US 2016/0084342 A1 · ARC COIL SPRING CONFIGURATION

Abstract

Improved performance of arc coil springs by stress reduction when they are bottomed out is achieved by forming the coil spring wire in a substantially trapezoidal or other shape such that when bottomed, the side surfaces of the coil abut and carry the bottoming load which is distributed over a comparatively large surface area. The angles of the sidewalls of the substantially trapezoidal cross section wire are preferably coincident with lines of radius when the spring is installed in an arc in a clutch, damper or flywheel. The radius of the outer surface of the arc coil spring wire is matched to the radius of the inner surface of the guide or housing so that the area of contact is large, thereby distributing the outwardly directed spring force over a large area, reducing the force per unit area and improving lubrication retention on the contacting surfaces.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An arc spring and housing for a rotating damper comprising, in combination,

a housing having a region for receiving an arc spring, said region having an outer, curved, spring engaged surface defining a radius from a center of rotation of said housing and a stop at each end of said spring receiving region, and
an arc spring disposed in said region between said stops, said arc spring defining a plurality of coils, said coils fabricated of spring wire having sidewalls configured to contact one another along a line when fully compressed and an outer surface of said spring wire having a radius of curvature substantially equal to said radius of said curved, spring engaged surface of said housing
wherein said sidewalls of said spring wire are one of oblique and complementarily curved.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Arc coil spring configuration

Life of this patent

Arc coil spring configuration

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23