Patent Application
20140261746
The methods and systems of the present invention are directed to the modification and improvement of transmissions for automotive vehicles, more commonly referred to as “factory installed” transmissions, installed in automotive vehicles by an original motor vehicle manufacturer. The present invention is more particularly directed to improvements to the “factory installed” transmissions for General Motors Corporation (GM) vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions identified as 6L80E, 6L85E, 6L90E, 5L40E, 4L60E, 4L65E, and 4L70E.
The present inventor is the inventor identified in the following United States patents and published patent application, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference into the present patent application: U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,426, issued May 26, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,140, issued Dec. 8, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,938, issued Dec. 13, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,549; issued Oct. 19, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,628, issued Jul. 30, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,342; issued Apr. 29, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,685, issued Mar. 24, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,823, issued Apr. 28, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,953, issued Jun. 23, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,507, issued Oct. 7, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,928, issued Oct. 19, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,429, issued Aug. 8, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,047, issued Sep. 12, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,231, issued Sep. 11, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,944, issued May 21, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,472, issued May 20, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,157, issued Mar. 2, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,989, issued May 4, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,680, issued Nov. 9, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,397, issued Mar. 29, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,554, issued Jul. 5, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,628, issued Nov. 15, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,679, issued Oct. 31, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,893, issued Feb. 19, 2008; and US2013/0037134, published on Feb. 14, 2013.
The basic principles of operation of the “factory installed” automotive transmission for the 6L80E and the additional aforementioned GM automotive transmissions, are well known to those skilled in the automotive transmission art. Attention is respectfully invited to the operations manual and text entitled HYDRA-MATIC, 6 Speed, RWD, TECHNICIAN'S GUIDE, 2005, published by General Motors Corporation (GM publication), said publication describing in detail the operation of the “factory installed” 6L80E General Motors automotive transmission, including a description of the structure, the hydraulic circuitry, and the interrelationship between the structure and the hydraulic circuitry and fluid flow during normal operation of this “factory installed” transmission. The disclosure of the aforementioned GM publication in its entirety is expressly incorporated by reference into the disclosure of the present patent application as disclosing and illustrating background material known to those of ordinary skill in the automotive transmission art.
It is the primary object of the present invention to modify the aforementioned “factory installed” automotive transmissions, including the GM 6L80E, to improve the overall operation and efficiency of these “factory installed” automotive transmissions.
The present inventor has recognized that the main pressure regulator bore in the aforementioned “factory installed” GM automotive transmissions can suffer damage from use over time, resulting in wear causing a variety of operational failures including loss of pump pressure control, converter drain-back, delayed (or no) engagement, pump noise and catastrophic drum breakage. Known solutions to these conditions are expensive and require either a complete replacement of components, or purchasing specialized and expensive boring tools and additional holding fixtures to re-bore half of the fluid pump and thereafter purchasing and installing oversized valves.
In accordance with the methods and systems of the present invention, the “factory installed” 6L80E, as well as the additional “factory installed” automotive transmissions identified above, are modified to prevent the aforementioned damage and to increase the efficiency and overall useful operating life of the automotive transmission. As will be discussed herein, the modifications include relocating the pressure regulator balance circuit internally within a first portion of the pressure regulator valve and relocating the decrease exhaust circuit internally within a second portion of the pressure regulator valve, thereby permitting an increase in the width of the inner valve land, the outer valve land, or both. The increase in width of the land(s) of the pressure regulator valve provide increased surface areas of the land(s) which contact the valve bore, thereby more evenly distributing wear over a greater area along the bore resulting in less concentrated wear of the bore which reduces the possibility of leaks, provides a more firm seal between the lands and the bores, and increases the operating life of the pressure regulator valve and circuit. These modifications to the “factory installed” transmission results in a more robust valve system that restores pump control without incurring the costly expense of new replacement parts, or the costly repair of re-boring the fluid pump and thereafter installing oversized valves.
Other advantages of the modifications to the “factory installed” automotive transmissions in accordance with the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the automotive transmission art based upon the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the drawings.
The present invention provides methods and systems for modifying the hydraulic circuitry of “factory installed” automotive transmissions, and in particular the automotive transmissions designated by 6L80E, 6L85E, 6L90E, 5L40E, 4L60E, 4L65E, and 4L70E, installed in automotive vehicles manufactured by General Motors Corporation of Detroit, Mich.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, the hydraulic circuitry of the aforementioned “factory installed” automotive automatic transmissions are modified such that the pressure regulator balance circuit is provided internally within a first portion of the pressure regulator valve.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the hydraulic circuitry of the “factory installed” transmissions are modified such that the decrease exhaust circuit is provided internally within a second portion of the pressure regulator valve.
By relocating the pressure regulator balance circuit and/or the decrease exhaust circuit internally with the valve, the total width of the inner land(s), the outer land, or both, of the pressure regulator valve can be increased. The increase in the width of either or both of the inner and outer lands increases the surface area in contact with the valve bore, thereby more evenly distributing wear along the inner surface of the bore in which the pressure regulator valve moves. This, in turn, provides a more firm seal between the valve and the bore, decreasing the possibility of leaks and increasing the useful operating life of the pressure regulator valve and the pressure regulator circuit.
Each of the aforementioned modifications, both individually and collectively, improves the “factory installed” automotive transmission by avoiding damage and failures resulting over time during operation of the “factory installed” transmission, and avoiding either a complete replacement of a portion of the “factory installed” fluid pump, or a repair procedure involving use of specialized boring tools and additional holding fixtures to re-bore a portion of the fluid pump and thereafter installing oversized valves to correct a failure of the “factory installed” transmission.
The modifications of the “factory installed” automotive transmission in accordance with the present invention extend the useful operating life of the transmission, increase the efficiency of operation of the transmission, and avoid costly and unnecessary replacements and repairs to correct the failures of the original “factory installed” automotive transmission.
Additional information and description relating to the hydraulic circuitry, components, and operation of the aforementioned “factory installed” automotive transmissions, which will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art, is available from the aforementioned publication entitled HYDRA-MATIC, 6 Speed RWD, TECHNICIAN'S GUIDE, 2005, General Motors Corporation, which has been expressly incorporated by reference into the present Specification.
The aforementioned “factory installed” automotive transmissions, over time, are subject to wear, resulting in potential failures such as loss of pump pressure control, converter drain-back, delayed engagement or no engagement, pump noise, and drum breakage. As discussed herein, correction of these failures requires either the purchase of specialized tools or the replacement of new components requiring a labor intensive installation/repair.
In accordance with the present invention, the aforementioned disadvantages currently required to correct a failure of the “factory installed” automotive transmission are avoided by replacing the pressure regulator valve of the “factory installed” automotive transmission with a new pressure regulator valve to be described as follows.
Still referring to
Similarly, the pressure regulator balance circuit of the “factory installed” automotive transmission, illustrated by line 16 in
The pressure regulator valve, in accordance with the present invention, results in numerous advantages over the pressure regulator valve of the “factory installed” automotive transmission. By relocating the pressure regulator balance circuit internally within a portion of the pressure regulator valve (the port 32 and the internal channel 34 illustrated by
Similarly, by providing the decrease exhaust circuit internally within a portion of the pressure regulator valve 22 (the port 28 and the internal channel 30 illustrated by
Providing the decrease exhaust circuit internally within a portion of the pressure regulator valve 22, as well as providing the pressure regulator balance circuit internally within a different portion of the pressure regulator valve 22, and increasing the width of the inner and outer lands of the valve, results in an efficient valve system that maintains pump control, without the expense of costly replacement parts or a labor intensive repair to correct a failure of the “factory installed” transmission.
The pressure regulator valve in accordance with the present invention results in efficient, reliable and stable pump control, thereby increasing the useful operating life of the pressure regulator circuit of the aforementioned automotive transmissions.
Although the preferred embodiment of the invention discussed herein discloses a pressure regulator valve having two outer lands 23 and 24, it is within the scope of the present invention to provide a pressure regulator valve with only a single outer land having a width greater than the outer land of the factory installed transmission.
Other advantages and modifications to the improved pressure regulator valve within the scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the automotive transmission art. Accordingly, the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention herein is illustrative only, and not restrictive of the scope of the invention, that scope being defined by the following claims and all equivalents thereto.
The present patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/851,763 filed on Mar. 13, 2013, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119 (e).
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61851763 | Mar 2013 | US |
