Vehicle power transmission mechanism

Abstract

A vehicle power transmission mechanism which is disposed between a vehicle engine and a transmission. The vehicle power transmission mechanism includes a hydraulic coupling that inputs a power from an engine and a planetary gear unit that decreases the output rotating speed of the hydraulic coupling and transmits the rotating speed to the transmission. The planetary gear unit includes a ring gear coupled to an output of the hydraulic coupling, a plurality of planetary gears which are meshed with the ring gear, a carrier that supports the plurality of planetary gears and are coupled to a member at a side of the transmission, and a sun gear which is meshed with the plurality of planetary gears. A brake unit selectively brakes the rotation of the sun gear. A direct coupled clutch unit is configured to selectively directly transmit power from the engine to the carrier of the planetary gear unit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.