Oil pressure circuit in a starting clutch
AssigneeNSK-Warner K.K.
InventorYasuhito Koike
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In order to accurately control the operation between the fastening and liberation of a clutch piston, a cooling oil path and a drain oil path are provided independently of a clutch liberating oil path and a clutch fastening oil path, respectively.
Claims33
An oil pressure circuit in a starting clutch for a power transmission mechanism, said starting clutch having an input shaft, a shaft member disposed radially outwardly of said input shaft, a clutch case disposed radially outwardly of said shaft member and containing a clutch portion., a clutch piston and an annular member therein, and a housing containing said clutch case therein, said oil pressure circuit comprising:
- a cooling oil path disposed between a first inner hole, provided axially in said input shaft, and said clutch portion, said cooling oil path supplying oil for cooling a friction surface of said clutch portion;
- a clutch liberating oil path defined from a second inner hole, provided radially outwardly of said first inner hole and axially in said input shaft, and between said clutch piston and said annular member, said clutch liberating oil path supplying oil to press said clutch piston to liberate said clutch portion;
- a clutch fastening oil path defined from a gap of said input shaft and said shaft member, and between said clutch case and said clutch piston, said clutch fastening oil path supplying oil to press said clutch piston to fasten said clutch portion;
- and
- a drain oil path defined between said shaft member and said housing and between said clutch case and said housing, said drain oil path discharging the cooling oil which has cooled said friction surface,
- wherein said cooling oil path and said drain oil path are provided independently of said clutch liberating oil path and said clutch fastening oil path, respectively.
A starting clutch for a power transmission mechanism, comprising an input shaft, a shaft member disposed radially outwardly of said input shaft, a clutch case disposed radially outwardly of said shaft member and containing a clutch portion, a clutch piston and an annular member therein, and a housing containing sail clutch case therein, said input shaft and said shaft member bounding a plurality of passages displaced from each other radially of said starting clutch and extending axially of said starting clutch, said starting clutch having an oil pressure circuit including:
- a cooling oil path communicating between a first of said passages and said clutch portion to supply oil for cooling a friction surface of said clutch portion;
- a clutch liberating oil path communicating between a second of said passages and a space between said clutch piston and said annular member to supply oil to press said clutch piston to liberate said clutch portion;
- a clutch fastening oil path communicating between a third of said passages and a space between said clutch case and said clutch piston to supply oil to press said clutch piston to fasten said clutch portion;
- and
- a drain oil path communicating between said clutch portion and a space between said clutch case and said housing to discharge oil from said cooling oil path which has cooled said friction surface,
- wherein said cooling oil path and said drain oil path are provided independently of said clutch liberating oil path and said clutch fastening oil path, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.