ONE-WAY CLUTCHED DAMPER FOR AUTOMATIC BELT TENSIONER

摘要

A new asymmetrically damped tensioner is provided utilizing a bearing-ramp clutch (7). During normal operation, the bearing-ramp clutch (7) enables the tensioner arm (1) to pivot in a first direction (A) to take up belt slack with negligible frictional damping applied to the motion of the tensioner arm (1). When the tensioner arm (1) pivots in a second direction (B), away from the belt, however, in a condition commonly known as wind-up, the bearing-ramp clutch (7) locks against a fixed internal surface and creates a frictional damping force that is applied to the tensioner arm (1). This frictional linkage provides asymmetric frictional damping to the tensioner (21) to limit movement in the second direction (B) to mitigate wind-up.