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:
May. 02, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 04, 1998
Manfred Hofer, Gais, IT;
Rudolf Morawetz, Bruneck, IT;
GKN ViscoDrive GmbH, Lohmar, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates to a viscous coupling such as it used in the driveline of a motor vehicle, wherein, due to a relative rotational movement between the inner plates 80 and the outer plates 90, the viscous medium is made to flow towards the axis of rotation X--X of the viscous coupling. To achieve this objective, the plates 80, 90 are provided with closed apertures 81, 91, whose delimiting faces 82, 83, 92, 93 are inclined relative to an imaginary radius R, so that, in the case of a rotational movement, the delimiting faces press the viscous medium inwardly, independently of the direction of rotation. This counter-acts a separation of viscous medium and air often caused by centrifugal forces at high speeds. As a result, the plates 80, 90 are moistened uniformly, which, in turn, reduces the amount of wear and increases the service life of the viscous coupling.