Clutch pack having axial softness introduced in a specific manner

Abstract

A clutch pack for a clutch in a drive train of a motor vehicle includes an axis defining an axial direction and a disk, rotatable about the axis, for contacting a counter-disk to transfer a torque. The disk includes a main body with a contact region for absorbing torque from or transferring a torque to the counter-disk, a toothed region for torque-transmitting contact with a disk carrier, and a region of specific elastic softness in the axial direction disposed between the contact region and the toothed region. In an example embodiment, the region of specific elastic softness in the axial direction is a steel sheet spring region.

Claims

1. A clutch pack for a clutch in a drive train of a motor vehicle, comprising: an axis defining an axial direction; a disk, rotatable about the axis, for contacting a counter-disk to transfer a torque, the disk comprising: a main body comprising a contact region for absorbing torque from or transferring a torque to the counter-disk; a toothed region comprising: a plurality of circumferentially arranged sections, each comprising a plurality of individual teeth, evenly distributed over a circumference, and a plurality of arcuately shaped portions, devoid of teeth, arranged between respective pairs of the plurality of circumferentially arranged sections; and an axially flexible region disposed between the contact region and the toothed region.

2. The clutch pack of claim 1, wherein the axially flexible region is a steel sheet spring region.

3. The clutch pack of claim 2, wherein the steel sheet spring region: is an integral part of the main body; or is attached to the main body as a separate component.

4. The clutch pack of claim 2, wherein the steel sheet spring region is a leaf spring or corrugated spring.

5. The clutch pack of claim 2, further comprising a radial gap formed between the contact region and the steel sheet spring region.

6. The clutch pack of claim 2, wherein the toothed region is formed integrally with the steel sheet spring region.

7. The clutch pack of claim 2, wherein: the toothed region is formed integrally with the steel sheet spring region and separately from the main body; the main body comprises a plurality of radially extending arms; the steel sheet spring region comprises a plurality of mounting regions, each arranged radially outside of a one of the plurality of arcuately shaped portions; and the radially extending arms are fixed to respective ones of the plurality of mounting regions.

8. The clutch pack of claim 7 wherein a quantity of mounting regions in the plurality of mounting regions is equal to a quantity of circumferentially arranged sections in the plurality of circumferentially arranged sections.

9. The clutch pack of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of disks stacked together and arranged such that the rivets on each disk in the plurality of disks are circumferentially aligned with the plurality of circumferentially arranged sections on an axially adjacent disk in the plurality of disks.

10. The clutch pack of claim 7 wherein the radially extending arms are fixed to respective ones of the plurality of mounting regions by rivets.

11. The clutch pack of claim 1, wherein the main body comprises a radially extending arm.

12. The clutch pack of claim 1, wherein the toothed region is radially inside of the contact region.

13. A hybrid module comprising a clutch, wherein the clutch comprises the clutch pack of claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The disclosure is explained in more detail below with the aid of figures in which different embodiments are shown. It can be seen that:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a clutch pack according to the invention in a first embodiment;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a front view of a disk having a toothed region in the first embodiment;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a front view of the disk in a second exemplary embodiment; and

(5) FIG. 4 shows the disk from FIG. 3 in a perspective view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) The figures are only schematic in nature and serve only for understanding the disclosure. The same elements are provided with the same reference symbols.

(7) Features of the individual exemplary embodiments can also be implemented in other exemplary embodiments. So, they are thus interchangeable with one another.

(8) FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a clutch pack 1 according to the disclosure. The clutch pack 1 includes four disks 2, each of which has a main body 3, which is made of steel, for example. Furthermore, the main body 3 has a contact region 4 which, in the assembled state of a clutch, comes into contact with counter-disks (not shown) in order to transmit a torque by frictional engagement.

(9) Radially on the inside of the disks 2 is a toothed region 5, via which the disks 2 can be connected to a disk carrier (not shown) in a torque-transmitting manner. Between the contact region 4 and the toothed region 5, there is a region 6 which introduces an elastic softness in the axial direction. This means that the region 6 has only a low level of rigidity in the axial direction.

(10) In the first exemplary embodiment shown here, the toothed region 5 and the region 6 are formed integrally/in one piece/in one material and separately from the disk 2. More precisely, in the example shown, the toothed region 5 and the region 6 are designed as a corrugated spring 7.

(11) In FIG. 2, it can be clearly seen that the main body 3 has arms 8 extending radially inward, on which the corrugated spring 7 is connected to the disk 2 by means of a rivet 9. Here, the arms 8 are arranged evenly distributed over the circumference. This ensures that the entire corrugated spring 7 is subjected to uniform loading.

(12) Referring back to FIG. 1, it can be clearly seen that corrugated springs 7 adjacent to one another are arranged in such a way that they are each supported in the region of the rivet 9 of the adjacent corrugated spring 7 with a region which is arranged between two rivets 9 or between two arms 8. This means that the rivets 9 or the arms 8 of two adjacent disks 2 are offset from one another in such a way that the rivets 9 or arms 8 of one disk 2 are at half the angle that is located between two rivets 9 or arms 8 of the adjacent disk 2.

(13) The embodiment of the disks 2 shown in FIG. 1 represents inner disks 10. Alternatively, the concept is also conceivable for outer disks, in which the toothed region 5 (and the region 6) are, however, located radially outside the contact region 4 of the disk. In addition, the disks 2 shown in FIG. 1 are designed as friction disks. However, it is also conceivable that the concept is used for steel disks.

(14) FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second exemplary embodiment with the disk 2 designed as an inner disk 10. In the embodiment shown here, the main body 3 of the disk 2 is formed integrally/in one piece/in one material with the region of targeted axial softness 6 and the toothed region 5. In this exemplary embodiment, too, the region 6 is connected to the main body 3 via arms 8, wherein here the main body 3, the arms 8 and the region 6 are, however, formed integrally, i.e., in one piece/from one material. A gap 11 is cut out between the contact region 4 and the region 6 (with the toothed region 5), whereby the region 6 is spaced apart from the contact region 4 when viewed in the radial direction and the arm 8 serves as a kind of lever arm that enables the region 6 (and the toothed region 5) to elastically deform under load due to their low rigidity in the axial direction without the main body 3, in particular the contact region 4, (elastically) deforming. The arms 8 in this embodiment are similar to webs due to the gap 11 formed between two mutually adjacent arms 8 and between the contact region 4 and the region 6, which is why the arms 8 can also be referred to as webs 11.

(15) For the second exemplary embodiment, the region 6 which has the axial softness can also be referred to as a steel sheet spring region 13. However, the corrugated spring 7 used in the first exemplary embodiment also represents a steel sheet spring region, which is why the region 6 can generally be described as a steel sheet spring region 13.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

(16) 1 Clutch pack 2 Disk 3 Main body 4 Contact region 5 Toothed region 6 Region of axial softness 7 Corrugated spring 8 Arm 9 Rivet 10 Inner disk 11 Gap 12 Web 13 Steel sheet spring region