Patent ID: 7083381
Filing Date: 2006-08-01
Classification: F16H

Abstract:
1. A stator assembly for use in a hydrokinetic torque converter, comprising an impeller and a turbine, the stator assembly having a plurality of stator blades establishing a torus fluid flow path from a flow exit section of the turbine to a flow entrance section of the impeller; each stator blade having a cross-sectional profile with a high pressure side and a low pressure side; each blade profile of the plurality of stator blades having first, second, and third segments; the first segment defining in part a flow entrance region of the stator assembly; the second segment defining in part an intermediate flow region of the stator assembly; and the third segment defining in part a flow exit region of the stator assembly; the stator blade having a camberline with a non-dimensional length of unity extending from a leading edge point to a trailing edge point; a non-dimensional length of the first segment measured along the camberline from the leading edge point being approximately 0.15–0.25 and the starting point of the third segment measured along the camberline being a non-dimensional distance of approximately 0.85–0.95 from the leading edge point; and blade thickness measured on a line normal to the camberline being a maximum at an interface of the first and second segments and being a minimum at the trailing edge point; the blade profile at the first segment having surfaces that are semi-elliptic, the surfaces being defined by a point distribution in which the points are determined by the functional relationship: S being the curvilinear coordinate of a point on the camberline, S 1 being the non-dimensional length of the first segment along the camberline and is approximately 0.15–0.25, YY being a circumferential coordinate of a point on the surface of the first segment measured in an XY reference plane relative to a point on the camberline, and where: T 1 is the profile thickness at the point on the camberline in a direction normal to the camberline and is approximately 3 mm–6 mm, and α 1 is the blade angle at a point on the camberline between the circumferential coordinate and a tangent to the point on the camberline.