Patent ID: 8556051

Claim:
A clutch assembly, for use in force transmission devices for motor vehicles, comprising: a housing assembly filled or fillable with fluid, a friction assembly with a first friction surface assembly and a second friction surface assembly, an actuation device for bringing said first and second friction surface assemblies into operative engagement with one another, and, means for generating and routing at least one loop of operating fluid repeatedly flowing through one friction surface bearing element of the friction assembly before said operating fluid exits the clutch assembly; wherein each of said first and second friction surface assemblies comprises at least one friction surface bearing element, and wherein operating fluid flow for cooling the friction assembly can be generated in the housing assembly; wherein the generating and routing means comprises a plurality of cooling channels, said cooling channels defining the routing of a particular loop in flow direction, and whose extension in the desired flow direction from a radially inner portion to a radially outer portion or from a radially outer portion to a radially inner portion, in or at a friction surface bearing element is characterized by a directional component in circumferential direction in rotation direction of the particular friction surface assembly; wherein a portion of said plurality of cooling channels are oriented in one direction and the remainder of said plurality of cooling channels are oriented in an opposite direction in respect to the radial direction; wherein said means for generating and routing at least one loop of operating fluid includes at least one pass-through channel between a first side of said one friction surface bearing element and a second side of said one friction surface bearing element in the axial direction; and wherein said friction surface bearing element is not a clutch piston.