The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 07, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 17, 1996
Theodore E Shaffer, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Murat N Okcuoglu, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
ASHA Corporation, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Abstract
A control valve (80) of a hydraulic coupling (32) controls pumping from a casing inlet port (58) by a hydraulic pump (48) through a casing outlet port (78) to control coupling between two rotary members such as by operation of a clutch (68). The casing (34) is connected to one of the rotary members while a pumping component embodied by an impeller (50) is connected to the other rotary member and meshed with an internal ring gear (54) having one more tooth than the number of impeller teeth to provide sufficient pumping capacity so that the pump can act as a brake while still having relatively constant pumping pressure. The control valve (80) includes an elongated valve element (82) mounted within a recess (98) to provide accurate control of its closure when the pumped hydraulic fluid reaches a predetermined pressure corresponding to a predetermined extent of relative rotation between the two drivetrain members. This elongated valve element (82) is made from a bimetallic strip so as to be temperature compensated and the outlet port (78) is provided with a main passage (94) as well as a bleed passage (96,96') that is cleaned when the valve element is opened. One construction has a valve body defining both the main passages (94) and the bleed passage (96) of the port, while another construction has the valve body defining the main passage (94) and the valve element (82) defining the bleed passage (96'). Another construction has the recess (98) provided with an inclination extending from the port (78) and has a flat elongated valve element (82) that may be either straight or curved.