Hydrokinetic torque coupling device with turbine-piston lock-up clutch and bevel gearing

A method of assembling a hydrokinetic torque coupling device for coupling a driving shaft and a driven shaft together, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a torque converter coaxially aligned with and rotatable about a rotational axis, the torque converter comprising an impeller, a turbine-piston, and a stator disposed between the impeller and the turbine-piston, the impeller comprising an impeller shell and a plurality of impeller blades, the turbine-piston comprising a turbine-piston shell, a plurality of turbine blades, and an axially movable turbine-piston flange;
• providing an output member including an output bevel gear, a rotatable input bevel gear, a carrier configured to connect to a stator shaft to prevent rotation of the carrier about the rotational axis of the torque converter, and a bevel pinion supported the carrier and rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the bevel pinion;
• and
• combining the torque converter with a casing shell, the output member, the input bevel gear and the carrier with the bevel pinion to provide a structure in which (i) the casing shell and the impeller shell collectively establish a casing of the hydrokinetic torque coupling device, (ii) the turbine-piston shell is positioned in the casing to partition an interior volume of the casing into a first chamber between the impeller shell and the turbine-piston shell, and a second chamber between the turbine-piston shell and the casing shell, (iii) the input bevel gear is drivenly connected to the turbine-piston, and (iv) the bevel pinion is positioned to transmit torque from the input bevel gear to the output member when the hydrokinetic torque device is in a lockup mode.

A method of operating a hydrokinetic torque coupling device comprising a casing that is rotatable about a rotational axis and comprises a casing shell and an impeller shell disposed axially opposite to and fixedly connected to the casing shell, an impeller comprising the impeller shell and a piston engagement portion having a first engagement surface, a turbine-piston comprising a turbine-piston shell including a turbine-piston flange with a second engagement surface, a stator situated between the impeller and the turbine-piston, an output member including an output bevel gear, a rotatable input bevel gear, a carrier configured to connect to a stator shaft to prevent rotation of the carrier about the rotational axis of the casing, and a bevel pinion supported by the carrier and rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the bevel pinion, the bevel pinion meshing with gear teeth of the input bevel gear and gear teeth of the output bevel gear of the output member;

• the method comprising:
• axially displacing the turbine-piston relative to the casing to move the second engagement surface toward and away from the first engagement surface of the piston engagement portion to position the hydrokinetic torque coupling device respectively into and out of a lockup mode in which the first and second engagement surfaces are frictionally, non-rotatably coupled to one another to mechanically lock the turbine-piston to the piston engagement portion.