Patent Application
20210270361
The present disclosure relates to an automotive transmission with heat exchanger bypass cartridge that allows a transmission to be used with an exterior cooler or as a coolerless transmission.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Without limitation to a particular field of technology, the present disclosure is directed to transmissions configured for coupling to a prime mover, and more particularly to transmissions for vehicle applications, including truck applications.
Transmissions serve a critical function in translating power provided by a prime mover to a final load. The transmission serves to provide speed ratio changing between the prime mover output (e.g. a rotating shaft) and a load driving input (e.g. a rotating shaft coupled to wheels, a pump, or other device responsive to the driving shaft). The ability to provide selectable speed ratios allows the transmission to amplify torque, keep the prime mover and load speeds within ranges desired for those devices, and to selectively disconnect the prime mover from the load at certain operating conditions.
Transmissions are subjected to a number of conflicting constraints and operating requirements. For example, the transmission must be able to provide the desired range of torque multiplication while still handling the input torque requirements of the system. Additionally, from the view of the overall system, the transmission represents an overhead device—the space occupied by the transmission, the weight, and interface requirements of the transmission are all overhead aspects to the designer of the system. Transmission systems are highly complex, and they take a long time to design, integrate, and test; accordingly, the transmission is also often required to meet the expectations of the system integrator relative to previous or historical transmissions. For example, a reduction of the space occupied by a transmission may be desirable in the long run, but for a given system design it may be more desirable that an occupied space be identical to a previous generation transmission, or as close as possible.
Previously known high output transmissions have required a cooler to protect the parts and fluids of the transmission from overheating in response to the heat generated in the transmission. However, improvements in transmission designs, materials and lubrication systems have made it possible for high output transmissions to be made without requiring a cooler. Because some applications for a transmission may not require an oil cooler, while other applications for that same transmission may benefit from having an oil cooler, it is desirable to provide a system for modifying a transmission to be manufactured as either a coolerless transmission or as a transmission having an oil cooler.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
A transmission capable of being assembled as a coolerless transmission and as a transmission having an oil cooler includes a housing and a lubrication system. The oil passage system includes an oil passage having an oil outlet opening extending out of the housing and an oil inlet opening extending into the housing. A bypass flow passage is disposed in the housing in communication with the oil outlet opening and the oil inlet opening. In a coolerless configuration, a pair of plugs are inserted in the oil outlet opening and the oil inlet opening to close off the oil outlet opening and the oil inlet opening so that oil flows from the oil outlet opening to the oil inlet opening through the bypass flow passage. In a transmission configuration having an oil cooler, an exterior heat exchanger is connected to the oil outlet opening and the oil inlet opening.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
With reference to
It should be noted that the transmission can have various forms of manual, automated manual and automatic transmissions. In the embodiment shown, an automated manual transmission in provided schematically showing a single countershaft 16. It should be understood that a dual countershaft system can be utilized. In addition, the transmission 12 housing can be made from steel or aluminum and the number of gears on the counter shaft 16 and the main shaft 20 can be varied.
The transmission 10 includes a lubrication system including an oil sump 32, an oil pump 34, and an oil passage system 36 for directing oil from the oil sump 32 to various components (bearings and gears) of the transmission. The transmission 10 is capable of being assembled as a coolerless transmission and alternatively as a transmission having an oil cooler 40. In particular, the oil passage system 36 includes an oil outlet opening 42 in communication with the oil pump 34 and extending out of the housing 12 and an oil inlet opening 44 extending into the housing 12.
As shown in
In a coolerless transmission configuration, as shown in
In a configuration of the transmission having an oil cooler 40, as shown in
With reference to
The lubricating oil flowing through the oil passage system 36 is directed through the hollow passage 92 in the cooler bypass spool 72 and to the oil cooler 40. The oil is then returned to the transmission 10 through the cooler inlet fitting 64 and oil inlet opening 44. The spring 74 is seated against the shoulder portion 82 and an end of the spool 72. The spool 72 includes a shoulder portion 94 that engages the shoulder 86. A stop ring 96 or other stopping structure is disposed in the interior surface 78 of the cartridge main body 70 and serves as a stop for the cooler bypass spool 72, as shown in
The heat exchanger bypass valve cartridge assembly 60 can be installed and serviced externally in order to add a heat exchanger capability to the transmission device that provides the ability to flow the oil to a heat exchanger. The design minimizes the cost of the base transmission 10 by not adding additional structure to the transmission 10. Accordingly, the transmission 10 of the present disclosure can be utilized in a coolerless configuration (
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/813372, filed on Mar. 4, 2019. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
