Study of Reliability Analysis

of CVT system
 Contents
• Introduction
• Requirement of Reliability Analysis of CVT
• Reliability Analysis
• Failure Modes
 Introduction
Front CVT components

Front Fix Pulley Roller Container Spacer

Ramp Plate
Assembly

Rear CVT components

Complete CVT Assembly

Rear Pulley
Assembly and Centrifugal Clutch Compression Clutch Outer
Spring Cup Assembly Spring Assembly

Belt
 Requirement of Reliability Analysis of CVT

 To reduce the failure chance of CVT system

 To improve performance of CVT system under the given

cost constraint

 To incorporate desired modifications in the current

design and to evaluate it

 To improve the quality and durability of the CVT system

 Reliability Analysis of CVT

FMECA

 Failure Mode, Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) is one of the reliability
analytical tools . Failure modes of CVT system are noise, jerking, wear &
leakage which are reasons of failure. The criticality is depending on the how
the problem affects to system. Criticality of problem in whole system can be
determined by the severity, occurrence and detection. When the failure
modes have been ranked, corrective action should first be directed at the
highest ranked concerns and critical items.

 There are two major functions for a CVT system. The first one is to transmit
torque and speed from the engine to the output shaft. The second one is to
adjust the speed ratio between the driving pulley and driven pulley. If
components and their boundaries related to both functions are considered,
the system function diagram of the CVT is as below.
Fig. System function diagram of CVT
 Occurrence

Detection
Potential Potential Risk Priority
Potential Recmmended

Severity
System Function Failure Effects of Causes Number Actions
Mode Failure ( RPN )

Misallign Belt Change in Maintaining

ment of 6 mounting of 6 7 252 proper Pulleys
Slippage
Pulleys Pulleys mounting

Maintaining
Misalignment
10 3 240 proper Pulleys
of Pulleys mounting
Transmit the
power and
automatic Tension in Belt 8
CVT adjust the the belt Slippage CVT cooling
speed ratio as Belt wear due
to burning or 6 7 336 system and
per Allignment
requirement CD changes
Changes

Belt
Belt
heating Elongation 10 No cooling 10 3 300 CVT cooling
and Belt provided system
and burn Burning

Fig. Overall FMEACA of CVT system

 Through the study, it is found that mechanical wear at both sides of the V-belt
is the most serious problem that affects the CVT performance. Therefore, it is
important to find the life of belt used in CVT, and to predict its reliability.

 The summarized result shown in the criticality matrix indicates that belt is the
most critical component of the CVT system. The failure of belt is primarily
attributed to mechanical wear.

 Other components and their failure causes include wear of the roller, aging of
the oil seal, wear between hub and bush of the driving pulley shaft, and
scratching of the sliding collar. In addition, there are other failure phenomena
such as noise and shimmy of the CVT system.

 Since wear is the predominate failure mode of the belt, we have adopted the
following formula to calculate the volumetric wear rate
The volumetric wear rate:
where C and α are empirical constants, and P is the contact pressure

Average contact pressure between the belt and pulley:

Where T1 is the maximum tension, r is the pitch radius, t is the thickness of the belt, and μ is the friction coefficient
between the belt and pulley.

The volumetric wear rate:

Where ΔV is the wear volume, Ls is the sliding distance, A is the contact area, and d is the worn-out depth of the belt.

Worn-out depth of the belt:

Where L is the total length of the belt, subscript L is the contact arc-length, and subscript d is the worn-out depth
of the subscript item.

Reliability of CVT: RCVT = RDriving RBelt RDriver RClutch

If we consider driving pulley, driven pulley, belt and clutch are four major components or subsystems of the system,
the CVT is obviously a series system. Its quantitative reliability
FTA
• Based on the fault tree analysis, few failure causes of the CVT system are
identified such as first category namely CVT failure, it is found that wear of belt
and roller, breakage of belt, damage of sliding collar, and leakage of lubrication
oil are major causes.

• As for the second category of failure related to functional degeneration. From

study, it is found from FTA that wear, deformation and sliding all affect the
transmission efficiency of the CVT system. These factors affect the performance
curve as well.

• Primary failure causes of the belt are its side pressure, bad surface-condition,
and the axial thrust of the CVT system. To improve the performance, the quality
control of the belt during its manufacturing process should be strictly enforced.

• Other performance improvements can be achieved by adjusting the vertical

alignments of the disc and the transmission shaft, avoiding grease and dirt
occur at the disc, and making deign improvement of the coil spring.
Advanced heat transfer analysis of CVT system
The numerical model introduced in this work is able to conduct time efficient heat transfer
analysis within an enclosed CVT by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). As a result, the
surface temperatures of each component can be computed accurately. CFD analysis is carried
out to evaluate design changes and to reduce peak temperatures and hence increase CVT
system reliability.

From Figure, the computed

surface temperature can be
seen. The highest
temperatures occur in the
contact regions between belt
and pulleys

Fig. Temperature contour plot of pulley and belt surface.

Outcome:

 The power loss of the transmission leads to high thermal loads

and the resulting peak temperatures drastically reduce the life
span of the belt. To overcome this issue new designs which focus
on improving the heat transfer and reducing high temperature
zones can be found.

 This type of CFD analysis can be used to evaluate proposed

design changes rapidly and so that we can focus cost intense
experimental work to promising concepts only.
 Field Failure / Failure Modes
Burning Smell
If you sense a burning smell when you are near vehicle, it can be a sign of an
overheating CVT.

Delayed Drive
a loose belt can cause the delay in gear engagement.

s they loosen, slip and fail

Leakage
If you see pinkish oil leak marks when you move your car out of the parking area in the
morning, it can be a classic sign of trouble. Transmission experts say that a CVT
transmission can leak from about twenty external seals, some of which are very easy to
repair and fix, whereas others will need complex services.

shuddering and a sudden loss of acceleration

Intermittent Jerkiness at Low speed

Stalling or refuses to move