Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoda Koki Kabushiki Kaisha

Other

Hirokazu Suzuki

Kunihiko Suzuki

Naoyuki Kokubo

Toshifumi Sakai

Akihiko Ikeda

Takashi Hosokawa

Naoyuki Sakai

Tomoyuki Kano

Mitsuru Ohba

Satoshi Ashida

Masayuki Shimada

Hiroshi Takuno

Akihiko Ichikawa

Shinji Ogawa

Fumitomo Tsuchiya

Moritaka Isomura

Akio Suzuki

Yoshihiro Ikushima

Hideki Tamoto

Hisashi Fukuchi

Koji Ando

Kazuhiko Yuasa

Junichiro Sahashi

Tomohiro Maruyama

Akifumi Miyazaki

A hybrid vehicle drive system, which permits an efficient change of a vehicle drive mode from any one of constant-speed-ratio engine drive modes to one of electric motor drive modes, with reduced deterioration of drivability of the hybrid vehicle. The hybrid vehicle drive system is constructed such that one of the electric motor drive modes can be established by releasing one of two coupling elements which are placed in the engaged state in a presently established one of the constant-speed-ratio engine drive modes, when the drive system is required to be switched from the above-described one of the constant-speed-ratio engine drive modes to any one of the electric motor drive modes, whereby the drive system can be efficiently switched from any one of the constant-speed-ratio engine drive modes to the above-indicated one of the electric motor drive modes, by simply releasing one of the above-indicated two coupling elements.

Hybrid vehicle drive system

The rotation of a first rotating element is shifted in speed by a speed shift device, and is transmitted to a second rotating element or a third rotating element of a differential device via a first clutch or a second clutch. In this manner, the torque of right and left driving wheels can be controlled. Furthermore, in conjunction with limitation of the differential motion, the amount of torque transmitted to a fourth rotating element is eliminated by allowing the speed shift device to freely rotate, and the accumulated amount of sliding of friction engagement elements at the time of differential motion limitation can be reduced by completely engaging the first clutch and the second clutch without allowing them to slide. Thus, the differential motion limitation control can be realized without a need to increase the size of the first clutch and the second clutch.

Vehicular drive force distribution device

A driving force transmission system comprising: a coupling case and a shaft arranged rotatably relative to each other; a pilot clutch and a main clutch for controlling a torque transmission between the coupling case and the shaft; an electromagnet for controlling the actions of the pilot clutch and the main clutch; and oil retaining the functions of the pilot clutch and the main clutch. This system further comprises a coupling case, a shaft, a rotor, and X-ring and an O-ring isolating a coupling oil chamber, in which the pilot clutch and the main clutch are arranged, liquid-tight from the surrounding space.

Driving force transmission system

A driving force transmission system comprising: a coupling case and a shaft arranged rotatably relative to each other; a pilot clutch and a main clutch for controlling a torque transmission between the coupling case and the shaft; an electromagnet for controlling the actions of the pilot clutch and the main clutch; and oil for retaining the functions of the pilot clutch and the main clutch. This system further comprises a coupling case, a shaft, a rotor, an X-ring and an O-ring for isolating a coupling oil chamber, in which the pilot clutch and the main clutch are arranged, liquid-tight from the surrounding space.

On a frictional engage surface of one of inner and outer clutch plates constructing a wet-type multi-disk clutch, a plurality of convex ridges are formed at an infinitesimal predetermined interval distance. Lubricating oil is kept between the convex ridges, so that the wedge operation in oil can be reduced, whereby the torque transfer characteristic can be improved. Further, a height of the convex ridge is set equal to or more than 1 .mu.m and the interval distance of the convex ridge is set equal to or less than 600 .mu.m, preferably. In the configuration of the clutch plate, it is made of steel as a substrate. Further, a nitrogen diffusion layer, a nitrided layer and an oxidation tunic is formed on said nitrided layer are formed on the substrate in its order therefrom.

Clutch plate

There is disclosed a drive force transmission apparatus which includes a first pressing-force generation unit for generating a pressing force in accordance with a rotational speed difference between driving and driven shafts, and a frictional clutch which is brought into an engaged state by the pressing force generated by the first pressing-force generation unit in order to transmit torque in accordance with the rotational speed difference between the driving and driven shafts. The drive force transmission apparatus further includes a second pressing-force generation unit disposed opposite to the first pressing-force generation unit with respect to the frictional clutch. When needed, the second pressing-force generation, unit is operated to bring the frictional clutch into a firmly engaged state, thereby improving the traveling performance of the vehicle under severe traveling conditions, such as an attempt to extract a wheel trapped in a gutter or the like, traveling on a rough road, traveling on sand, etc.

Drive force transmission apparatus

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Toyota, Japan

Hirokazu Suzuki