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Automotive Transmission system

Transmission - A mechanism which provides us with suitable variation of the engine

torque at the road wheels , whenever required .

According to function and intended use :

 Selector gear boxes

 Steering gear boxes
 Power take-off
 Transfer gear boxes
 Final drives

Functions of Transmission –

 Torque produced by the engine varies with speed only within narrow limits. But
under practical condition automobile demands a large variation of torque
available at the wheels. Transmission provide a means to vary the torque ratio
between engine and road wheels as required.
 Neutral position .
 Reversing the direction of rotation of the drive .

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Why do vehicles need gear boxes ?

 Variation of resistance to the vehicle motion at various speeds.

 Variation of tractive effort of the vehicle available at various speeds.

Internal combustion engines are having high power to weight ratio , relatively
good efficiency and relatively compact energy storage , but it has three distinct
disadvantages -

 Unlike electric motor the combustion engine is incapable of producing

torque from rest (zero engine speed).
 An I.C. engine produces maximum power only at certain engine speed.
 The efficiency of the engine i.e. its fuel consumption , is very much
dependent on the operating point in the engine’s performance map.

Vehicle transmission mediate between the engine and drive wheels .The
transmission adapts the power output to the power requirement by converting
Torque and speed.
Power requirement at the drive wheels is determined by the driving resistance.

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Driving resistances offered to the vehicles :

• Rolling resistance FR
• Air resistance FL
• Gradient resistance FSt
• Miscellaneous resistance FA
Rolling resistance –
FR = f R * GR : f R – Rolling resistance coefficient : GR – wheel load
It is chiefly a function of ground speed , wheel load , tyre pressure , tyre type.
Air resistance –
Air density ; CL - Drag coefficient ;
A- Frontal area ; V – vehicle speed:
Gradient resistance -

It is calculated from the weight acting at the centre of gravity .When designing roads gradient of more than
7 degree are normally avoided.
Miscellaneous resistance –
Apart from above resistances other factors also contribute towards vehicle
resistances , and this includes ; acceleration and braking resistance etc.

Total resistance to the vehicle

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Rolling Resistance

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Composed primarily of
1. Resistance from tire deformation (90%)
2. Tire penetration and surface compression ( 4%)
3. Tire slippage and air circulation around wheel ( 6%)

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The tyre is deflected as it enters the contact patch. Energy is dissipated in this
deflection and is not recovered as the tyre recovers it′s shape as it exits the
contact area.
Rolling resistance can be minimised by reducing the deflection of the tyre. One
method is to increase the tyre pressure.
Crr
train wheel on rail 0.001 to 0.0025
bicycle tyre 0.0022 to 0.005
low rolling resistance
0.006
car tyre
ordinary car tyre 0.01
car tyre on sand 0.3

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Air resistance
Drag :
No matter how slowly a car is going, it takes some
energy to move the car through the air. This
energy is used to overcome a force called Drag.

Drag, in vehicle aerodynamics, is comprised

primarily of three forces:

Frontal pressure, or the effect created by a vehicle

body pushing air out of the way.

Rear vacuum, or the effect created by air not

being able to fill the hole left by the vehicle body.

Boundary layer, or the effect of friction created by

slow moving air at the surface of the vehicle body.

Between these three forces, we can describe most

of the interactions of the airflow with a vehicle
body.

Frontal Pressure :
Frontal pressure is caused by the air attempting to flow around the front of the vehicle.

 Frontal Pressure is a form of drag where the vehicle must push air molecules out
of the way as it travels through the air.
 As millions of air molecules approach the front of the car, they begin to
compress, and in doing so raise the air pressure in front of the car. At the same
time, the air molecules travelling along the sides of the car are at atmospheric
pressure, a lower pressure compared to the molecules at the front of the car.

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Rear Vacuum :
Rear vacuum is caused by the “hole” left in the air as a vehicle passes through it. To visualize this, when a car
drives down a road, creates a hole in the shape of the car in the air. The air rushes around the body as described
above.

At speeds above a crawl, the space immediately behind the car’s rear window and trunk is “empty” or like a
vacuum. These empty areas are the result of the air molecules not being able to fill the hole as quickly as the car
can make it. The air molecules attempt to fill in to this area, but the car is always one step ahead, and as a
result, a continuous vacuum sucks in the opposite direction of the car.

. Rear Vacuum (Also known as flow detachment) is another form of drag where the air the vehicle is passing
through cannot fill the space of the hole left behind by the vehicle, leading to what amounts to a vacuum.
This inability to fill the hole left by the car is technically
called Flow detachment. Flow detachment applies only to the
“rear vacuum” portion of the drag forces and has a
greater and greater negative effect as vehicle speed
increases. In fact, the drag increase with the square
of the vehicle speed, so more and more horsepower is
needed to push a vehicle through the air as its speed rises.
Therefore, when a vehicle reaches high speeds it
becomes important to design the car to limit areas
of flow detachment. Ideally, we give the air molecules
time to follow the contours of a car’s bodywork,
and to fill the hole left by the vehicle, its tires, its
suspension and its protrusions (i.e. mirrors, roll bars).

According to Bernoulli’s principle, for a given volume of air, the higher the velocity the air molecules are
travelling, the lower the pressure becomes. Likewise, for a given volume of air, the lower the velocity of the
air molecules, the higher the pressure becomes. This applies to air in motion across a still body, or to a
vehicle in motion, moving through relatively still air.
In the Frontal Pressure section above, we said that the air pressure was high as the air rammed into the front
grill of the car. What is happening is that the air slows down as it approaches the front of the car, and as a
result more molecules are packed into a smaller space. Once the air stagnates at the point in front of the car, it
seeks a lower pressure area, such as the sides, top and bottom of the car.
As the air flows over the hood of the car, it’s loses pressure, but when it reaches the windscreen, it again
comes up against a barrier, and briefly reaches a higher pressure. The lower pressure area above the hood of
the car creates a small lifting force that acts upon the area of the hood (Sort of like trying to suck the hood off
the car). The higher pressure area in front of the windscreen creates downforce. This is akin to pressing down
on the windshield.
Where most road cars get into trouble is the fact that there is a large surface area on top of the car’s roof. As
the higher pressure air in front of the wind screen travels over the windscreen, it accelerates, causing the
pressure to drop. This lower pressure literally lifts on the car’s roof as the air passes over it.
Worse still, once the air makes its way to the rear window, the notch created by the window dropping down to
the trunk creates a vacuum (or low pressure space) that the air is not able to fill properly. The flow is said to
detach and the resulting lower pressure creates lift that then acts upon the surface area of the trunk. Prior to
the use of aerodynamic devices to reduce these effects, race car drivers would feel the car becoming “light”
in the rear when travelling at high speeds.
Not to be forgotten, the underside of the car is also responsible for creating lift or downforce. If a car’s front
end is lower than the rear end, then the front end restricts the air flow under the car and the widening gap
between the underside and the road creates a low pressure area. If there is neutral or higher air pressure above
the car, then we get downforce due to the difference in the pressure above and below the car. See the diagram
LD2 below:

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Composed of:
1. Turbulent air flow around vehicle body
(85%)
2. Friction of air over vehicle body (12%)
3. Vehicle component resistance, from
radiators and air vents (3%)

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Use Spoilers : Spoilers are widely used on sedan type cars such as NASCAR stock cars. These aerodynamic
aids producedownforce by creating a “dam” at the rear lip of the trunk, raising the air pressure over the trunk.
Where a notch left by the rear window exists a spoiler can help restore prssure to the void behind the window
Use Wings : Wings are the inverted version of what you find on aircraft. They work very efficiently, and in
less aggressive forms generate more downforce than drag, so they are loved in many racing circles and by
high performance road car builders. Wings are best placed in areas that have clear airflow to them. Placing a
wing behind an obstruction reduces the downforce the wing can produce.
Use Front Air Dams : Air dams at the front of the car restrict the flow of air reaching the underside of the
car. This creates a lower pressure area under the car, effectively providing downforce. In many cases, the air
dam also reduces the Cd of the vehicle. This low pressure area, in combination with the higher
pressures above the front and top of the vehicle, generatesdownforce at the front of the vehicle.

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Gradient resistance
R g  W sin  g
Due to small highway grades  g  tan  g  1
R g  W tan  g  WG
G  grade as vertical rise per
some horizontal distance

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Manual gearboxes :

- Sliding mesh gearbox

- Constant mesh gearbox
- Synchromesh gearbox

Gear Ratios
• When two gears are in mesh, a gear ratio exists
• Driven Gear = Ratio
Drive Gear
• Example:
– Drive gear has 14 teeth
– Driven gear has 28 teeth
– 28  14 = 2:1 ratio (two to one ratio)
– The drive gear must rotate twice
to make the driven gear rotate once

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Reversal of Direction
• When two gears are in mesh one will spin
the opposite direction of the other
• Idlers are used to reverse direction

Speed Change
• The change in RPM from the input gear to the output gear is
directly proportional to the gear ratio
• Example: 3:1 gear ratio
– Input gear turns at 900 RPM
– Output gear turns at 300 RPM
Torque Multiplication
1 inch 3 inches
• The change in torque from the input
gear to the output gear is directly
proportional to the gear ratio

• Example: 3:1 gear ratio

– Engine turns input gear at 900 RPM with 50 N-m of force
– Output gear turns driveshaft at 300 RPM with 150 N-m of
force

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Gear Engine Engine Gear Transmissio Transmissio

Output Speed Ratio n Output n Output
Torque Torque Speed
1 200 ft/lbs 2000 4:1 800 ft/lbs 500 RPM Underdrive
RPM
2 200 ft/lbs 2000 2:1 400 ft/lbs 1000 RPM Underdrive
RPM

3 200 ft/lbs 2000 1:1 200 ft/lbs 2000 RPM Direct Drive
RPM

4 200 ft/lbs 2000 .5:1 100 ft/lbs 4000 RPM Overdrive

RPM

Sliding Mesh Gear Box

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Helical Gears Spur Gears

Constant Mesh Gear Box

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Two types of reverse gear arrangement

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Synchromesh Gear Box

A synchromesh transmission is a
constant mesh, collar shift transmission
equipped with synchronizers, which
equalize the speed of the shafts and
gears before they are engaged.

Synchronizers
• A device used to bring two adjacent members to
the same speed before allowing the sleeve to
engage them.
• The two elements are friction clutch and toothed
clutch.
• Lock the positive engagement until speeds are
synchronized .
• Establish the positive engagement and power flow.
• Synchronizer is splined on the shaft Cone on the
gear (blue) fits into cone-shaped area in the collar.
• Friction between the cone and collar synchronize
the collar & gear.
• The outer portion of the collar (sleeve) then slides
so that the dogteeth engage the gear.

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GEAR BOX DESIGN

• Gear Ratio Selection

• Gear Teeth Selection
• Gear parameters (module, pr.angle etc)

Factors to be

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Gear ratio selection

Transmission gear ratio design involves :

 Move off under difficult condition (maximum gradient).

 Reach the required maximum speed.
 Operate in the fuel efficient range of the engine performance map.

Basic design of the transmission involves first determining the maximum &
minimum ratios and then selecting the intermediate ratios.

 Maximum ratio is fixed by the first condition.

 Minimum ratio is fixed by the maximum road speed.
 Intermediate ratio is based on the last condition

Factors affecting the gear ratio selection :

 Type of vehicle
 Type of engine
 Other factors

Top Gear Ratio

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Bottom Gear Ratio

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Overall Gear Ratios

• Final gear ratio x 1st gear ratio = total gear ratio
4.1 x 2.52 = 10.33:1
– This tells us that the engine turns 10.33 revolutions
for every 1 revolution of the tires (speed reduction)
• Torque multiplication can also be calculated
– The engine produces 230N-m of torque at 3200rpm
– @ 3200 RPM in 1st gear the torque acting on the
rear tires = 230 N-m x 10.33 = 2375.9 N-m torque !!!

When choosing the lowest and highest gear ratio ,the factor to be considered is
not just the available engine power , but it also depends the weight of the
vehicle and load expected to propel , so power to weight ratio is important .
Power to weight ratio = Brake power developed / laden weight of the vehicle.

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Intermediate Gear Ratio

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• Traffic density , road condition determines maximum speed .ie minimum ratio
• Better acceleration is provided by intermediate gears.
• Overall gear ratio( ratio between largest and smallest ratios) depends on
- specific power output of the vehicle (power to weight ratio)
- Intended use
• vehicles with low specific power output like commercial vehicles need a larger
overall gear ratio same applies for vehicles with diesel engines which have a
small engine speed spread .

Consider the following :

Road wheel dia – 0.66 m : speed of the vehicle = 60 mph
Under these condition ,
Engine speed would have to be about 3500 rpm ;
Road wheels would be rotating at 800 rpm;
Consequently
overall ratio of the gearing between engine and road wheels would be 4.5 : 1

• In practice this ratio would differ depend on the size of the eng. and wt of the vehicle.
• car with large engine might have an ratio of 3 : 1 , medium weight commercial
vehicle 5.5 : 1 , heavy truck 10: 1 or even higher.
• demand for fuel economy tends to encourage use of overdrive gearboxes and overall
gear ratios as high as 6 : 1 , and cars with five speed gear boxes .

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Power Take off

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Sequential gear box

The manual gearbox has a series of

selector forks which were moved by
the physical position of the gear stick.
In a sequential box, those selector
forks are connected to a single shaft
that has corkscrew-type grooves in it.
The collar that fits around this
selection shaft has a ball bearing in it
which sits in a recess in the collar as
well as in one of the corkscrew
grooves. When the gear stick is
moved forwards or backwards, the
selector shaft is mechanically turned
by some number of degrees. That
twisting motion rotates the corkscrew
groove which in turn interacts with the
ball bearings and the selector fork
collars, forcing them to slide back and
forth. Each click of the gear stick
rotates the shaft another number of
degrees and all the selector forks
change position in one go.

Gear selector lever

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BASIC OPERATION

CBC
AUTOMOTIVE
Page 77
RK

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DETENT & INTERLOCK

• Detent - a ball & spring used to hold a shift
rail in position.
• Interlock - a oval shaped device used
between shift rails so only one gear at a
time can be selected.
• Rollpin or setscrew - used to attach a shift
fork to a shift rail.

DETENT & INTERLOCK

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SHIFT RAIL TYPICAL

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Hydramatic Transmission

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Effect of adhesion limit

See also: Traction (engineering)
Adhesion is caused by friction, with maximum tangential force
produced by a driving wheel before slipping given by:
Fmax= coefficient of friction x Weight on wheel x gravity. [N]
Usually the force needed to start sliding is greater than that
needed to continue sliding. The former is concerned with static
friction, referred colloquially to as 'stiction', or 'limiting friction',
whilst the latter is called 'sliding friction'.
For steel on steel, the coefficient of friction can be as high as
0.78, under the best of conditions (= utopic laboratory condition,
on railway realty: 0.35 -0.5 2) , whilst under extreme conditions it
can fall to as low as 0.05. Thus a 100 tonne locomotive could
have a tractive effort of 350 kilonewton, under the ideal
conditions (assuming sufficient force can be produced by the
engine), falling to a 50 kilonewton under the worst conditions.

Traction refers to the maximum frictional force that can be

produced between surfaces without slipping
Traction is defined as:
..a physical process in which a tangential force is transmitted
across an interface between two bodies through dry friction or an
intervening fluid film resulting in motion, stoppage or the
transmission of power3 (Copyright: "Mechanical Wear
Fundamentals and Testing" by Raymond George Bayer)
The traction produced by a vehicle if expressed as a force is
synonymous with tractive effort, or tractive force, and closely
related to the term drawbar pull.
How steep is the grade in San Francisco? The famous Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world only has a grade of 14.3 %.
The steepest street in San Francisco is Filbert Street between Hyde and Leavenworth at a grade of 31.5 %. reference
Driving in San Francisco at times is like a roller coaster, you can’t see below the nose of your car sitting at the top of the hill, though
you can usually see the base of the hill.
What is max grade allowed by law?
Maximum grade is not regulated so much by law as by engineering standards. Maximum grade varies by type of road, and expected
speed. In practice, it depends on the alternatives: Is the alternative no road at all? Max grade in the relatively flat Minnesota might be
lower than Max grade in mountainous Colorado where there are fewer alternatives. Some typical values for illustration:
An interstate is out of standard if it has a grade > 7%.
The National Road (built in 1806) had a maximum grade of 8.75%.
Local roads are much higher (12% or 15% are sometimes allowed)
Otter Tail MN County roads 6%, alleys 8%
Driveways can be as much as 30% for a short distance

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Whoever told you that "overdrive" was the gear giving you a "burst of speed" when you "floor it" was
completely mistaken. When you "floor it", you are temporarily downshifting to a a lower gear
(overdrive is a "higher" gear), which gives you that boost of power, but at the expense of straining
your engine (thus it should be done sparingly).
In automatic transmissions, overdrive is the highest gear in the transmission. The majority of
automatic transmissions have three speeds plus "overdrive" (a fourth [higher] speed). Overdrive
allows your engine to operate at a lower rpm for a given road speed, which allows your vehicle to
realize better fuel efficiency under high-speed highway conditions. When you turn it "on", you allow
the transmission to shift into overdrive mode only after a certain speed is reached (usually around
45 miles-per-hour) depending on the engine load (the shift to overdrive would not likely occur going
uphill, for example, as the the engine has to work harder under such a condition, and at lower
rpms). When it is "off", your automatic transmission will only use its lower three gears (which is
advisable only if you generally stay under 45 miles-per-hour [like around town], or your vehicle is
being operated in a mountainous area where more engine power is required).

The automatic transmission automatically shifts from overdrive back down to third gear when more
load is present (as under the conditions mentioned above), so it not actually necessary to manually
turn it "off", although it can be helpful. When less load is present, it automatically shifts back into
overdrive. Under certain conditions, such as driving up a steep hill or towing a trailer, the
transmission may start shifting back-and-forth between overdrive and third gear, trying to "decide"
which gear is best to use (in a case such as this, switching the overdrive "off" would likely be the
best idea). It’s also usually a good idea to shift overdrive "off" when engine braking is desired (a
technique use to get the engine to automatically downshift, as when you are starting to pick-up
speed on a downhill run).

Although manual transmissions don’t call them "overdrives", the same goals accomplished by
overdrives in automatic transmissions are effected by having higher gears, such as a "fifth" gear.

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