Friction plate for wet clutch

Details Friction plate for wet clutch Friction plate for wet clutch

2000-04-24

2001-09-25

Lorence, Richard M. (Department: 3681)

192 clutches and power-stop control

Elements

Engaging surfaces

C192S113360

Reexamination Certificate

active

06293382

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a friction plate for a wet clutch, and particularly, to an improvement in a friction plate for a wet clutch, which is comprised of a core plate, and friction members bonded to opposite sides of the core plate, the friction members being provided with a plurality of first oil grooves permitting the communication between inner and outer circumferential edges of the friction member, and a plurality of second oil grooves each permitting the communications between intermediate portions of adjacent first oil grooves, each of the first oil grooves being disposed in such a manner that it is inclined in a circumferential direction of the core plate at a given angle with respect to a line of radius passing through a radially inner end of the first oil groove.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a friction plate for a wet clutch is already known, as disclosed, f or example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-211729, and an essential portion of such friction plate is shown in FIG.
8
. In
FIG. 8
, reference numeral
020
is a plate core;
021
is a friction member;
022
is a first oil groove; and
023
is a second groove.
In use of such friction plate for the wet clutch, when the clutch is turned off, cooling oil, during passing through the first oil groove, is diverted into the second oil groove, thereby cooling all the friction members, and preventing the dragging that may cause due to the viscosity of the oil.
However, the second oil grooves
023
in the conventional friction plate are arranged on the same circumference concentric with the core plate
020
, as shown in FIG.
8
. Therefore, when the friction plate and its adjacent clutch plate are rotated relative to each other by turning off the clutch, a pumping effect for positively feeding the oil in a radial direction is not generated in the second oil grooves
023
, and it is difficult to permit a large amount of oil to be passed, particularly, through the second oil grooves.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a friction plate of the above-described type for a wet clutch, which is designed so that when the friction plate and its adjacent clutch plate are rotated relative to each other by turning off the clutch, a pumping effect is generated even in second oil grooves, whereby a large amount of oil can be passed through the second oil grooves, leading to a high cooling property and a low dragging torque.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a friction plate for a wet clutch, comprising a core plate, and friction members bonded to opposite sides of the core plate, the friction members being provided with a plurality of first Oil grooves each permitting the communication between inner and outer circumferential edges of the friction member, and a plurality of second oil grooves each permitting the communication between intermediate portions of the adjacent first oil grooves, the first oil grooves being disposed in such a manner that they are inclined at a given angle in a circumferential direction of the core plate with respect to a line of radius passing through a radially inner end of each first oil groove, wherein the second oil grooves are disposed in such a manner that they are inclined in the same direction as the first oil grooves at an acute angle larger than the given angle with respect to a line of radius passing through a radially inner end of each second oil groove.
With the above arrangement, when the clutch is turned off, both of the first and second oil grooves in the friction member exhibit a screw pumping effect by the relative rotation of the friction plate and its adjacent clutch plate, thereby scraping the oil off between the friction plate and the clutch plate to transfer the oil to the inner or outer circumference side of the friction plate. Thus, a large amount of oil supplied to the clutch is permitted to flow through the first and second oil grooves. As a result, the dragging torque due to the viscosity of oil between the friction plate and the clutch plate is decreased remarkably, and the entire friction member can be cooled effectively.
According to the present invention, in addition to the above feature, the first oil grooves are formed rectilinearly from an inner circumferential edge to an outer circumferential edge of the friction member.
With this feature, the first oil grooves extending rectilinearly from the inner circumferential edge to the outer circumferential edge of the friction member are small in flow path resistance, and a pumping effect of the second oil grooves is applied to the first oil grooves. Thus, the flow rate of the oil passed through the first oil grooves can be increased, thereby further decreasing the dragging torque and cooling the friction member.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5101953 (1992-04-01), Payvar
patent: 5176236 (1993-01-01), Ghidorzi et al.
patent: 5682971 (1997-11-01), Takakura et al.
patent: 4-211729 (1992-08-01), None
patent: 11-336805 (1999-12-01), None

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