Compound damper assemblies for automatic transmissions are known, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,535. These dampers typically reside outside the transmission, generally within the torque converter. These known damper assemblies generally include springs which are arranged in series or parallel generally within one axial plane in order to cushion the application of a direct drive friction clutch which locks the impeller and the turbine of a torque converter to establish a mechanical torque delivery path that is arranged in parallel with respect to the hydro-dynamic torque delivery path provided by the impeller blades and turbine blades in the torque converter.
In order to improve noise and vibration isolation, it would be desirable to provide a damper assembly which can be arranged within the drive line between the engine and automatic transmission with the damper being located within the transmission assembly rather than in the torque converter so that it is closer to the clutch elements and/or torque output elements.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds