This disclosure relates a pushbelt-type drive belt for a belt-and-pulley-type continuously variable transmission, such as is applied in motor vehicles, in particular passenger cars. Such a pushbelt for a continuously variable transmission is commonly known and comprises at least one endless, i.e. ring-shaped carrier composed of a number of concentrically mounted flexible rings, and a number of transverse segments that are mounted on and that together essentially fill the entire circumference of the endless carrier. The transverse segments of the pushbelt can move along the circumference of the endless carrier, while exerting a pushing force between each other and thus carrying a driving force from one transmission pulley to another during operation.

In the following description of the transverse segment, the mentioned directions refer to the situation in which the transverse segment is part of the pushbelt. A longitudinal or thickness direction of the transverse segment corresponds to a circumferential direction of the pushbelt. A vertical or height direction of the transverse segment corresponds to a radial direction of the pushbelt. A horizontal or width direction of the transverse segment corresponds to a direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the vertical direction.

The transverse segment is provided with at least one opening for receiving a part of the at least one endless carrier of the pushbelt. The transverse segment comprises a bearing surface that represents the radial inside or lower boundary of the opening and that is available for contact with the radial inside of the endless carrier. For the purpose of contacting the conical discs of the transmission pulleys of the continuously variable transmission, the transverse segment is on both sides, as seen in the horizontal direction, provided with pulley disc contacting surfaces that mutually diverge at an angle that corresponds to the angle that is defined by and between the conical pulley discs.

As seen in the vertical direction, the thickness of the transverse segment reduces to allow the adjacent transverse elements to mutually rotate about the horizontal direction, whereby the pushbelt as a whole follows a curved trajectory such as is required between the conical pulley discs. Typically, an upper portion of the transverse segment is provided with an essentially constant thickness, whereas a thickness of a lower portion thereof decreases in downward direction. In between these two portions of the transverse segment, at least one of the main faces of the transverse segment, which main faces are oriented in the mutually opposite circumference directions of the pushbelt, includes a width-wise extending transition where the two parts of the respective main face, which parts are respectively associated with said upper portion and said lower portion of the transverse segment, meet. This transition is often referred in the art as either a rocking or tilting edge. This particular design of the transverse segment is, for example, known from the Japanese patent publication JP 2000-065153 (A) . It is noted that a ratio between respective radial positions of the tilting edge at the two transmission pulleys determines, in part, the (rotational) speed ratio between the pulleys and (thus) of the transmission. In practice, a difference occurs between such ratio between the respective radial positions of the tilting edge, i.e. the geometrically determined transmission ratio, and the speed ratio due to a slipping of the pushbelt relative to the pulleys.

During operation of the pushbelt, also the endless carrier will slip, i.e. can move relative to the transverse segments, which movement is accompanied by an unwanted loss of power by friction (heat) . It is well-known that such power loss can be minimised by minimising a vertical separation between the bearing surface and the tilting edge, because a longitudinal or slip speed of the endless carrier relative to the transverse segments is known to be proportional to such separation. According to JP-A- 2000-065153 such vertical separation and the loss of power associated therewith are minimised by locating the sharp angled corner of the tilting edge in line with the carrier contacting surface of the transverse segment thus reducing such separation to zero, at least in theory.

In practice, however, the tilting edge cannot be implemented as a sharp corner, not only because of limitations of the preferred manufacturing process, but also in order to limit a contact stress between the adjacent transverse segments to an acceptable level so as not to exceed the mechanical strength and/or wear resistance of the material. Instead, the tilting edge is constituted by a convexly curved part of the respective main face, which curvature extends in the vertical direction of the transverse segment. Thus, in practice, a predominantly axially oriented line of contact between two adjacent transverse segments in the pushbelt displaces downwards in the said vertical direction in dependence on an angle of rotation there between, i.e. in dependence on the local curvature of the pushbelt. As a result, the said vertical separation between the bearing surface and the tilting edge necessarily varies with the radius of the curved trajectory of the pushbelt and can (thus) be minimal for one such radius only.

It is an object of the present disclosure account for the convex curvature of the tilting edge in reducing friction losses associated with the slip between the transverse segments and the endless carrier thereof. More in particular, the present disclosure aims to optimise the design of the transverse segments in this respect.

According to the present disclosure, a further functional aspect of the pushbelt is brought into consideration, which functional aspect limits the extent of the tilting edge that is located above the bearing surface. Namely, within the endless carrier, the flexible rings thereof are each located at a slightly different radial position at the transmission pulleys, more in particular such radial position increases by the thickness of an individual ring between each consecutive, more radial outward located ring of the endless carrier. As a result, each flexible ring of the endless carrier operates at a slightly different individual geometric transmission ratio and circumference speed, whereby each ring exerts a friction force on a radially inner and/or a radially outer neighbouring ring or rings. In particular, a more radially outward located flexible ring is operated at a transmission ratio closer to unity or 1:1 relative to a more radially inward located flexible ring.

Furthermore, the transverse segments are operated at a specific geometric transmission ratio depending on the ratio between the respective radial positions of the line of contact on tilting edge of the transverse segments at the two transmission pulleys, which latter geometric ratio can necessarily not be equal to the individual geometric transmission ratio of the radially innermost ring of the endless carrier, at least not in every speed ratio of the transmission. Thus a difference typically exists between the geometric ratio of the transverse segments and of the radially innermost flexible ring of the endless carrier of the pushbelt .

Now in relation to the above-explained functional aspect a new design criterion could be defined for the optimal functioning of the pushbelt. Namely, according to the present disclosure, it is highly preferable that a difference in circumference speed between the transverse segments and the radially innermost flexible ring of the endless carrier has the same sign (i.e. has same direction of relative movement) as a difference in circumference speed between that radially innermost and the next consecutive ring of the endless carrier. Only in this case, the friction forces experienced by the radially innermost flexible ring on either radial side thereof are directed in mutually opposite (circumference) directions, just like those experienced by the other rings of the endless carrier. Hereby, an adverse mechanical loading of the innermost flexible ring that could otherwise lead to an early failure thereof, at least relative to the other rings of the endless carrier, is favourably avoided.

Effectively, the above design criterion entails that, within the pushbelt, the individual geometric ratio of the radially innermost flexible ring of the endless carrier is at all times closer to unity, i.e. ratio 1:1 than the said geometric ratio of the transverse segments. In mathematical terms the above design criterion thus entails that the absolute value of 1 minus the geometric transmission ratio of the radially innermost flexible ring is smaller than or equal to the absolute value of 1 minus the geometric transmission ratio of the transverse segments of the pushbelt .

It is noted that, when the tilting edge is located below, i.e. radially inward of the bearing surface and the endless carrier in its entirety, the above design criterion will always be satisfied automatically. In particular, no constraints apply to the curvature (e.g. circular or elliptical) and size (e.g. small or large radius of convex curvature) of the tilting edge. To the contrary, when the tilting edge is completely located above, i.e. radially outward of the bearing surface, the above criterion can never be satisfied, regardless of the curvature or size of the tilting edge. However, within the teaching of the present disclosure, it is still possible to favourable locate a part of the curvature of the tilting edge above the bearing surface in order to minimise power loss by friction, while satisfying the above design criterion.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the above design criterion requires that the bearing surface is located in between the axial contact line on the tilting zone that is associated with a maximum radius of curvature of the pushbelt's curved trajectory between the conical pulley discs and a minimum radius of curvature of such trajectory. In particular, the bearing surface is located in radial direction approximately halfway these contact lines.

The above-described, novel transverse segment will now be explained further with reference to the drawing, in which equal reference signs indicate equal or similar parts and in which:

figure 1 provides a schematic perspective view of the continuously variable transmission with a drive belt running over two pulleys, which drive belt includes an endless carrier and a number of transverse segments and is known as a pushbelt; figure 2 shows a cross-section of the known pushbelt oriented in the circumference direction thereof;

figure 3 provides a width-wise oriented view of a transverse segment of the known pushbelt;

figure 4 provides a front elevation of a novel transverse segment embodying the teaching of the present disclosure;

figures 5, 6A, 6B and 6C provide a cross-section of the novel transverse segment of figure 4 in a number of orientations thereof; and

figure 7 provides a cross-section of a pushbelt incorporating the novel transverse segment in a second exemplary embodiment thereof .

In the figures, identical reference numbers relate to identical or at least comparable technical features.

The schematic illustration of a continuously variable transmission in figure 1 shows a pushbelt-type drive belt 3 that runs over two pulleys 1, 2 in a closed loop for transmitting torque between the pulley shafts 6, 7. The pushbelt 3 includes a flexible, ring-shaped, i.e. endless carrier 31 and a number of transverse segments 32 that are consecutively arranged along the circumference of the endless carrier 31 in an essentially contiguous row.

The transmission pulleys 1, 2 each include a pair of conical discs 4, 5 that define a tapered circumferential groove that opens towards the radial outside whilst enclosing an acute angle; the so-called pulley angle Φρ. Circumference sections of the pushbelt 3 are located in the pulley grooves, while being clamped by and between the pulley discs 4, 5 of the respective pulley 1, 2. Thus, a force may be transmitted between the pulleys 1, 2 by the pushbelt 3 with the aid of friction there between.

The axial separation between these pulley discs 4, 5 can be controlled, typically by way of only one pulley disc 4 of the pulleys 1, 2 being arranged axially movable relative to a respective pulley shaft 6, 7, in order to control a speed ratio between the pulleys 1, 2. By changing the distance between the two conical discs 4, 5 of the pulleys 1, 2 in opposite direction, the radial positions or running radii R of the curved trajectory parts of the pushbelt 3 at the pulleys 1, 2 are changed in mutually opposite radial directions and, as a result, the ratio between rotational speeds of the two pulleys 1, 2 is varied. More in particular, the speed ratio is defined as a rotational speed of an output pulley 2 of the transmission, which output pulley 2 is associated with a load, divided by a rotational speed of an input pulley 1 of the transmission, which input pulley is associated 1 with an engine or motor driving the load.

In figure 1, the known transmission is depicted in its smallest speed ratio, wherein the pushbelt 3 is located at its smallest running radius Rmin at the input pulley 1 and at its largest running radius Rmax at the output pulley 2, such that the rotational speed of the input pulley 1 will be higher than that of the output pulley 2.

In figure 2, the pushbelt 3 is shown in a cross-section facing in the circumference or length direction L of the pushbelt 3, i.e. facing in a direction perpendicular to the axial or width direction W and the radial or height direction H of the pushbelt 3. In this exemplary embodiment of the pushbelt 3, two endless carriers 31 are included therein, which endless carriers 31 are shown in cross-section in this figure 2, whereas one transverse segment 32 of the pushbelt 3 is shown in a front elevation. The transverse segments 32 and the endless carriers 31 of the pushbelt 3 are typically made of steel.

In the exemplary embodiment that is illustrated in this figure 2, the endless carriers 31 are composed of five individual flexible rings 43 each, which rings 43 are mutually concentrically nested to form the endless carrier 31. In practice, the endless carriers 31 often comprise more than five flexible rings 43, e.g. six, nine or twelve or possibly even more.

The transverse segments 32 of the pushbelt 3 take-up the clamping force exerted between the discs 4, 5 of each pulley 1, 2 via contact faces 37 thereof, one such contact face 37 being provided at each axial side of the transverse segment 32. These contact faces 37 are mutually diverging in radial outward direction such that an acute angle is defined there between that is denoted the belt angle b of the pushbelt 3 and that closely corresponds to the pulley angle Φρ.

The transverse segment 32, which is also shown in a side elevation in figure 3, is provided with two cut-outs 33 located opposite one another, which cut-outs 33 each open towards a respective axial side of the transverse segment 32 and each accommodate a small circumference section of a respective endless carrier 31. A first or base portion 34 of the transverse segment 32 thus extends radially inwards from the endless carriers 31, a second or middle portion 35 of the transverse segment 32 is situated in between the endless carriers 31 and a third or top portion 36 of the transverse segment 32 extends radially outwards from the endless carriers 31. The radially inner side of each cut- out 33 is delimited by a so-called bearing surface 42 of the base portion 34 of the transverse segment 32, which bearing surface 42 faces radially outwards, generally in the direction of the top portion 36 of the transverse segment 32, and contacts the inside of an endless carrier 31.

The transverse segments 32 are constrained by the endless carriers 31 in radial and axial directions, but are able to move, i.e. slide along the circumference thereof, so that a torque can be transmitted between the transmission pulleys 1, 2 by the transverse segments 32 pressing against one another and pushing each other forward along the endless carriers 31 in a direction of rotation of the pushbelt 3 and the pulleys 1, 2.

Furthermore, the transverse segment 32 is shown to be provided with a projection 40 that protrudes from a first main body surface 38 thereof and with a corresponding hole 41 that is provided in a second main body surface 39. In the pushbelt 3, the main body surfaces 38, 39 face in mutually opposite circumference directions L, whereby the projection 40 of a trailing transverse segment 32 is at least partially located in the hole 41 of a leading transverse segment 32, such that mutual displacement of these adjacent transverse segments 32 in a plane perpendicular to the circumferential direction of the pushbelt 3 is prevented or, at least, limited.

The second main body surface 39 of transverse segment 32 is essentially flat, whereas the first main body surface 38 of the transverse segment 32 is provided with a so-called tilting edge 18 that forms, in the radial direction H, the transition between an upper part of that first main body surface 38, extending essentially in parallel with the second main body surface 39, and a lower part thereof that is slanted such that it extends towards the second main body surface 39. The said upper part of the transverse segment 32 is thus provided with an essentially constant dimension between the main body surfaces 38, 39 thereof, i.e. as seen in the circumference direction L, which largest dimension represents the nominal thickness Tts of the transverse segment 32. A transverse segment 32 thickness Tts of about 1.5 mm is most commonly applied in practice . However, a much broader range is of course available in this respect, for example any value between 1.2 and 2.2 mm can in principle be applied as the thickness Tts of the transverse segment 32.

The tilting edge 18 is provided to allow adjacent transverse segments 32 to mutually tilt or rotate while remaining in pushing contact with one another, such that the pushbelt 3 as whole can curve, i.e. can follow a curved trajectory, whereby the flat second main body surface 39 of a first transverse segment 32 rolls-off on the curvature of the tilting edge 18 on the first main body surface 38 of an adjacent, second transverse segment 32. In this latter respect it is noted that, although the tilting edge 18 is depicted in the figures 2 and 3 only schematically by way of a single line, in reality the tilting edge 18 is provided in the shape of a convexly curved surface, such as a circular or elliptical arc. A radius of curvature Rte of the tilting edge 18 of 6 mm is most commonly applied in practice. However, a much broader range is of course available in this respect, for example any value between 3 and 15 mm can in principle be applied as the radius of curvature Rte of the tilting edge of 6.

An essentially horizontally, i.e. axially oriented line of contact between two adjacent, but mutually tilted transverse segments 32 on the tilting edge 18 of one of the transverse segments 32, thus increasingly displaces downwards in vertical or height direction, i.e. in radial inward direction, in dependency on an increasing mutual tilting angle between such two transverse segments 32. However, since the relative tilting angle between two adjacent transverse segments 32 remains limited, i.e. does not exceed 5 degrees or so, also the required radial extend of the tilting edge 18 remains limited. In particular, such required extend does not normally exceed 1 mm even in an extreme case of a transverse segment 32 having a thickness Tts of 2.2 mm and a radius of curvature Rte of the tilting edge of 12 mm. Rather, in the most commonly applied design of the transverse segment 32 (Tts=l .5mm; Rte=6mm) , such radial extend of the tilting edge 18 is only about 1/3 mm, which cannot be accurately shown on the scale of figures 2 and 3.

Furthermore, in figures 2 and 3, the tilting edge 18 is located radially inward of the bearing surfaces 42. This mutual positioning of the tilting edge 18 and the bearing surfaces 42 is commonly applied in practice, but is also known to be suboptimal in terms of the power transmission efficiency of the pushbelt 3 during operation in the transmission. The present disclosure provides for an alternative, novel design of the transverse segments 32, in particular in terms of the positioning of the tilting edge 18 thereof relative to the bearing surfaces 42, which alternative design aims to improve the power transmission efficiency of the pushbelt 3 as a whole.

A first embodiment of such novel transverse segment 32 is schematically illustrated in the figures 4 in a front elevation thereof. For clarity and ease of explanation, the size, i.e. the radial extend of the tilting edge 18 has been exaggerated relative to -for instance- the height of the transverse segment 32 as a whole. Most relevantly in figure 4 and in accordance with the present disclosure, the tilting edge 18 extends in radially inwards direction from the line marked CS located radially outward of the bearing surfaces 42 and the line marked 18B located radially inward thereof. Thus, in accordance with the present disclosure, the tilting edge 18 extends both above and below the bearing surface and -in contrast with the known art depicted in figure 2- the tilting edge 18 is located not only in the base portion 34 of the transverse segment 32, but partly also in the middle portion 35 thereof. As a result, a line of contact on the tilting edge 18 between adjacent transverse segment 32 in the pushbelt 3 is, at least on average and at least in the radial direction, located closer to the bearing surfaces 42, such that a relative speed or slip there between is favourably reduced during operation .

The above novel arrangement of the tilting edge 18 relative to the bearing surfaces 42 is illustrated in figures 5, 6A, 6B and 6C as well, in a cross-section A-A of (a part of) the transverse segment 32. In figure 5 the arrow 18T indicates the topside, i.e. radial outer extend of the tilting edge 18 and the arrow 18B indicates the bottom side, i.e. radial inner extend of the tilting edge 18. Furthermore, the smaller arrows CS, CRX, CRN in figures 5 and 6A-C indicate the (radial locations of the) of three possible lines of contact between two adjacent transverse segments 32, whereof :

- arrow CS indicates such line of contact in a straight part of the pushbelt 3, where the adjacent transverse segments 32 are arranged essentially in parallel (see also figure 6A) ;

- arrow CRX indicates such line of contact in a part of the pushbelt 3 that is curved at the said maximum radius of the curved trajectory thereof (see also figure 6B) ;

- arrow CRN indicates such line of contact in a part of the pushbelt 3 that is curved at the said minimum radius of the curved trajectory thereof (see also figure 6C) .

Finally in figures 5 and 6A-C, the dashed line L42 indicates the radial location of the bearing surface 42.

In accordance with the present disclosure and as illustrated in figures 4, 5 and 6A-C, the tilting edge 18 is designed and/or positioned such that, as seen in the radial direction, the bearing surface 42 is located approximately halfway between the axial contact line CS on the tilting edge 18 that is associated with the straight part of the pushbelt 3 between the conical pulley discs 4, 5 and the axial contact line CRN on the tilting edge 18a that is associated with the smallest, i.e. minimum radius of curvature Rmin of such curved trajectory. More specifically, as seen in the radial direction, the bearing surface 42 is located between the axial contact line CRX on the tilting edge 18 that is associated with the largest, i.e. maximum radius of curvature Rmax of such curved trajectory and the said axial contact line CRN associated with the minimum radius of curvature Rmin of such curved trajectory. More in particular, in the theoretically optimum location thereof within the context of the present disclosure, the bearing surface 42 is located somewhat closer to the said axial contact line CRX associated with the maximum radius of curvature Rmax than to the said axial contact line CRN associated with the minimum radius of curvature Rmin of such curved trajectory.

By the above novel design of the transverse segments 32 of the pushbelt 3, only a minimal relative movement occurs between the bearing surface 42 of the transverse segments 32 and a radial inside surface of the innermost flexible ring 43 of the endless carrier 31 during operation, while simultaneously also the condition is satisfied that the direction of such relative movement is the same as a direction of relative movement between the radially innermost ring 43 and the next neighbouring ring 43 of the endless carrier 31 to the radial outside of such radially innermost ring 43. Hereby, the pushbelt 3 that incorporates these novel transverse segments 32 will provide advantageously high power transmission efficiencies during operation, favourably without detriment to the longevity thereof.

A second embodiment of the transverse segment 32 in accordance with the present disclosure is schematically illustrated in the figure 7 in a cross-section of the pushbelt 3. In the example of figure 7 the transverse segment 32 is provided with only a single, centrally located cut-out 33 located between two pillars 44 that extend from either axial side of the base portion 34 thereof. In this second embodiment, the tilting edge 18 is provided in two parts, each such part being partly positioned in a respective pillar part 44. Also in this second embodiment of the transverse segment 32, the tilting edge 18 is designed and/or positioned such that, as seen in the radial direction, the bearing surface 42 is located approximately halfway the radial extend thereof. This second embodiment has the advantage that the pushing force exerted between the adjacent transverse segments 32 at the line of contact there between on the tilting edge 18 is closer to the friction force exerted between the transverse segments 32 and the pulley discs 4, 5, whereby a (bending) loading of the transverse segment 32 is favourably low, at least compared to the above first embodiment of the novel transverse segment 32. Furthermore, in this second embodiment of the transverse segment 32, a relatively large radius of convex curvature Rte of the tilting edge of more than 9 mm, preferably of 12 mm, is applied.

The present disclosure, in addition to the entirety of the preceding description and all details of the accompanying figures, also concerns and includes all the features of the appended set of claims. Bracketed references in the claims do not limit the scope thereof, but are merely provided as non-binding examples of the respective features. The claimed features can be applied separately in a given product or a given process, as the case may be, but it may also be possible to apply any combination of two or more of such features therein.

The invention (s) represented by the present disclosure is (are) not limited to the embodiments and/or the examples that are explicitly mentioned herein, but also encompasses amendments, modifications and practical applications thereof, in particular those that lie within reach of the person skilled in the relevant art .