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US 11,649,893 B1Granted
Direct drive unit for a transmission system
AssigneeDana Belgium N.V.
InventorsKurt Cattoor, Filip D. Schacht, Joachim Van Dingenen, Tommy Van Acker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A torque convertor and direct drive unit arrangement and operating methods are provided herein. In one example, a prime mover may be configured to be coupled to a transmission via one of a torque convertor and a direct drive unit, the direct drive unit including a higher range clutch and a lower range clutch.
Claims20
A method for a vehicle, comprising:
- during a first condition, connecting an engine to a transmission via a torque converter;
- and
- during a second condition, decoupling the torque converter and connecting the engine to the transmission via a direct drive unit including a higher range clutch and a lower range clutch, wherein the first condition includes a vehicle start and a higher than threshold desire for tractive effort, and wherein the second condition includes a speed variance between two opposing rotational interfaces of the torque converter being smaller than a threshold value, the two opposing rotational interfaces coupled to the engine and the transmission, respectively.
A method for a vehicle, comprising:
- during a first condition, connecting an engine to a transmission via a torque converter;
- and
- during a second condition, decoupling the torque converter and connecting the engine to the transmission via a direct drive unit including a higher range clutch and a lower range clutch, wherein during the second condition, one of the higher range clutch and the lower range clutch is connected to an input shaft of the transmission, wherein the higher range clutch is connected to the input shaft during a higher than threshold vehicle speed condition and the lower range clutch is connected to the input shaft during a lower than threshold vehicle speed condition.
A method for a vehicle, comprising:
- during a first condition, connecting an engine to a transmission via a torque converter;
- and
- during a second condition, decoupling the torque converter and connecting the engine to the transmission via a direct drive unit including a higher range clutch and a lower range clutch, wherein the transmission includes a first set of directional clutches and a second set of range clutches positioned downstream of the first set of directional clutches.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.