Patent ID: 7717243

Claim:
A torque converter, comprising: a fluid coupling, including, i) an impeller, configured for rotation about an axis and having a fluid-directing surface; and ii) a turbine, configured for rotation about the axis and having a fluid-receiving surface facing the fluid-directing surface of the impeller, the turbine rotating about the axis independently of the impeller; a viscous coupling including a plurality of closely-spaced surfaces, wherein facing ones of the closely-spaced surfaces are alternately splined to rotate with the impeller or the turbine, and wherein the closely-spaced surfaces have an average spacing that causes ones of the surfaces rotating with the impeller to exert a viscous pull on ones of the surfaces rotating with the turbine when the torque converter is filled with a viscous fluid; a cover, fixed to the impeller to form a cavity in which the turbine and plurality of closely-spaced surfaces are enclosed; and a fluid receiving portion to receive the viscous fluid into the torque converter, and a fluid return portion from which the viscous fluid is expelled from the torque converter, wherein the fluid receiving and fluid return portions are positioned to define a fluid pumping path through the torque converter, and wherein the fluid pumping path i) traverses paths through both the viscous coupling and the fluid coupling, and ii) traverses paths between the closely-spaced surfaces of the viscous coupling.