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:
Dec. 19, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1999
Hiroyasu Sakamoto, Chiryu, JP;
Junichi Ohguchi, Toyoake, JP;
Yuuichi Aoki, Chita-gun, JP;
Toshihiro Hayashi, Chiryu, JP;
Yasuo Tabuchi, Toyoake, JP;
Denso Corporation, Kariya, JP;
Abstract
An electromagnetic clutch has an armature, a rotor housing accommodating a stator housing and an exciting coil having negative and positive terminals. A passage is formed to extend from an outer peripheral surface of the stator housing to the negative terminal and the positive terminal. The passage is filled with a conductive metal member having a melting point lower than that of the stator housing between the outer surface of the stator housing and the negative terminal. When frictional heat generated between the armature and the rotor housing exceeds a preset value, the metal member melts and flows to the positive terminal, thereby short-circuiting the coil. As a result, a fuse between a power source and the clutch is fused, thereby turning off the clutch. Therefore, the clutch does not need to have a thermal fuse therein and is reduced in size without increasing power consumption.