Piston Assembly With Expandable Vessel Prevents Leakage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing piston assemblies for clutch packs suffer from fluid leakage, which reduces transmission efficiency due to the design of radially extending protrusions that form pressure chambers, allowing hydraulic fluid to escape and impairing the rotation mechanism.
Innovation Solution
A ring-shaped piston assembly with a stator and rotor featuring radial protrusions and an expandable vessel in the pressure chamber, preloaded by a spring, made of elastic material, and connected to the piston to prevent leakage, where the expandable vessel expands with hydraulic pressure to rotate the rotor and returns when pressure drops, ensuring efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If radially extending protrusions are used to form pressure chambers, then the piston assembly can be expanded via pressurized hydraulic fluid, but fluid leakage occurs that reduces transmission efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
An expandable bladder is introduced as an intermediary element between the hydraulic fluid and the radial protrusions. The bladder receives hydraulic pressure and expands, thereby actuating the piston assembly without requiring direct fluid contact with the protrusion interfaces. This mediator prevents fluid leakage while maintaining the expansion capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The expandable bladder is implemented as a flexible membrane that can expand and contract in response to hydraulic pressure. This flexible shell contains the hydraulic fluid internally, allowing the piston assembly to be expanded without exposing the external protrusion interfaces to fluid that could leak.
2Adaptability or versatility
If radially extending protrusions form pressure chambers, then the rotor can rotate relative to the stator, but hydraulic fluid leakage reduces the efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable bladder serves as an intermediary that transmits hydraulic pressure to rotate the rotor relative to the stator without requiring fluid to be present at the interface between rotating and stationary components. This eliminates the leakage path while maintaining rotational capability.
3Loss of energy
If an expandable vessel is added to prevent leakage, then transmission efficiency is optimized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable bladder is a relatively simple flexible membrane component that contains hydraulic fluid and transfers pressure to the piston assembly. While it does add a component, its simple construction as a thin-walled expandable structure minimizes the increase in overall device complexity while effectively preventing leakage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively prevents pressure chamber leakage, optimizing transmission efficiency by ensuring the rotor moves circumferentially with increased pressure and returns when pressure decreases, maintaining the assembly's operational integrity.
Implementation Method 1
an expandable vessel 15 is provided in the pressure chamber between the radial protrusions with the expandable vessel having an expandable volume
Implementation Method 2
a spring for preloading the rotor is provided, the spring is preloading the rotor such that the first side of the adjacent one of the at least one radial protrusion of the rotor is biased toward the second side of the at least one radial protrusion of the stator
Implementation Method 3
the expandable vessel can be made of rubber or another suitable material to either stretch or expand the pressure chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A piston assembly for a clutch pack including a piston in form of a ring-shaped plate, a stator connected to the piston, the stator having a circular stator main part and at least one radial protrusion extending radially outwardly from the circular stator main part, each of the at least one radial protrusion of the stator having a first side and a second side, and including a rotor that is connected to the stator, the rotor having a circular rotor main part and at least one radial protrusion extending radially inwardly from the circular rotor main part, each of the at least one radial protrusion of the rotor having a first side and a second side. A pressure chamber is formed between the second side of the at least one radial protrusion of the stator and the first side of an adjacent one of the at least one radial protrusion of the rotor, and an expandable vessel being provided in the pressure chamber between the radial protrusions of the stator and the rotor with the expandable vessel having an expandable volume.