Development of a teaching tool for learning the mechanism of hydraulic torque converter

Students in mechanical courses at technical high school learn a hydraulic torque converter in the subjects of motor or automobile engineering. Ordinarily, the hydraulic torque converters are covered with a metallic case and therefore, the impellers and the working fluid in it are invisible. Accordingly, we developed a teaching tool for visually learning the principle of a hydraulic torque converter and investigated its teaching effect by lesson practices. This tool is constructed as follows: two driving and driven impellers are set up in a transparent acryl spherical vessel and it is filled with a distilled water. Therefore, the state of transmissions of driving power by working fluids can be learned visually. As a result of experimental lessons, it was made clear that this teaching tool had the good effects for the students to understand the power transmission mechanism of hydraulic torque converter.