Luk Getriebe-systeme Gmbh

Luk Getreibe-systeme Gmbh

Volker Middelmann

Marc Meisner

Mircea Gradu

Wolfgang Reik

Shailesh Shrikant Kozarekar

Steven P Olsen

Edmund Maucher

Uwe Wagner

Hubert Friedmann

Johannes Hahn

Clemens Halene

Allan Biber

Bruno Muller

J&uuml;rgen Freitag

Ravishankar Gundlapalli

Wendy Boman

Ravi Gundlapalli

The housing of a hydrokinetic torque converter in the power train between the engine and the transmission of a motor vehicle contains a lockup valve which can be engaged to transmit torque directly from the output element of the engine to the output member of the turbine in the housing. Engagement of the lockup clutch at a relatively low RPM of the engine and/or under certain other circumstances is prevented or minimized by the provision of one or more valves which are designed to establish or to at least partially seal one or more paths for direct flow of hydraulic fluid between two compartments forming part of a chamber in the housing of the torque converter and being disposed at opposite sides of the axially movable piston of the lockup clutch. The valve or valves can be designed to react in response to changing RPM of the housing of the torque converter, in response to changes of the temperature of hydraulic fluid in the housing and/or in response to changes of the viscosity of such fluid. The valving element or elements of the valve or valves can be caused to change its or their position(s) relative to the respective path(s) in response to the action of centrifugal force and/or due to direct contact with hydraulic fluid in the housing of the torque converter.

Hydrokinetic torque converter with lockup clutch

A hydrokinetic torque converter in the power train between the engine and the wheels of a motor vehicle has a rotary engine-driven housing which is of one piece with a pump and contains a rotary turbine having a hub which drives the input shaft of a transmission. A lockup clutch can be engaged, either entirely or with slip, to transmit torque from the housing or from the pump to the hub of the turbine. Such clutch can employ flat or conical friction linings and/or friction surfaces, for example, a friction lining on the shell of the turbine and a friction surface on a wall of the housing. The shell of the turbine in the torque converter employing such clutch is movable axially to advance the friction lining into or from engagement with the friction surface. Alternatively, the lockup clutch can be installed in a torus which is defined by the turbine and the pump of the torque converter, and such clutch can be cooled by one or more streams of a hydraulic fluid.

Hydrokinetic torque converter

A hydrokinetic torque converter for use with a transmission in the power train of a motor vehicle has a housing rotatable by the engine and containing a pump, a turbine and at least one stator as well as a rotary output device connected to the input shaft of the transmission. The pump is normally rotatable by the housing; the turbine is rotatable (a) by the fluid which is circulated by the pump or (b) by the housing in response to engagement of a lockup clutch; and the stator can be connected to the stationary case of the transmission or is rotatable by the circulating fluid. First and second hubs are non-rotatably but axially movably mounted on the output member and are respectively connectable with the turbine and the stator by suitable clutches. The hubs can move axially relative to the output device between several positions in one of which the turbine can drive the input element of the transmission in a forward direction, in another of which the stator can rotate the input element in a direction to drive the vehicle rearwardly, and in a third of which the transmission is in neutral gear.

A hydrokinetic torque converter, which exhibits important advantages regarding the consumption of fuel and the operation at low RPM in the power train of a motor vehicle, has a stator, a pump and a turbine which jointly form a toroidal structure having a meridian cross-sectional outline which is asymmetrical with reference to at least one axis other than the rotational axis of the housing of the torque converter.

Hydrokinetic torque converter with asymmetrical toroidal chamber

A hydrodynamic torque converter wherein the housing is connected to the output element of an engine in the power train of a motor vehicle and receives a coaxial hub which is rotatable by the turbine wheel in the housing or by a clutch disk forming part of a lockup clutch and being axially movably but non-rotatably mounted on the hub. The lockup clutch further comprises a piston which is rotatably and axially movably mounted on the hub, and a laimina which is non-rotatably but axially movably mounted in the housing and extends radially inwardly between the piston and the clutch disk. The clutch is engaged when the piston is moved axially of the housing to thus urge the lamina against the clutch disk and to thus bias the clutch disk against an adjacent wall of the housing so that the clutch disc then transmits torque between the housing and the hub to thus bypass the torque transmitting connection between the housing and the hub by way of a satator wheel in the housing and the turbine wheel.

Hydrodynamic torque converter

The invention relates to a power train which is to be utilized in a motor vehicle and employs a hydrokinetic torque converter--lockup clutch--electronic control system assembly operating in such a way that the lockup clutch is already at least partially engaged while the engine of the motor vehicle is running but the vehicle is at a standstill. This reduces the likelihood of the development of shocks during shifting of a manual, automated or continuously variable transmission which receives torque from the output element of the torque converter. Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a compact, lightweight and inexpensive design of the torus composed of the impeller, reactor and stator of the hydrokinetic torque converter.

Power train with hydrokinetic torque converter

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Wooster, OH, United States of America

Volker Middelmann