ROTARY DAMPER DEVICE

Abstract

A rotary damper device includes a drive component and a rotary damper upstream of the drive component. The drive component has an input gear with an external toothing and axially open cut-outs. The rotary damper has an annular carrier, a spring element arranged in the annular carrier, an output gear with an internal toothing meshed with the external toothing, and a clamping ring with a plurality of axially extending fingers engaged in the axially open cut-outs to clamp the output gear against the input gear.

Claims

1. A rotary damper device, comprising a rotary damper having an internally toothed output gear; and an externally toothed input gear of a drive component, which drive component is downstream of the rotary damper, wherein the output gear meshes with the input gear; wherein the rotary damper has a plurality of spring elements arranged on an annular carrier, wherein the rotary damper comprises a clamping ring, which has a plurality of axially extending fingers, which engage in axially open cut-outs in the input gear and thus clamp the input gear against the output gear.

2. The rotary damper device according to claim 1, wherein the clamping ring has a radially outwardly extending annular flange via which it is fastened to the carrier by means of fastening elements.

3. The rotary damper device according to claim 2, wherein the annular flange is fixed to the carrier via a plurality of fastening elements, in particular rivet or screw connections, via which the carrier is connected to the output gear.

4. The rotary damper device according to claim 1, wherein the fingers and the cut-outs have contact surfaces directed in the circumferential direction, which contact one another to produce a preload.

5. The rotary damper device according to claim 4, wherein the contact surfaces of the fingers or the contact surfaces of the cut-outs have inclined surfaces directed in the circumferential direction.

6. The rotary damper device according to claim 1, wherein the clamping ring is made of spring steel or tempered steel.

7. The rotary damper device according to claim 1, wherein the fingers or the cut-outs are provided at least in sections with a plastic covering.

8. The rotary damper device according to claim 7, wherein the plastic covering is applied to the fingers or the cut-outs as a covering, or the plastic covering is provided on the cut-outs in the form of a pressed-on plastic ring which has sections lining the cut-outs.

9. A rotary damper device, comprising: a drive component comprising: an input gear comprising: an external toothing; and axially open cut-outs; and a rotary damper upstream of the drive component, the rotary damper comprising: an annular carrier; a spring element arranged in the annular carrier; an output gear comprising an internal toothing meshed with the external toothing; and a clamping ring comprising a plurality of axially extending fingers engaged in the axially open cut-outs to clamp the output gear against the input gear.

10. The rotary damper device of claim 9 further comprising fastening elements, wherein: the clamping ring further comprises an annular flange extending radially outwardly; and the annular flange is fastened to the annular carrier by the fastening elements.

11. The rotary damper device of claim 10, wherein the annular carrier is fastened to the output gear by the fastening elements.

12. The rotary damper device of claim 9, wherein: the axially extending fingers comprise first contact surfaces directed in a circumferential direction; and the axially open cut-outs comprise second contact surfaces directed in the circumferential direction that contact the first contact surfaces to produce a preload that clamps the output gear against the input gear.

13. The rotary damper device of claim 12, wherein: the first contact surfaces comprise first inclined surfaces directed in the circumferential direction; or the second contact surfaces comprise second inclined surfaces directed in the circumferential direction.

14. The rotary damper device of claim 9 wherein the clamping ring is made of spring steel or tempered steel.

15. The rotary damper device of claim 9 further comprising a plastic covering that covers a section of the axially extending fingers or the axially open cut-outs.

16. The rotary damper device of claim 15, wherein the plastic covering is applied to the axially extending fingers or the axially open cut-outs as a covering; or the plastic covering is a pressed-on plastic ring that lines the axially open cut-outs.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The disclosure is explained below on the basis of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings. The drawings are schematic representations, wherein:

[0018] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram, in section, of a rotary damper device according to the disclosure, in a partial view,

[0019] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a clamping ring integrated into the rotary damper,

[0020] FIG. 3 shows a partial view of the rotary damper device from FIG. 1 during the joining of the output gear to the input gear, showing the resulting engagement of the fingers in the cut-outs,

[0021] FIG. 4 shows the arrangement from FIG. 3 in the assembled position, and

[0022] FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the arrangement from FIG. 3 with a drive gear coated on the front side.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a rotary damper device 1 according to the disclosure, including a rotary damper 2 having a primary side 3, which can also be referred to as the primary mass, to which the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine (not shown in detail) is connected, via which crankshaft the torque is introduced.

[0024] Also provided are a plurality of spring elements 5 accommodated in a suitable spring channel 4 in the form of arc springs, which extend a defined angular increment around the circumference of the spring channel 4. These spring elements 5 or arc springs are supported at one end on the primary side 3, i.e., the primary mass, and at the other end, they are coupled to the secondary side 6 or secondary mass. This secondary side 6 comprises, in a manner known per se, a carrier 7 to which the spring elements 5 are connected or which is coupled to them. Furthermore, an output gear 8 is fastened to the carrier 7 via suitable riveted connections 9, wherein this output gear 8 has an internal toothing 10 which meshes with external toothing 11 of a drive gear 12, here, for example, a transmission input shaft. The internal and external toothings 10, 11 are axial teeth that allow axial insertion into each other. The drive gear 12 is mounted on a roller bearing 13 and extends to the right in the direction of the transmission or is coupled thereto. In this area there is also a corresponding radial extension, on which an external toothing (not shown in more detail) is arranged, with which an electric machine (not shown in more detail) is directly coupled to its output, so that any torque supplied by the electric machine can be provided directly to the drive gear 12; for example, if a torque increase is desired.

[0025] As described above, the internal toothing 10 and the external toothing 11 mesh, which means that their flanks rest against one another when torque is transmitted. The torque introduced via the crankshaft into the primary side 3 is dampened via the spring elements 5, provided from the primary side 3 to the secondary side 6 and transmitted via the drive gear 12 to the downstream drive component, i.e., here the transmission input shaft. This means that due to the coupling via the spring elements 5, the secondary side 6 can be rotated relative to the primary side 3 in the circumferential direction. This in turn means that there is no permanent flank contact within the meshing inner and outer toothings 10, 11, but there can be operating states in which the flanks separate from one another or there is a flank change, which can lead to noise being generated.

[0026] In order to avoid or suppress noise generation, a clamping ring 14 is provided according to the disclosure, which is integrated into the rotary damper 2. The clamping ring 14, which is made of spring steel or of a tempered steel, for example, depending on the desired bias to be generated via it, has a radially extending annular flange 15 via which it is fastened to the carrier 7, also via the riveted joints 9, like the output gear 8. A plurality of individual fingers 17 extend axially from the annular flange 15 in the direction of the end face 18 of the drive gear 12. These fingers 17 are assigned cut-outs 19 formed in the end face 18 of the drive gear 12, which extend axially and into which the fingers 17 engage. The arrangement is such that when the fingers 17 are inserted or in the assembly position within the cut-outs 19, the fingers 17 are slightly bent, so that a torsional bias is generated in the circumferential direction, via which the flanks of the external toothing 11 are biased against the flanks of the internal toothing 10 in the circumferential direction.

[0027] The clamping ring 14 is shown in detail in perspective in FIG. 2. In the example shown, four fingers 17 are connected to the annular flange 15, which are designed in one piece with the annular flange and are bent accordingly, such that they extend axially and nevertheless a certain deformation with bending in the circumferential direction is possible.

[0028] FIG. 3 shows the situation when the internal toothing 10 is pushed onto the external toothing 11. The plane of the fingers 17 and the cut-outs 19 is shown here. As can be seen, the fingers 17 are slightly offset from the center of the cut-outs 19 in the circumferential direction. The fingers 17 have contact surfaces 20 which have corresponding inclined surfaces 21. The cut-outs 19 also have contact surfaces 22, which also have inclined surfaces 23 in the example shown. The angle that the inclined surfaces 21 and 23 assume relative to the longitudinal axis is shown in FIG. 4 with the angle α. If the fingers 17 are now inserted into the cut-outs 19, as shown by the arrow P1 in FIG. 2, the inclined surfaces 21 slide on the inclined surfaces 23, a slight deformation or bending of the elongated, axially extending fingers 17 occurs, as shown in FIG. 3, and thus a bias is produced in the circumferential direction, directed in the direction of the arrow P2, i.e., the two inclined surfaces 21 and 23 are tensioned against each other in the circumferential direction. Due to this bias, the circumferential backlash between the internal and external toothings 10, 11 is now bridged and thus a permanent flank contact is realized, i.e., via the bias, it is prevented that the flanks lift off from each other too frequently, although this is of course not impossible in certain operating conditions. At the same time, noise can be reduced due to the almost permanent flank contact provided by the bias.

[0029] In certain operating states, an edge change can nevertheless occur. Therefore, the fingers or the flanks of the cut-out must be protected against wear. An example embodiment, see FIG. 5, provides for a plastic covering 24 to be applied to the end face of the drive gear 12 in the example shown, wherein this plastic covering 24 is, for example, a pressed-on or glued-on plastic ring 25 having corresponding sections 26 which completely line the cut-outs 19 here. This plastic covering 24 serves as protection against wear with regard to the finger grip. As an alternative to the illustrated design or arrangement of the plastic covering 24 on the drive gear 12, it is also conceivable to provide the respective fingers 17 with a corresponding plastic covering.

[0030] This means that the integration of the clamping ring 14 according to the disclosure in connection with the mechanical engagement of the fingers 17 in the cut-outs 19 on the drive gear results in a permanent bias on the meshing of the internal and external toothing 10, 11, which leads to a noise reduction.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0031] 1 Rotary damper device

[0032] 2 Rotary damper

[0033] 3 Primary side

[0034] 4 Spring channel

[0035] 5 Spring element

[0036] 6 Secondary side

[0037] 7 Carrier

[0038] 8 Output gear

[0039] 9 Rivet connection

[0040] 10 Inner toothing

[0041] 11 Outer toothing

[0042] 12 Drive gear

[0043] 13 Rolling bearing

[0044] 14 Clamping ring

[0045] 15 Annular flange

[0046] 17 Finger

[0047] 18 End face

[0048] 19 Cut-out

[0049] 20 Contact surface

[0050] 21 Inclined surface

[0051] 22 Contact surface

[0052] 23 Inclined surface

[0053] 24 Plastic covering

[0054] 25 Plastic ring

[0055] 26 Section lining cut-out

[0056] P1, P2 Arrow