Advancements of Automatic Gear Transmission Systems

Author name: Kavindu Umayanga

E-mail: kavinduumayangac@gmail.com

Date of submission: 11/07/2021

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

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Abstract
Transmission system is the main unit that transfer the power from the clutch to

differential through a shaft. Transmission system is need for provide various torque at various

speeds, allow to engine to run at its sufficient and efficient RPM range and disable the power

transmission when the wheels are not moving. Without any transmission system engine run

with only one gear and therefore the engine quickly wears out. As engine supply constant high

RPMs, it is impossible to take various torques while running different conditions.

In automobile industry, early days there were only manual transmission vehicles which

should be driven with concentration to the clutch paddle, accelerator paddle and the brake

paddle by the driver. If the driver not mastered the clutch balance or which is the perfect time

to shift up or shift down, vehicle may stop. As a solution to this problems engineers designed

automatic transmission system which is control by the transmission control unit and the ECU.

For smooth shifting and the convenience of the driver and the comfort of the passenger’s

automatic transmission system revolutionized the automobile industry. In these days, most

common vehicle type is the automated transmission vehicles. Not only the customers but also

the manufacturers are tending to manufacture automatic transmission vehicles.

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Keywords
o Automatic transmission system

o Torque convertor

o Multiple clutch packs

o Planetary gear set

o Eight, nine, ten speed transmission

o Automated manual transmission

o Direct clutch gear box

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1. Introduction

In the automobile industry for the past 25 years, automotive transmissions have evolved

to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. Automotive transmissions for the internal

combustion engine are generally categorized into manual transmission, automated manual

transmission, automatic transmission, dual clutch transmission and continuously variable

transmission.

In manual transmission system, driver always has to concentrate clutch paddle,

acceleration paddle when changing the gear. Knowing the right time/speed to change the gear

is important. Otherwise, the engine may stop or damage and also it affects to the fuel

consumption.

With the advancement of the automobile industry, manual gear transmission systems

have been being getting less attention. Because the automatic gear transmission systems have

revolutionary taking over the automobile industry. For easy and reliable driving, automatic

transmission systems are the popular option in nowadays. Driver does not need to concentrate

on the speed for changing the gear and simply needs to keep the foot on the accelerator paddle

because ECU and the transmission computer change the gear. And instead of pressing a clutch

plate here hydraulic converter takes the place and do operation automatically.

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 In the automatic transmission also has the multiple modes. Those are engage in different

situations as the driver’s choice.

o P (Park) - Restricting the vehicle to move forward or backward direction by

mechanically locking the output shaft.

o R (Reverse) - Vehicle to be driven to backward direction.

o N (Neutral) - All the gears are disengaging with the power transmission line

that is coming from engine.

o D (Drive) - Allow vehicle to run forward direction by engaging fully

transmission.

In generally, there are three main components in the automatic transmission gear system

according to their contribution.

o Torque convertor

o Multiple clutch

o Planetary gear box

1.1. Torque convertor

Torque convertor is a fluid coupling between engine and the transmission. It has

several main functions. It increases the torque from the engine to the transmission

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 when the vehicle is moving. When driving off, the torque is increase utmost it operates

the oil pump in the gear box. It helps neutralize fluctuations and vibrations from the

engine to the transmission. It contributes for smooth gear changing.

The transmission oil enters the torque convertor through openings at certain

points on the different shafts of the gear box. It has three main functions. It participates

in the hydraulic control of the torque convertor by pressure regulated from the

mechatronic. It provides necessary lubrication of the components. It transferred the

generated heat from the torque convertor to the cooling system.

In modern torque convertors there are two modes of operation.

1.1.1. Torque convertor mode

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 In here, the connection between the transmission and the engine is made by the

pressure of the fluid flow. The crank shaft of the engine transmits the rotational

motion to the torque convertor. Driven by inertial forces, the fluid flow is directed

to the outer part of the pump. From the shape of the housing and position of the

blades, the fluid is accelerated and guided into the turbine which makes spin.

From there, fluid passes through the stator changing its direction from the

optimum angle to the pump blades, and accelerates for subsequence cycles. At

lower speeds, when the fluid passes through the stator, it causes pressure at in front

of the blades and forces the stator to move backward to the pump and the turbine.

To prevent this movement, one-way bearing is used. The one-way bearing does

not allow rotation in backward direction. As the speed increases, the fluid velocity

increases. Instead of causing pressure at in front of the stator blades, it begins to

press the blades in the rear, forcing the stator to rotate in the direction of the

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 rotation of torque converter. Then bearing releases the lockup and the stator start

the rotating in the direction of the pump and the turbine.

The operation of the stator contributes significantly to the efficiency and

increase of the torque of the torque convertor. The maximum speed that the turbine

can reach compare to the pump at the high rpms in torque convertor modes is up

to 90%.

1.1.2. Lock-up mode

Upon a reaching the speed and the acceleration, the lock-up mode of the torque

convertor is activated. The mechatronic control the movement and smoothness of

the lock and the unlock. Thus, establishing a firm connection, in between the

engine and the transmission. In this mode, all components of the torque convertor

rotate the same speed.

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 1.2. Multiple clutch

A multiple clutch is a combination of series of friction discs that are connected

to a shaft and steel discs. The friction discs have friction surfaces to increase the co-

efficient of friction. Steel discs can be found between the friction discs. The steel discs

sit in lock within the drum/clutch basket. The set of clutch discs, is called as clutch

packs. Friction and steel discs are forced together by pressure. That is a rotation of

friction discs will result the rotation of friction discs. When the discs are no longer

engaged with pressure, the friction and steel discs can rotate freely without any impact

on each other. Generally, the discs are engaged the pressure through a set of coil

springs. These springs apply pressure on the pressure plate that apply pressure to the

clutch pack. Applying pressure through the pressure plate and the coil springs from the

other side release the pressure on the clutch packs.

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 1.3. Planetary gear set

Automatic transmission work based on planetary gear set. Planetary gear sets

have two inputs and one output. The output rotation is drawn from the planet carrier.

Two inputs are connected to the ring and the sun gear. When considering the

mechanism of the planetary gear set, when different speeds to the input are applied,

varying of the speed in output can be seen.

In brief, the operation of the automatic transmission is transmitting rotation

different rotation speeds in to the ring and sun gears. This speed variation can be

transmitted simply by engaging clutch packs. In automatic transmission, there is no

direct connection between the input and the output shafts, rather there is an

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 intermediate shaft between the two. In addition, two clutch packs are used for

transmitting power.

If the ring gear is stationery and rotation is given exclusive to the sun gear, this

will cause the carrier to spin in order to achieve the first gear.

If the first clutch pack is applied the input shaft will connect to the intermediate

shaft. On the other hand, second clutch pack is applied, the ring gear will connect to

the case, which will make the gear become stationary. In order to achieve first gear,

apply both clutch packs together.

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 If the ring gear is also rotating, rotation speed of the output is also increase. To

achieve that,

To achieve additional gear ratio, another planetary gear set and clutch set are

applied. Second planet carrier is permanently linked to the ring gear of the first set.

When the 1st clutch set and the 3rd clutch set are applied together, the ring gear of the

output set will turn. Hence the ring gear of is also rotating, speed of the output planet

carrier will increase. This is the second gear.

If the sun and the ring gears rotate at the same speed, the whole mechanism

moves as a single unit. Planet carrier is also fitted with a hollow shaft. The shaft can

be directly connected to the input shaft with the help of a rotating clutch module (4th

clutch module). In order to get the direct drive, the ring and the sun gears of the output

set should rotate at the speed of input shaft. If the 1st clutch pack and 4th clutch pack

are applied, the sun and ring gears will be directly connected to the input shaft.

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 If the ring gear speed is further increased, the output speed further increases. In

order to achieve much higher gear ratio, packs are added and 1st clutch pack is removed.

Hence, at the 2nd planetary gear set, the input rotation is given to the carrier and the ring

gear is stationary. This combination gives a ring gear very high rotational speed to the

sun gear. Thus, a high over drive ratio at the output can be achieved.

In Allison 1000 automatic gear transmission, another planetary gear set is

applied to achieve 6 gear transmission. And also, another clutch pack is applied. This

gives additional two gear ratios.

Turning the sun gear in the opposite direction will result in a reverse gear. In

order to go in reverse, 2nd and 5th clutch packs are added. This will eventually lead to

the reverse rotation of the sun gear.

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 In this whole process, when to apply which clutch packs is decided by the

transmission control unit. Torque convertor is also controlling the rotation of the shaft

when breaking and accelerating.

1.4. Developments in automatic gear transmission system

Because the convenience of the automatic gear transmission, people tend to use

more automatic gear transmission vehicles. With the past 25 year of developing in this

field, engineers have developed many important features. Eight, Nine, ten speed

automatic transmission system, Automatic manual transmission (AMT) and Direct

shift gear box (DSG) or Dual clutch transmission are some of main novel inventions.

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2. Novel trends in automatic transmission systems

2.1. Eight, nine, ten speed automatic transmission systems

2.1.1. Eight speed automatic transmission system

With the development of the new ZF 8-speed transmission, engineers

have been able not only to put number of speed but also to minimize the fuel

consumption. It is optimum for rear-wheel-drive vehicles and pickup trucks. It

is made by combining four planetary gear sets and five clutch packs. It increases

the transmission efficiency and minimize the drag loss. It has a new integrated

transmission control unit which has extremely quick response time.

2.1.2. Nine speed automatic transmission system

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 With the time, new ZF 9-speed gear transmission has more wider gear

ratio. It has a planetary gear set and 6 clutch packs. These gear sets are nested

to save space. It is the first usage of inter-locking dog clutch in passenger car

power shift transmission. It has more effective torque convertor with excellent

vibration and oscillation isolation for optimal comfort during starting and

shifting. These transmission systems are optimum in front wheel drive vehicles

and all-wheel drive vehicles.

2.1.3. Ten speed gear transmission system

This new 10-speed rear drive transmission is the result of collaboration

between Ford and General Motors, although ford had the lead on it. When

comparing with the 6-speed transmission, the 10-speed delivers improved

overall performances with enhanced acceleration at the low and mid ranges of

the power band. Also, it has optimized wide-span gear spacing coupled with

drag-reduction action plus three over drive gears. It has an electronic control

system which is engineered to help ensure the right gear at the right time

including skip-shift and direct shift-down capability. This transmission system

mainly in Ford and GM super sport cars.

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 When comparing to the 6 speed Allison 1000 automatic transmission

system 10 speed automatic transmission system has much more smoothy

shifting gears.

2.2. Automatic manual transmission (AMT)

Automated manual transmission (AMT) is also known as semi-automatic

transmission (SMT) and also known as clutch less manual transmission (CMT).

Automated manual transmission system doesn’t have a clutch paddle. Only has brake

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 and the accelerator paddles. It allows manual gear shifting when needed. By simply

pushing forward the gear lever for upper shift and pulling it backward for downshift,

driver can change the sift manually. Compare to manual transmission, main advantage

of the automated manual transmission system is its convenience, the driver doesn’t

need to operate the clutch. This transmission system has more fuel-efficiency than

manual transmission.

This transmission system has a complex gear arrangement with a main shaft and

a counter shaft. Figure of six gear transmission of semi-automatic transmission is

shown below.

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 2.3. Direct shift gear box (DSG)

Based on the torque of the engine, direct shift gear system is used and

responsible to very smooth gear shifts which gives more comfort to the passengers.

Also, engineers designed this system to offer more efficiency and low fuel

consumption. Considering the design of the transmission system, these cars are mainly

use either wet clutches or dry clutches. Main advantage of this type of auto gear set is,

if feel the power loss when driving, down shift can be done in a quickly.

This gear boxes are can be found in Kia Seltos, Volkswagen Polo, and Hyundai

Venue.

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3. Summary

In building a new automobile, Speed ratios between the engine and the wheels of in

automobile is mainly depend on the gear arrangements, automatic transmission, clutches,

fluid system which is using to coupling and holding and stopping devices. Combination of

all these make the driver push the accelerator and drive the vehicle smoothly while the

automatic transmission system taking care of the all the complicated hard work.

Transmission control unit and the ECU system are detecting the driving conditions and

shifting the gears at right time. In automatic transmission system, main component is the

torque convertor which control the torque coming from the engine shaft and effectively

give it to the planetary gear sets and clutch packs which are transmit the power to the

differential. Engineers are always trying to increase the fuel efficiency, passenger comfort

and gear ratios. Result of that effort eight, nine, ten speed transmission system, dual clutch

transmission system and automatic manual transmission system are invented. But its not

the end line of this automobile industry because the technology can not be stopped.

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References

1. Crouse, W. H., & Anglin, D. L. (1982). Automotive Automatic

Transmission (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

2. Hephaestus Books. (2011). Articles on automotive transmission

technologies, including: Clutch, universal joint, differential (mechanical

device), automatic transmission, epicyclic gearing, torque converter,

variomatic, overdrive (mechanics). Hephaestus Books.

3. Killingsworth, J., & Haynes, J. H. (2002). Ford Automatic Transmission

Overhaul Manual (2nd ed.). Somerset, UK: Haynes Manuals.

4. Tosi, P. (1997). Planetary Gears. London, England: Mechanical

Engineering Publications.

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_transmission

6. https://global.toyota/en/powertrain/transmission/

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