TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
The mechanism that transmits the power
developed by the engine of Auto mobile to
the engine to the driving wheels is called the
Transmission System.

A basic automotive transmission system

comprises of various transmission
components such as gears, shafts and other
parts, which function together to enable the
movement of an automobile. Figure 1: Transmission system of automobile

Fig (1) shows the transmission system (Gear Box) of modern car. Early
transmissions included the right-angle drives and other gearing in windmills,
horse-powered devices, and steam engines, in support of pumping, milling, and
hoisting.

REQUIREMENT OF TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

Provide means to drive the driving wheels at different speeds when
required.
Enable speed reduction between engine and the drive wheels in the ratio
of 5:1.
Provide means to transfer power in opposite direction.
Provide means of connection and disconnection of engine with rest of
power train without shock and smoothly.

COMPONENTS OF TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

Gears
Clutch Assembly
Input And Output Shaft
Differential

Figure 2: overview of transmission system

GEARS
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut
teeth which mesh with another toothed part to
transmit torque. Geared devices can change the
speed, torque, and direction of a power source.
Gears almost always produce a change in
torque, creating a mechanical advantage,
through their gear ratio, and thus may be
considered a simple machine. The teeth on the
two meshing gears all have the same shape.
Two or more meshing gears, working in a
sequence, are called a gear train or a
transmission. A gear can mesh with a linear Figure 3 : Gears
toothed part, called a rack, thereby producing
translation instead of rotation.

Velocity Ratio:
Velocity ratio is also defined as the ratio of a
distance through which any part of a machine
moves, to that which the driving part moves during
the same time. An object has a mechanical
advantage if it exerts a force higher than the
velocity ratio.
For a Gear the velocity ratio can be defined
as the Ratio of the number of teeth on output
gear to the number of teeth on the input gear.

The modern world belongs to automobiles .The Figure 4 : velocity ratio

day by day developing nations demand newer,
better technologies and innovations .The competitive market of automobiles
require improvements in economy, mileage, emission control, cruise control,
ergonomics etc. Thus a comprehensive study is required in all domains,
transmission system being one of them. In the following discussion we will
study the various types of transmission system in automobiles and their
advancement.

1) Manual Transmission System

2) Continuous Variable Transmission System
3) Automatic Transmission System
4) Dual clutch Transmission System
1) MANUAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
First of all we will discuss the basic
component used in the manual transmission
system.
A) Clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device which engages
and disengages power transmission especially
from driving shaft to driven shaft. In the
simplest application clutches connect and
disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or
line shafts). In these devices, one shaft is
typically attached to an engine or other power Figure 5 : Clutch Assembly
unit (the driving member) while the other shaft
(the driven member) provides output power for work.

B) Pressure Plate
It is a plate bolted to the engine flywheel and
its main purpose is to exert pressure against the
clutch plate, holding the plate tight against the
flywheel, and allowing the power to flow from
the engine to the transmission. It must also be
capable of interrupting the power flow by
releasing the pressure on the clutch plate. This
allows the clutch plate to stop rotating while
the flywheel and pressure plate continues to
rotate.
The pressure plate consists of a heavy metal
plate, coil springs or a diaphragm spring, ` Figure 6 : Pressure plate
release levers, and a cover.
When coil springs are used, they are evenly spaced around the metal plate and
located between the plate and the metal cover. This places an even pressure
against the plate, which in turn presses the clutch plate tight against the
flywheel. The cover is bolted tightly to the flywheel and the metal plate is
movable, due to internal linkages. The coil springs are arranged to exert direct
or indirect tension upon the metal plate, depending upon the manufacturers
design. Three release levers (fingers) are used on most pressure plates, evenly
spaced around the cover, to release the holding pressure of the springs on the
clutch plate, allowing it to disengage the power flow.
When a diaphragm spring is used instead of coil springs, the internal linkage is
necessarily different to provide an "over-centre" action to release the clutch
plate from the flywheel. Its operation can be compared to the operation of an oil
can. When depressing the slightly curved metal on the bottom of the can, it
would go over-centre and give out a loud "clicking" noise; when released, the
noise again would be heard and the metal would return to its original position.
A click is not heard in the clutch operation, but the action of the diaphragm
spring is the same as the oil can.

Figure 7: Clutch Assembly when pressure plate is Figure 8: Clutch Assembly when pressure plate is engaged
disengaged

C) Differential
In automobiles and other wheeled vehicles,
the differential allows the outer drive wheel
to rotate faster than the inner drive wheel
during a turn. This is necessary when the
vehicle turns, making the wheel that is
traveling around the outside of the turning
curve roll farther and faster than the other.
The average of the rotational speed of the
two driving wheels equals the input
rotational speed of the drive shaft. An
increase in the speed of one wheel is
balanced by a decrease in the speed of the
other. Figure 9: Path of wheel traced while turning
As the vehicle turns the outer wheel have to
cover the larger arc and the inner wheel will cover smaller arc, so the velocity of
the outer wheel should greater than the inner wheel to reach at the same point in
equal interval.

Manual transmission often features a driver operated clutch and a movable gear
in a manual transmission, the flywheel is attached to the engines crankshaft and
spins along with it. The clutch disc is between the pressure plate and flywheel,
and is held against the flywheel under pressure from the pressure plate.

Figure 10: Basic overview of transmission system

The clutch is engaged and disengaged during running and moving

condition respectively. When the engine is started the crankshaft start rotating
and flywheel also start rotating and flywheel is bolted with the pressure plate.
Now the clutch is in engaged mode and the output shaft is not connected to any
gear (neutral gear) so the power is not transmitted to the wheel. While changing
the gear driver presses the clutch and the due to disengaging of clutch the gear
can be changed smoothly. For smooth shifting of gear synchronizer cone and
synchronizing ring are placed on the gear which reduces the wear and tear and
sound produce while shifting of gear. For reverse gear an extra gear called idle
gear is placed between the counter shaft and the output shaft which reverse the
direction of rotation .Manual transmission are categorised by gear ratios that are
selectable by locking selected pairs to the output shaft inside the transmission
system.
Advantages of manual transmission system:
Cost effectiveness
Easy maintenance
Better fuel efficiency

2) CONTINUOUS VARIABLE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

The continuously variable
transmission system (CVT) is a
transmission system in which the ratio
of rotational speeds of two shafts, as the
input shaft and output shaft of a vehicle
or other machine, can be varied
continuously within a given range,

Figure 11: CVT

providing an infinite number of possible ranges.
A CVT need not be automatic, nor include zero or reverse output, such
features may be adapted to CVT in certain specific applications.
Other mechanical transmission system only allow a few different discrete gear
ratios to be selected, but the continuously variable transmission system
essentially has an infinite number of ratios available within a finite range, so it
enables the relationship between the speed of a vehicle, engine and the driven
speed to be selected within a continuous range. This can provide better fuel
efficiency then other transmission system by enabling the engine to run at its
most efficient speeds within a narrow range.
Working of CVT depends on the type of CVT:
Friction CVTs vary the radius of the contact point between two
rotating objects, thus the tangential velocity.
Hydraulic CVTs vary the fluid flow with variable displacement pumps
into hydrostatic motors.
Ratcheting CVTs vary the stroke of a reciprocating motion, which is
connected to a free wheel, resulting unidirectional rotation.

Advancement in CVT:
A) Toroidal CVTs
The toroidal CVT system another version
of the CVT replaces the belts and pulley with
the discs and power rollers. It is designed to
overcome the shortcoming of belt and pulley
CVT in field of efficiency.
Although such a system seem drastically
different, all of the components are analogous
to a belt and pulley system and lead to the
same results a continuously variable
transmission. Here how its works:
One disc connects to the engine. This
is equivalent to the driving pulley.
Another disc connects to the drive shaft. This is equivalent to the driven
shaft.
Rollers or wheels located between discs act like the belt, transmitting
power from one disc to other.
The wheel can rotate along two axes. They spin around the horizontal
axis, which allows the wheel to touch the discs in different areas. When
the wheel is in contact with the driving disc near the centre, they must
contact the driven disc near the rim, resulting in a reduction in speed and
an increase in torque. When the wheel touch the driving disc near the
centre, resulting in an increase in speed and a decrease in torque. A
 simple tilt of the wheels, then incrementally changes the gear ratio,
providing for smooth, nearly instantaneous ratio changes.

A) ELECTRICALLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

The EVT is a dual-rotor electric machine based on robust induction motor
technology. Due to unique design features, the EVT has a higher power density
and specific power than competitive products. Low complexity due to only
having two moving parts enables low maintenance and cost. As the EVT
functions in power split mode, the power rating and cost of the associated power
electronics is significantly reduced in comparison with a full electric-only
transmission.
In conventional transmission, efficiency and performance are compromised by
using fixed speed ratios. A continuously variable transmission is desired, but the
costs, complexity and power ratings are not compatible with the requirements.
Combining electric and mechanical drives have many advantages, but extra
components and required. The electric variable transmission (EVT) is a hybrid
transmission which combines all functionalities into one single unit. This
expands the application area and advantage of applying continuously variable
hybrid drives.

3) AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

An Automatic Transmission System also called auto gear shift, self-
shifting transmission is a type of motor type transmission that can automatically
change gear as the vehicles moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears
manually. Like other transmission systems on vehicles, it allows an internal
combustion engine, best suited to run at a relatively high rotational speed, to
provide a range of speed and torque outputs necessary for vehicle travel.
The most popular form of automatic transmission system is hydraulic
automatic transmission. This system uses a fluid coupling in a place of a friction
clutch, and accomplishing gear changes by locking and unlocking a system of
planetary gear. These systems have a defined set of gear ranges, often with a
parking pawl that locks the output shaft of the transmission to keep the vehicle
either rolling forward or backward. Some machine with limited speed ranges or
fixed engine speed such as some forklifts and lawn movers, only use a torque
converter to provide a variable gearing of the speed to the wheels.
But new challenges in the field of transmission leads towards introduction
of many new technologies such as automated transmission system, continuously
transmission system, automated variable transmission, dual clutch transmission.

Automatic transmission systems have been eclipsing their manual cousins for
the past few years. Yet, despite their apparent popularity, automatic
transmission is not necessarily a better choice for many drivers. However they
do offer advantage over manual transmission in several keys areas. For example
they are easy to use; greatly reduce the risk of stalling, less manually restrictive.

4) DUAL CLUTCH TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

A dual clutch transmission system (DCT) is a type of automated automotive
transmission. One of the major problems in the conventional automatic
transmission is torque converter; its losses and bulkiness are huge compare to
any other components. A dual-clutch transmission eliminates the torque
converter as used in conventional epicyclic geared automatic transmission.
Also use of dual clutch transmission results in much quicker and usually much
smoother gear changes than a single clutch automated transmission .Dual
clutch transmission that are currently used on the market primarily use two oil-
bathed wet multi plate clutches, similar to the clutches used in most motor
cycles.
Two separate clutches are used for odd and even gear sets. It can
fundamentally be described as two separate manual transmissions contained
within one housing, and working has one unit. They are usually operated in
fully automatic mode. And many have the ability to allow the driver to
manually shift the gear in semi-automatic mode. Its probably easiest to think of
a DCT as housing of two manual transmissions: one for even numbered gears
and the other for odd numbered gear each with their own clutch. Say for
example you are accelerating along in third gear. In this the even numbered gear
box will have fourth gear preselected and primed to go. When the
transmissions computers or the drive think the time is right to change up, the
clutch for the odd numbered gear is disengaged and the even cutch engaged.
Changing from one clutch to another takes anywhere between 8 to 200
millisecond thats considerably faster than the half second or more required by
the most manual drivers to change gears. By wasting less time between, DCTs
are often able to outsprint their manual equipment.

ADVANTAGES:
In principle, the DCT behaves just like as a manual transmission:
Its got input and auxiliary shafts to house gears, synchronizers and a
clutch. It does not have a clutch pedal, because computers, solenoids and
hydraulics do the actual shifting. Even without a clutch pedal, the driver
can still tell the computer when to take action through peddles, buttons or
a gearshift.
Driver experience is one of the many advantages of DCT. With upshift
taking a mere 8 milliseconds many feels that DCT offers the most
dynamic acceleration of any vehicle in the market.
 It certainly offers smooth acceleration by eliminating the shift shock that
accompanies gearshifts in manual transmission and even some
automatics.