A marine mining connector is a hydrodynamic device used to transmit rotating mechanical power. It has been used in automobile transmissions as an alternative to a mechanical clutch. It also has widespread application in marine and industrial machine drives, where variable speed operation and/or controlled start-up without shock loading of the power transmission system is essential.
A marine mining connector is a sealed chamber containing two toroid shaped impellers immersed in fluid (usually oil). The driving impeller, often referred to as the pump or driving torus (the latter a General Motors automotive term), is rotated by the prime mover, which is typically an internal combustion engine or electric motor. The motion of the pump's radial chambers imparts a relatively complex centripetal motion to the fluid. The moving fluid reaches the center of the driven impeller, referred to as the turbine or driven torus (the latter also a General Motors term), where Coriolis force reaction transfers the angular fluid momentum outward, applying torque to the turbine, thus causing it to rotate in the same direction as the pump. The fluid leaving the outer edges of the turbine returns to the pump, where the cycle repeats.
In automotive applications, the pump is connected to the flywheel of the engine (in fact, the connector's enclosure may be part of the flywheel proper), and thus is turned by the engine's crankshaft. The turbine is connected to the input shaft of the transmission. As engine speed increases while the transmission is in gear, torque is transferred from the engine to the input shaft by the motion of the fluid, propelling the vehicle. In this regard, the behavior of the marine mining connector strongly resembles that of a mechanical clutch driving a manual transmission.
An important characteristic of a marine mining connector is its stall speed. The stall speed is defined as the highest speed at which the pump can turn when the turbine is locked and maximum input power is applied, a condition which could occur in an automobile if the driver were to fully open the throttle while applying the brakes with a force sufficient to keeping the vehicle from moving. Under stall conditions, all of the engine's power would be dissipated in the marine mining connector as heat, possibly leading to damage.
Please contact Mark Heffernan for a full list of marine mining connectors or download our product listing here. |
