outer peripheral edge of No. 1, it also contributes to shortening the dimension in the radial direction.

The present invention can be modified in various ways,
The following modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the escape groove 15 is formed in the driven plate 12 to allow the spring guide 14 to pass therethrough. However, the spring guide 14 can be inserted by simply making a hole without providing it. Good.

In this embodiment, the ends of the spring guides 14 are connected to form a ring shape, but both torsion springs 11
Alternatively, it may have a semicircular shape that is individually inserted. Further, even if they are connected in a ring shape, the connecting method is not limited to welding, but caulking or the like may be used.

Although the spring guide 14 is shown as a solid one in this example, it is also possible to use a hollow tubular one.

In this example, the torsion spring 11 has an outer shape wound into a circular coil shape, but may have a substantially elliptical cross section including a plane orthogonal to the central axis. By doing so, even if the bent portion such as the escape groove portion 15 is not formed in the driven plate 12, the linear portion of the elliptical shape is brought into contact with the opening edge of the window portion, so that the driven plate 12 is stably provided with respect to the plate. A spring force can be applied.

The cross-sectional shape of the strands of the torsion spring 11 may be a circular cross-section as in this example, or an irregular shape such as an egg shape. If the egg shape has a short diameter in the compression direction of the spring, the contact height can be reduced. This makes it possible to increase the stroke length of the torsion spring 11 and increase the amount of angular displacement of the plate.

The spring pitch of the torsion spring 11 may be equal pitch or unequal pitch. When the pitches are unequal, it is possible to give an inflection point to the torque characteristic, and for example, it is possible to set a plurality of characteristics such that the rising gradient of the torque is lowered up to a predetermined twist angle and is increased thereafter. This makes it possible to absorb, for example, vibration that occurs in the low torque region before lockup, and effectively absorb a large impact that occurs in the lockup state (high torque region).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway view showing a lock-up damper device partially cut away.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a torsion spring and a spring guide.

FIG. 4 is a cutaway view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Torque Converter 9 ... Retaining Plate 10 ... Side Plate 11 ... Torsion Spring 12 ... Driven Plate 9a, 10a, 12a ... Window 14 ... Spring Guide

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Toshikazu Okuno 1-5-10 Chihara-cho, Izumiotsu-shi, Osaka

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A spring incorporated in a window formed substantially concentrically with a damper device, wherein a flexible spring guide for guiding expansion and contraction of the spring penetrates through the inside of the spring in the window. A spring for a damper device, which is characterized by being incorporated as described above.