Patent ID: 7143884

Claim:
A bi-directional clutch unit comprising: a housing assembly defining an oil sump; an input shaft rotatably supported by said housing assembly; an output shaft rotatably supported by said housing assembly; a clutch disposed between said input shaft and said output shaft, said clutch being selectively moveable between a disengaged condition where said input shaft is rotatable with respect to said output shaft and an engaged condition where said input shaft is drivingly connected to said output shaft, said clutch comprising a plurality of driving friction disks interleaved with a plurality of driven friction disks; and a centrifugal oil pump powered by said output shaft, said centrifugal oil pump being operable to pump oil from said sump to said plurality of driving and driven friction disks, said plurality of driven friction disks define an internal spline in engagement with an external spline defined by said output shaft, said output shaft further defining an axial fluid passage disposed radially inward from said plurality of external splines, said oil pump being operable to pump oil from said sump to said axial fluid passage, said output shaft further defining a plurality of radial fluid passages in communication with said axial fluid passage, in that once said output shaft is stationary from the disengagement of said clutch, said oil pump only being operable to pump oil from said sump to said axial fluid passage and from said sump to said plurality of radial fluid passages when said clutch unit is reengaged.