Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoda Koki Kabushiki Kaisha

Akio Mukainaka

Kunihiko Suzuki

Hiroshi Takuno

Tsuyoshi Murakami

Naoyuki Sakai

Naoyuki Kokubo

Satoshi Ashida

Hisashi Fukuchi

Mikiharu Oyabu

Yoshiaki Senga

Kenji Arai

A drive force transmission apparatus includes a housing connected to one of two shafts that are rotatable relative to each other, a rotary shaft rotatably supported by the housing and connected to the other shaft, and a multiple disc clutch composed of a plurality of outer plates engaged with the housing in the rotational direction and a plurality of inner plates engaged with the rotary shaft in the rotational direction. The multiple disc clutch transmits rotational torque between the housing and the rotary shaft through frictional engagement between the outer plates and the inner plates. The apparatus also includes a pressure generation mechanism for generating a pressure corresponding to a rotational-speed difference between the housing and the rotary shaft and for applying the generated force to the multiple disc clutch via a piston. The pressure generating means is composed of a plurality of rotary blades accommodated within a cylindrical space formed between the piston and the housing and rotating together with the rotary shaft, a viscous fluid charged into a plurality of pressure chambers defined by the housing, the piston, and the rotary blades, and a free blade accommodated within at least one pressure chamber. The free blade is freely movable in the circumferential direction between the rotary blades.

Drive force transmission apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Akio Mukainaka