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US 2016/0123408 A1Published application
Viscous clutch with high-speed reservoir and bimetal strip member
AssigneeBorgWarner Inc.
InventorsGerard M. Light, Darin Gwin, Mike Tuttle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A viscous fan drive including a fluid valve activated by a bimetal strip member, and including a clutch disk member and fluid reservoir rotatable at input speed. The fluid reservoir is contained in a reservoir chamber member positioned on the clutch disk member. The bimetal strip member controls the operation of a valve member which in turn controls the passage of fluid into the working chamber for operation of a cooling fan.
Claims16
A viscous clutch drive comprising:
- a housing;
- a rotatable clutch disk member positioned in said housing, said clutch disk member rotatable at input speed;
- a working chamber comprising said housing and said clutch disk member;
- a fluid reservoir positioned on said clutch disk member and rotatable therewith;
- a valve member position in said fluid reservoir for selectively allowing viscous fluid to pass from said fluid reservoir to said working chamber;
- and
- a bimetal strip member connected to said valve member;
- wherein when said bimetal strip member is heated, it causes said valve member to allow passage of viscous fluid to said working chamber.
5 more elements
A viscous clutch fan drive comprising:
- a housing;
- a fan member attached to said housing and axially moveable therewith;
- a shaft member operably connected to said housing by a bearing member and connected to a pulley member for rotating at input speed;
- a clutch disk member positioned in said housing and fixedly connected to said shaft member, wherein said clutch disk member is axially moveable at input speed;
- a fluid chamber member in said housing forming a fluid reservoir, said fluid chamber member fixedly attached to said clutch disk member;
- a working chamber comprising at least one shearing member on said housing and at least one mating shearing member on said clutch disk member;
- a scavenge passageway in said housing for returning fluid from said working chamber to said fluid reservoir;
- an axially moveable valve member positioned in said fluid reservoir, said axially moveable valve member being axially moveable by said shaft member;
- a bimetal strip member positioned externally to said housing and connected internally to said valve member;
- wherein thermal deformation of said bimetal strip member axially moves said valve member to regulate passage of fluid from said fluid reservoir to said working chamber.
7 more elements
A viscous clutch fan drive comprising:
- a housing, said housing having a body member and a cover member;
- a fan member attached to said housing and rotatable therewith;
- a fluid working chamber in said housing for activating rotation of said fan member;
- a shaft member positioned at least partially in said housing and connected to a pulley member for rotation at input speed
- a clutch disk member positioned in said housing and fixedly connected to said shaft member, wherein said clutch disk member is rotatable at input speed;
- said working chamber comprising at least one shearing member on said housing and at least one shearing member on said clutch disk member;
- a fluid reservoir in said housing and connected to said clutch disk member and rotatable therewith;
- a scavenge passageway in said housing for passing fluid from said working chamber to said fluid reservoir;
- an axially moveable valve member positioned in said fluid reservoir for selectively allowing fluid to pass from said fluid reservoir to said working chamber;
- a bimetal strip member positioned externally to said housing and connected internally to said valve member;
- wherein thermal bending of said bimetal strip member causes said valve member to move axially and regulate the flow of fluid from said fluid reservoir to said working chamber.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.