Usui Kokusai Sangyo Kaisha Limited

Mitsuaki Hatori

Yasuhei Kikuchi

Satoshi Tsuyuki

Yuichi Ono

Hiroshi Inuoe

A fluid clutch which is structurally simplified to lower its cost and enabled to stabilize its action by optimizing the arrangement of an electromagnetic valve and to have a long lifetime by preventing a premature deterioration of a bearing or the like. The inside of a sealed case 2, in which a drive disc 3 fixed on a rotary shaft 1 is accommodated and made rotatably on the rotary shaft 1, is divided by a partition 5 into a torque transmission chamber 4 and an oil supply chamber 6, so that the drive torque of the drive disc 3 is transmitted to the sealed case 2 by the oil to be fed from the oil supply chamber 6 to the torque transmission chamber 4. Midway of a discharge passage 7 for feeding the oil, as recovered by a dam mechanism, from the torque transmission chamber 4 to the oil supply chamber 7, a passage controlling electromagnetic valve 10 is arranged coaxially with the rotary shaft 1.

Fluid clutch

A fluid clutch comprises a driving disc rotationally driven by a driving section, a rotatable casing enhousing the driving disc, a blower attached to the casing, and an oil supply means for supplying an oil from an outside to a torque transmission gap between the driving disc and the casing. Further, a driving section may be connected by means of a flexible joint to either one of the casing or the disc. The fluid clutch can always attain optimum control by adjusting the amount of the oil at a high accuracy and rapidly depending on various kinds of operation conditions. A breezer also is provided for releasing gas from the torque transmission chamber when pressure exceeds a predetermined upper limit, and for enabling inflow of atmospheric air to the torque transmission chamber when pressure is less than a predetermined lower limit. The clutch is endurable to external vibrations.

A fluid clutch comprising a driving section, a rotational shaft rotated by the driving section, a driving disk driven rotationally by the rotational shaft, a casing containing the disk and rotatable around the rotational shaft as a center, a partitioning member disposed in the casing for dividing the inside of the casing into a torque transmission chamber and an oil reservoir in which an oil is supplied from the oil reservoir to the torque transmission chamber thereby transmitting the torque from the driving disk to the casing, wherein the fluid clutch comprises a pump mechanism that rotates due to a difference between the number of rotations of the rotational shaft and the number of rotation of the casing, a first flow channel for sucking the oil in the torque transmission chamber by the pump mechanism and a second flow channel for sending the oil pressurized by the pump mechanism into the oil reservoir, a valve member for opening and closing a supply aperture formed in the partitioning member for causing the oil in the oil reservoir chamber to flow into the torque transmission chamber, and a solenoid type actuator for operating the valve member.

A fluid clutch includes a rotatably driven shaft. A closed casing is rotatably mounted on the shaft by bearings. The casing includes an oil basin chamber and a torque transfer chamber. A driving disc is rigidly mounted to the shaft and in the torque transfer chamber. An exhaust passage extends from an outer position in the torque transfer chamber to the oil basin chamber. A dam in the torque transfer chamber urges oil into the exhaust passage and to the oil basin chamber. A pump is disposed between the oil basin chamber and the torque transfer chamber and is operative to urge oil from the oil basin chamber downstream into the torque transfer chamber. A valve is operative to selectively open or close access to the pump in accordance with sensed temperature. Thus, the dam and exhaust passage urge oil from the torque transfer chamber to prevent accompanying rotation. However, the pump urges oil into the torque transfer chamber in accordance with cooling needs.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Mitsuaki Hatori