JPS628454Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to a fluid coupling for an automobile having a lock-up clutch, which is a device that directly connects a front cover attached to the engine side and an input shaft.

Conventionally, in a hydraulic torque converter for an automobile that has a lock-up clutch, a thrust washer that has an oil passage is installed between the front cover attached to the engine side and the turbine hub that is connected to the input shaft that is the output shaft. was interposed. A lock-up damper is provided between the front cover and the turbine hub in order to reduce the impact that occurs when the front cover and the turbine hub are directly connected. In order to improve the shock absorption characteristics of this damper, a thrust needle bearing, which is a type of rolling bearing, is used instead of the conventionally used thrust washer. Hydraulic passages are a problem. That is, it is difficult for thrust needle bearings to allow oil to flow in the direction of the needles (radial direction of the bearing). Therefore, in order to pass oil through the thrust needle bearing part, it is necessary to provide an oil groove in one of the race, the turbine hub, or the front cover, which is the rolling surface of the needle. Furthermore, providing a groove in the race of a thrust needle bearing is not only difficult to process, but also degrades bearing performance. On the other hand, it is difficult to provide oil grooves in the turbine hub and front cover in terms of machining.

In view of the above, this invention eliminates the need to provide an oil groove in the front cover of a hydraulic torque converter that has a lock-up clutch as a direct coupling device or in the thrust needle bearing mounting position of the turbine hub, and furthermore, it is not necessary to provide an oil groove in the thrust needle bearing race. The object of the present invention is to provide a fluid coupling with a lock-up clutch that does not require the provision of a lock-up clutch and can easily release the lock-up clutch.

In order to achieve the above object, the structure of this invention is as follows. That is, a front cover 3 attached to the engine side, a disk-shaped turbine hub 10 fitted to the end of an input shaft 7 that is an output shaft, and a turbine hub 10 that can be moved toward and away from the front cover 3. It has a lock-up clutch 28 consisting of a lock-up piston 23 that is oil-tightly fitted on the outer circumferential surface, and when the front cover 3 and the lock-up piston 23 are brought into contact with each other, oil flows between the front cover 3 and the turbine hub 1.
In this fluid coupling with a lock-up clutch that flows through the gap between the front cover 3 and the turbine hub 10, a support plate having an oil passage and a rolling bearing are fitted into the gap between the front cover 3 and the turbine hub 10.

Next, this invention will be explained based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a torque converter 2 housed in a transmission housing 1 includes a crankshaft (not shown) of an automobile engine.
There is a front cover 3 that can be attached to. A pump case 4 having a pump impeller 5 is integrally attached to the front cover 3, and a cylindrical pump shaft 6 is attached to the axial center of the pump case 4. A hollow input shaft 7 is loosely fitted into the shaft hole 6a of the pump shaft 6, and one end of the shaft 7 is located near a recess 3a formed in the center of the front cover 3. At the end of the input shaft 7 on the front cover 3 side, there is a small diameter portion 8 and a small diameter portion 8.
A medium diameter portion 9 having a larger diameter and a smaller diameter than other portions is formed, and a spline 9a is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the medium diameter portion 9. The input shaft 7 also has a one-way clutch 1, which will be described later, on its outer circumferential surface following the medium diameter portion 9.
A spline 7a that fits with the spline 18a of the inner race 18 of No. 7 is provided. The turbine hub 10 includes a cylindrical boss portion 11 and a cylindrical boss portion 11.
It consists of an annular mounting plate 12 formed at the center of the outer periphery. The turbine hub 10 has a boss portion 1
A spline 11a formed on the inner circumferential surface of the input shaft 7 is fitted with a spline 9a on the middle diameter portion 9 of the input shaft 7. The mounting plate 12 has a disc shape,
The portion connected to the boss portion 11 and the inner surface of the front cover 3 form a plane perpendicular to the axis A of the input shaft 7, and a gap C is provided between the two. The outer peripheral end of the mounting plate 12 is bent toward the front cover 3 to form a support portion 12a. The mounting plate 12 has a boss portion 11 and a support portion 12 on the side opposite to the front cover 3.
An annular protrusion 12b having a predetermined thickness is formed at an intermediate position between a and a. After the damper plate 13 to which the lock-up damper 27 (to be described later) and the outer shell 14 to which the turbine runner 15 (to be described) is attached are brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of the protrusion 12b of the mounting plate 12, the inner circumferential surfaces of the damper plate 13 and the outer shell 14 to which the lock-up damper 27 and the turbine runner 15, which will be described later, are attached, are brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of the protrusion 12b of the mounting plate 12, and then the rivets 16 are attached to the outer shell 14. It is fixed to the turbine hub 10.

As described above, the assembled pump impeller 5 and turbine runner 15 face each other as in a conventional torque converter. A spline 18a of an inner race 18 of the one-way clutch 17 is fitted into the spline 7a of the input shaft 7. Further, a stator 20 is attached to the outer race 19 of the one-way clutch 17. The one-way clutch 17 has a thrust roller bearing 21 interposed between it and the pump shaft 6, and a thrust roller bearing 22 interposed between it and the turbine hub 10.

The lock-up piston 23 is located on the front cover 3
Inner cylinder 23a and outer cylinder 23 formed in the opposite direction
It has b. The inner cylinder 23a of the lock-up piston 23 has approximately the same length as the support part 12a of the mounting plate 12 of the turbine hub 10.
The inner circumferential surface of the turbine hub 10 and the lock-up piston 23 are kept oil-tight by a seal ring 24 fitted to the outer circumferential surface of the support portion 12a. It is becoming more and more common. A thin ring-shaped lock plate 25 is fixed to the lock-up piston 23 from its outer cylinder 23b and to the surface facing the front cover 3. This lock plate 25 is pressed against the inner surface of the front cover 3 when the lock up piston 23 is pressed toward the front cover 3 by pressure oil acting from the right side in the figure. When the lock-up piston 23 is moved away from the front cover 3 by the pressure oil acting on the surface on the front cover 3 side, the lock-up piston 23 is moved away from the inner cylinder 23.
The tip of a is brought into contact with the lower part of the damper plate 13 and stopped. Attached to the outer periphery of the damper plate 13 is a damper disk 26 in which an appropriate number of lock-up dampers 27 made of coiled springs are attached at predetermined pitches in the circumferential direction. The outer periphery of the damper disk 26 is provided with convex portions 26a that fit into an appropriate number of grooves 23c provided in the outer cylinder 23b of the lock-up piston 23.
is provided. Therefore, the lockup piston 23 and the damper plate 13 are connected via the lockup damper 27. A lock-up clutch 28 is formed by the front cover 3, the turbine hub 10, the lock-up piston 23, and the damper plate 13 having a lock-up disk 26.

In the gap C between the mounting plate 12 of the turbine hub 10 and the front cover 3, there is a thrust needle bearing 29 fitted on the outer periphery of the boss portion 11 of the turbine hub 10, and a space between the thrust needle bearing 29 and the inside of the front cover 3. A support plate 30 fitted between the side surface and the side surface is provided. The support plate 30 is a sheet metal part manufactured by press working, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, it has a small diameter cylindrical fixing part 31 in the center and
1, an outer cylindrical part 32 having a larger diameter than the fixed part 31 and formed toward the opposite side of the fixed part 31, and an annular connecting part 3 between the fixed part 31 and the outer cylindrical part 32.
It consists of 3. This support plate 30 has its fixing portion 31 fitted into the inner circumferential wall 3b of the recess 3a of the front cover 3, and its outer cylindrical portion 32.
is located outside the outer periphery of the thrust needle bearing 29. The support plate 30 has four passages 34 punched out in its connecting portion 33 in the radial direction at a pitch of 90 degrees and having a predetermined width. As shown in FIG. 3, this passage 34 extends over a part of the fixing part 31 and the outer cylinder part 32.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the engine starts, the oil pressure inside the torque converter 2 is uniform.
Torque converter 2 performs normal operation. That is, the rotation of the pump impeller 5 of the pump case 4, which rotates together with the front cover 3, rotates the turbine runner 15 via oil. Due to the rotation of the turbine runner 15, the outer cell 14, damper plate 13, and turbine hub 10
rotates. As the turbine hub 10 rotates, the input shaft 7 also rotates in the same direction. Further, as the damper plate 13 rotates, the lockup piston 23 also rotates.

When the driver of the vehicle shifts the shift lever (not shown) so that the torque converter 2 is directly connected, the oil switching valve (not shown) causes pressure oil to flow between the pump shaft 6 and input shaft 7. It is supplied through the gap. This pressure oil enters the torque converter 2 via the thrust roller bearing 21. On the other hand, the oil between the front cover 3, the turbine hub 10, and the lock-up piston 23 flows through the shaft hole 7 of the input shaft 7.
It is sucked through b. In this case, support plate 3
0, the oil between the front cover 3, the turbine hub 10, and the lock-up piston 23 easily flows through the passage 34 toward the shaft hole 7b. In this way, when a difference occurs in the oil pressures acting on both sides of the lock-up piston 23, the lock-up piston 23 is moved toward the front cover 3, and its lock plate 25 is pressed against the inner surface of the front cover 3. , the front cover 3 and the lock-up piston 23 are directly connected. The rotation of the front cover 3 and the lockup piston 23 is transmitted to the turbine hub 10 via the damper disk 26, the lockup damper 27, and the damper plate 13. Also, when directly connected, front cover 3 and turbine hub 1
0, but since there is a thrust needle bearing 29 between the two, friction does not occur unlike when a thrust washer is used.

Next, when cutting off the direct connection between the front cover 3 and the lockup piston 23, the action of the switching valve is reversed, and the shaft hole 7 of the input shaft 7 is
The pressure oil supplied from b is supplied between the front cover 3 and the lock-up piston 23 through the passage 34 of the support plate 30. On the other hand, the oil on the pump impeller 5 side flows through the thrust roller bearing 21 into the gap between the pump shaft 6 and the input shaft 7. Therefore, there is a difference in the oil pressure acting on both sides of the lock-up piston 23,
The direct connection between the front cover 3 and the lockup piston 23 is released.

As mentioned above, in this invention, a thrust needle bearing and a support plate having an oil passage are interposed between the front cover of the torque converter and the turbine hub. piston 2
Since a passage can be secured for supplying pressure oil to the gap between the torque converter 3 and discharging the pressure oil from the gap, the operation of the torque converter becomes extremely smooth.

(b) Since it is not necessary to provide oil grooves for oil circulation in the front cover 3 and the turbine hub 10, the number of machining steps can be reduced.

(c) Since a standard-shaped thrust needle bearing 29 can be used, the cost does not increase.

Note that, of course, the shape of the support plate, the shape of the grooves, etc. are not limited to the shapes of this embodiment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show one embodiment of this invention, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the upper part from the center of the torque converter, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the support plate, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 2. be. 2... Torque converter, 3... Front cover, 4... Pump case, 5... Pump impeller, 7... Input shaft, 10... Turpin hub, 13... Damper plate, 23... Lock-up piston, 26 ...damper disc, 2
8... Lockup clutch, 29... Thrust needle bearing (rolling bearing), 30... Support plate, 34... Passage, C... Gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Front cover 3 attached to the engine side
A disk-shaped turbine hub 10 is fitted to the end of the input shaft 7 which is an output shaft, and a turbine hub 10 is oil-tightly fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the turbine hub 10 so as to be able to move toward and away from the front cover 3. It has a lock-up clutch 28 consisting of a lock-up piston 23, a front cover 3 and a lock-up piston 23.
When the oil comes into contact with and separates from the front cover 3,
and a turbine hub 10, in which a support plate having an oil passage and a rolling bearing are fitted into the gap between the front cover 3 and the turbine hub 10. A fluid coupling with a lock-up clutch.