Patent ID: 6474458
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: F16D

Abstract:
A viscous fluid coupling connected to an engine, comprising:a drive shaft connected to a rotation shaft of the engine; a housing rotatably supported by said drive shaft; an operation plate set in said housing and dividing a space defined within said housing into a viscous fluid reservoir and an operation chamber, said operation plate comprising a communication hole communicating the reservoir and the operation chamber; a rotor disposed in the operation chamber and fixed to said drive shaft; a valve mechanism opening and closing the communication hole according to a temperature of said housing to control a flow rate of the viscous fluid from the reservoir to the operation chamber; and a torque transmitting section comprising: a plurality of first circumferential projections concentrically formed on a portion of said housing, and a plurality of second circumferential projections concentrically formed on a portion of said rotor, the first circumferential projections being interleaved with the second circumferential projections and adapted to be fluidly coupled with the second circumferential projections through the viscous fluid from the viscous fluid reservoir, and wherein: axial dimensions of all of the first circumferential projections are different from axial dimensions of all of the second circumferential projections.