Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Ryuji Nakamura

Masaharu Hayashi

Masato Itakura

Hideki Nakayoshi

Atsushi Satomoto

Seiya Tanaka

Mitsutoshi Hagiwara

Shunzo Tsuchikawa

Hideaki Takahashi

Nobuyoshi Kozawa

A viscous fluid coupling which includes an input member having a rotatable shaft and a rotor secured to the shaft is disclosed. The viscous fluid coupling further comprises an output member rotatable disposed on the shaft and having a first chamber in which the rotor is disposed therein and a second chamber which is communicated to the first chamber through a passage, a torque transmitting mechanism for transmitting rotational torque from the input member to the output member through the viscous fluid and formed between an inner wall of the first chamber and an opposing surface of the rotor, a pumping mechanism pumping out the viscous fluid from the first chamber into the second chamber in accordance with the relative rotation between the input member and the output member and a valve device for opening and closing the passage according to an atmospheric temperature, wherein the torque transmitting mechanism is located in the diametrical direction so that amount of the viscous fluid in the torque transmitting mechanism varies when the shaft is rotated and based on the closing condition of the valve device.

Viscous fluid coupling

A viscous fluid coupling device is comprised of (1) an input member, (2) a rotor secured to the input member, (3) an output member having therein an inner space and mounted rotatably on the input member, (4) a partition plate, for dividing the inner space into an operating chamber and a reservoir chamber for storing therein an amount of viscous fluid, secured to the output member and having a passage for establishing a fluid communication therebetween, (5) a thermal response valve, for opening and closing the passage, provided on the output member, (6) a labyrinth, for transmitting the rotation torque from the input member to the output member via the viscous fluid, provided therebetween so as to be positioned in the operating chamber, (7) a pump device, for returning the viscous fluid to the reservoir chamber, formed between an outer periphery of the rotor and an inner surface of the output member, and (8) a bypass device, for the direct supply of the viscous fluid supplied from the reservoir chamber to the pump device upon high speed rotation of input member, positioned in the rotor in parallel with the labyrinth.

Viscous fluid coupling device

A viscous fluid coupling apparatus includes a shaft, a rotor, and a housing. The housing has a separator plate and a partition wall. The separator plate divides an inside of the housing into a reservoir chamber and an actuator chamber having a torque transmitter portion, and it has a communication hole communicating the reservoir chamber with the actuator chamber and a pump protrusion for transferring the viscous fluid in the reservoir chamber to the actuator chamber via the communication hole. The partition wall divides the reservoir chamber into an inner peripheral reservoir chamber communicated to the actuator chamber and an outer peripheral reservoir chamber communicated to the actuator chamber. Viscous fluid is pumped from the actuator chamber to the inner peripheral chamber by the pump hole, the pump protrusion and the communication hole, and less of the viscous fluid remains less in the actuator chamber when an engine is stopped. Therefore, less induced rotation occurs.

Viscous fluid coupling apparatus

A viscous fluid coupling has a rotor including peripheral teeth with distal ends closely facing an inside surface of an output member. The distal ends of the teeth form flat surfaces parallel with the output member to form a rotary seal therewith, which reduces variations in the rotational speed of the output member.

Viscous fluid coupling with reduced scatter

A cylindrically-shaped engine cooler for automobiles comprises a pair of water tanks or main coolant tubes, a plurality of water tubes connecting the water tanks or main coolant tubes, a plurality of cooling fins and at least one cooling fans. The cylindrical engine cooler is disposed in a vehicle so that the axis line of the cooler crosses the traveling line of a vehicle so that the air resistance against vehicle travel becomes small. The water tanks or main coolant tube can be used as the shroud for accommodating the cooling fan, when they are annularly shaped and disposed at the end of the cylindrically cooler. Two cooling fans disposed at the both ends of the cylindrically-shaped cooler may have different air-blowing capacity each other.

Engine cooler

A viscous fluid coupling for use with a fan that cools as automobile engine includes a rotor driven by the engine. The rotor is housed in a housing formed by a case and a cover. A rear plate is mounted on the inner surface of the case and has an orifice. A front plate is mounted on the inner surface of the cover and has a hole through which viscous fluid can flow. A first reservoir is formed by the cover and the front plate. A second reservoir is formed by the rear plate and the case. Teeth are formed on the outer surface of the rotor. A protrusion is formed on the outer periphery of the rotor near the orifice.

In a viscous fluid coupling which is essentially composed by one rotor, the other rotor, a first oil storage chamber and a valve, the one rotor fixed to an input member and the other rotor fixed to an output member are combined to form an operation chamber. The first oil storage chamber is formed between the other rotor and the output member, and the valve opens and closes a port of an oil passage which communicates the first oil storage chamber with the operation chamber under control of a temperature sensitive member attached to the output member. In this construction a case fixed to the output member covers a side surface opposite to the rotors. A second oil storage member is disposed in a position corresponding to the first oil storage chamber between one rotor and the case. With this arrangement, a so-called taking-around phenomenon which is present when the operation of the viscous fluid coupling resumes can be eliminated.

A temperature responsive fluid coupling device which can precisely control the transmitting torque between an input coupling member driven and an output coupling member in three steps in response to changes of ambient temperature of the output coupling member. The fluid coupling device includes two labyrinth operating chambers functioning as a torque transmitting mechanism, and each operating chamber includes a fluid return opening and a pumping mechanism.

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Toyota, Japan

Ryuji Nakamura