A two component thrust washer assembly for a vehicle torque converter has a first component made of a durable polyimide material with an annular wear face and three axially projecting pins. The second component is made of metal and has a mating portion with three openings to receive the pins and an area to engage an adjacent element of a torque converter.
There is provided a centrifugal turbo machine comprising: a volute casing; a rotation axis coupled with the volute casing through a bearing; an impeller which is coupled to an end of the rotation axis and sucks fluid with a centrifugal force due to its rotation; and an axial thrust control member which is coupled to the volute casing at the rear of the impeller in a direction in which the fluid flows and prevents rotation of the fluid by the impeller. It is easy to fabricate and install the centrifugal turbo machine and it is possible to reduce the difference in static pressure of fluid by using the economical axial thrust control member so as to prevent the generation of the axial thrust, which results in damage of the bearing, etc. Therefore, it is possible to stably operate the centrifugal turbo machine.
A thrust bearing, in particular for a turbo charger, has an essentially disc shaped bearing body (10) with a central through opening (12) for a shaft, at least one bearing surface (14) surrounding the through opening (12) for a collar which is placed on the shaft, and at least one oil supply channel which leads from a radially outer region of the bearing body to the through opening (12). In order to realize a cost effective manufacture of the thrust bearing it is proposed according to the invention that the at least one oil supply channel is designed to be a groove (16').
An improved torque converter that results in greater fuel efficiency and more horsepower with a lower failure rate. The improved torque converter has a greater lock-up surface area than an original equipment torque converter to reduce slippage. The lock-up surface area can be provided from a wider friction lining material, a floating clutch, and/or a floating clutch plate. An improved stator contributes to fuel efficiency. In one aspect, the torque converter has a novel thrust washer that has parabolic shaped grooves to facilitate lubrication and reduce failure of the bearing thrust washer. In one aspect the torque converter uses brazed blades to reduce vibration and strengthen the blades to make them more resistant to distortion and failure.
