Hydrokinetic torque coupling device with turbine-piston lock-up clutch and epicyclic 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 hub having radially outer gear teeth, a rotatable damper hub having radially inner gear teeth, 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 planet gear supported by the carrier and rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the planet gear;
• and
• combining the torque converter with a casing shell, the output hub, the damper hub and the carrier with the planet gear 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 damper hub is drivenly connected to the turbine-piston, and (iv) the planet gear is positioned to transmit torque from the damper hub to the output hub 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 hub having radially outer gear teeth, a rotatable damper hub having radially inner gear teeth, a carrier configured to connect to a stator shaft to prevent rotation of the carrier about the rotational axis of the casing, and a planet gear supported by the carrier and rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the planet gear, the planet gear meshing with the inner gear teeth of the damper hub and the outer gear teeth of the output hub, 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.