Retarder for vehicles, especially heavy trucks

Claim 1

A continuous brake system for vehicles comprising, in combination, a hydrodynamic coupling means for providing braking forces to a vehicle, said hydrodynamic coupling means operating to provide said braking forces exclusively by action of a fluid coupling, an annular cooler means for providing a large cooling surface area, a radial fan means for providing cooling air to said annular cooler means, said annular cooler means being arranged circumferentially about said radial fan means, such that said annular cooler means and said radial fan means are provided in a relatively flat structure, radial turbine means for driving said radial fan means, and circulatory means for circulating operating fluid from said hydrodynamic coupling means to said radial turbine means through said annular cooler means and back to said hydrodynamic coupling means, wherein said hydrodynamic coupling means pumps said operating fluid through said circulatory means, thereby cooling said operating fluid in a separate system characterized in that the hydrodynamic coupling means includes two rotors driven in opposite directions of rotation, wherein the two rotors of the hydrodynamic coupling means are driven at speeds whose absolute rotational speeds are at least approximately identical, and wherein the two rotors of the hydrodynamic coupling means are operatively connected with intermediate gear means of approximately identical diameter, of which one intermediate gear means engages directly with a gear wheel connected with a driving shaft while the other intermediate gear means engages with the gear wheel connected with the driving shaft by way of a reversing gear, characterized in that said gear wheel is of double width, and in that the reversing gear serves in its turn, for the drive of a pump for lubricating purposes or the like, characterized in that the hydrodynamic coupling means serving as a retarder together with its drive is combined into a structural unit within a common housing means, and characterized in that the gear wheel operatively connected with the driving shaft is extended with its hub as far as possible into the plane of the hydrodynamic coupling means and its wheel body is constructed conically and carries at its outer circumference toothed means of a ring gear.