Patent ID: 7168545

Claim:
A coupling: a first coupling element and a second coupling element arranged so as to be rotatable relative to one another around an axis of rotation; a friction assembly being switchable to a torque transmitting position to transmit torque from one of said first and second coupling elements to the other coupling elements; an actuating element axially displaceable relative to the first coupling element between a switched-on position and a switched-off position, in the switched-on position, the friction assembly is loaded to assume the torque transmitting position; a power drive for actively displacing the actuating element, said power drive actively loads the actuating element into the switched-on position against an abutment mechanism, said abutment mechanism delimits the displacement path of the actuating element and maintains said actuating element in the switched-on position; a first spring mechanism which, in the switched-on position of the actuating element, loads the friction assembly with force to enable the friction assembly to assume the torque transmitting position and said first spring mechanism is pretensioned by the actuating element by a pretensioned path defined by the switched-on position of the actuating element.