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US 5,853,343 AGranted
Dual mode continually variable transmission
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsUlrich Eggert, Phillip Koneda, Thomas Theodore Tibbles
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A continually variable transmission includes a torque converter for producing a hydrokinetic connection between a power source and input shaft, a low gear drive mechanism, a belt drive mechanism arranged in parallel with the low gear mechanism between the input shaft and an intermediate shaft, a forward-reverse gearset, a forward clutch, a reverse brake for controlling operation of the gearset in the direction of its output, and a mode clutch for alternately selecting the torque path between the input shaft and intermediate shaft.
Claims28
A continually variable transmission for a motor vehicle driven by a power source, comprising:
- an input shaft;
- an output shaft;
- a torque converter for producing a hydrodynamic connection between the power source and input shaft;
- a first drive mechanism having a first input and a first output, for producing a fixed ratio of the speed of said first input to the speed of said first output;
- a second drive mechanism arranged in parallel with the first drive mechanism, having a second input and second output, for producing a stepless, continually variable range of ratios of the speed of said second input to the speed of said second output, the lowest ratio produced by the second drive mechanism being higher than the fixed speed ratio produced by the first drive mechanism;
- a mode clutch for alternately driveably connecting and releasing a pair of members selected from either a first group consisting of the first input and second input or a second group consisting of the first output and second output;
- and
- means for driving the output shaft in the same direction as the input shaft and for reversing the direction of rotation of the output shaft relative to the direction of rotation of the input shaft.
5 more elements
A continually variable transmission for a motor vehicle driven by a power source, comprising:
- an input shaft;
- an output shaft;
- a torque converter for producing a hydrodynamic connection between the power source and input shaft;
- a first shaft driveably connected to the input shaft;
- a second shaft concentric with the first shaft;
- a third shaft disposed parallel to the first shaft and second shaft, and driveably connected to the first output and second output;
- a first drive mechanism driveably connected to the first shaft and third shaft, for producing a fixed ratio of the speed of said first shaft to the speed of said third shaft;
- a second drive mechanism driveably connected to the second shaft and third shaft, arranged in parallel with the first drive mechanism, for producing a stepless, continually variable range of ratios of the speed of said second shaft to the speed of said third shaft, the lowest speed ratio produced by the second drive mechanism being higher than said fixed speed ratio produced by the first drive mechanism;
- a mode clutch for alternately connecting the first shaft and second shaft mutually and for releasing the first shaft and second shaft;
- means for driving the output shaft in the same direction as the input shaft and for reversing the direction of rotation of the output shaft relative to the direction of rotation of the input shaft.
7 more elements
A continually variable transmission for a motor vehicle driven by a power source, comprising:
- an input shaft;
- an output shaft;
- a torque converter for producing a hydrodynamic connection between the power source and input shaft;
- a first shaft driveably connected to the output shaft;
- a second shaft concentric with the first shaft;
- a third shaft disposed parallel to the first shaft and second shaft;
- a first drive mechanism driveably connected to the first shaft and third shaft, for producing a fixed ratio of the speed of said third shaft to the speed of said first shaft;
- a second drive mechanism arranged in parallel with the first drive mechanism driveably connected to the second shaft and third shaft, for producing a stepless, continually variable range of ratios of the speed of said third shaft to the speed of said second shaft, the lowest speed ratio produced by the second drive mechanism being higher than said fixed speed ratio produced by the first drive mechanism;
- a mode clutch for alternately connecting the first shaft and second shaft mutually and for releasing the first shaft and second shaft;
- and
- means for driving the output shaft in the same direction as the input shaft and for reversing the direction of rotation of the output shaft relative to the direction of rotation of the input shaft.
8 more elements
A continually variable transmission for a motor vehicle driven by a power source, comprising:
- an input shaft;
- an output shaft;
- a torque converter for producing a hydrodynamic connection between the power source and input shaft;
- a first drive mechanism having a first input and a first output, for producing a forward fixed ratio of the speed of said first input to the speed of said first output;
- a second drive mechanism arranged in parallel with the first drive mechanism, having a second input and second output, for producing a stepless, continually variable range of forward ratios of the speed of said second input to the speed of said second output, the lowest ratio produced by the second drive mechanism being higher than the fixed speed ratio produced by the first drive mechanism;
- a mode clutch for alternately driveably connecting and releasing a pair of members selected from either a first group consisting of the first input or second input and a second group consisting of the first output and second output;
- and
- means for driving the output shaft in the same direction as the input shaft and for reversing the direction of rotation of the output shaft relative to the direction of rotation of the input shaft.
5 more elements
A continually variable transmission for a motor vehicle driven by a power source, comprising:
- an input shaft;
- an output shaft;
- a torque converter for producing a hydrodynamic connection between the power source and input shaft;
- a first drive mechanism having a first input and a first output, for producing a forward fixed ratio of the speed of said first input to the speed of said first output;
- a second drive mechanism arranged in parallel with the first drive mechanism, having a second input and second output, for producing a stepless, continually variable range of forward ratios of the speed of said second input to the speed of said second output, the lowest ratio produced by the second drive mechanism being higher than the fixed speed ratio produced by the first drive mechanism;
- a mode clutch for alternately driveably connecting and releasing a first pair of members selected from either a first group consisting of the first input or second input and a second group consisting of the first output and second output, and
- means for driving the output shaft in the same direction as the input shaft and for reversing the direction of rotation of the output shaft relative to the direction of rotation of the input shaft.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.