Automatic Transmission System

Automatic transmission system
1. INTRODUCTION
Automatic transmission system shifts the gears without assistance from the driver. They start the car moving in first and then shift into higher gears as the car speed increases and engine load decreases. The shifts are produced by hydraulic pressure acting through the transmission fluid. The control system takes into account the engine load and in general produce changes up when the engine load is light and changes down when the engine load is heavy. The main components that make up an automatic transmission include:
The Torque Converter: This acts like a clutch to allow the vehicle to
come to a stop in gear while the engine is still running.
Planetary Gear Sets: They are the mechanical systems that provide
the various forward gear ratios as well as reverse.
The Hydraulic System: It uses a special transmission fluid sent under
pressure to control the transmission
2. TORQUE CONVERTER
2.1 INTRODUCTION: On transmissions, automatic the torque
converter takes the place of the clutch found on standard shift vehicles. It is there to allow the engine to continue running when the vehicle comes to a stop.
2.2 CONSTRUCTION: A torque converter is a large doughnut shaped device that is mounted between the engine and the transmission. As shown in the fig.1, there are four components inside the very strong housing of the torque converter: Impeller or pump (driving element) Turbine (driven element) Stator (reaction member) The one way clutch
The housing of the torque converter is bolted to the flywheel of the engine, so it turns at whatever speed the engine is running at. The pump of the torque converter is attached to the housing, so it also turns at the same speed as the engine. The pump inside the torque converter is a type of centrifugal pump. The pump has many curved vanes, along with an inner ring, which form passages for the fluid to flow through. The turbine is inside the housing and is connected directly to the input shaft of the transmission providing power to move the vehicle. To get maximum force on the turbine vanes when the moving fluid strikes them, the vanes are curved to reverse the direction of flow. The stator is mounted on a one-way clutch so that it can spin freely in one direction but not in the other.
2.3 WORKING: As the pump spins, fluid is flung to the outside due to centrifugal force. As fluid is flung to the outside, a vacuum is created that draws more fluid in at the center. The fluid then enters the blades of the turbine. Since the blades of the turbine are curved, the fluid, which enters the turbine from the outside, has to change direction before it exits the center of the turbine. It is this directional change that causes the turbine to spin. The fluid exits the turbine moving opposite the direction that the pump (and engine) is turning. This is shown in fig. 2. If the fluid were allowed to hit the pump, it would slow the engine down, wasting power. The stator resides in the very center of the torque converter. Its job is to redirect the fluid returning from the turbine before it hits the pump
again. The stator has a very aggressive blade design that almost completely reverses the direction of the fluid. Because of the one-way clutch, the stator cannot spin with the fluid (it can spin only in the opposite direction), forcing the fluid to change direction as it hits the stator blades. 2.4 FLUID COUPLING PHASE: As the speed of the turbine catches up with the pump, the fluid exit the turbine in the same direction as the pump is turning, so the stator is not needed. At these speeds, the fluid actually strikes the back sides of the stator blades, causing the stator to freewheel on its one-way clutch so it doesn't hinder the fluid moving through it. All three now elements begin to turn at approximately the same speed. 2.5 TORQUE CONVERTER EFFICIENCY: It is seen that the efficiency of the torque converter is reasonably good at only narrow range of turbine speeds. The fall-off of efficiency at low speed end of the range can be tolerated because those speeds are used for short periods. But the fall-off of efficiency at high speeds cannot be tolerated and must be circumvented. The efficiency can be increased, by substituting a direct drive for the torque converter at higher speeds.
2.6 THE LOCKUP IN TORQUE CONVERTER (DIRECT DRIVE):
Because the only connection between two sides of a torque converter is a fluid connection, there is always a little slippage, running from about 2-8%. To increase efficiency and mileage, most modern automatic transmissions also have something called a lockup clutch. It works like this. As the two speed of the car reaches 50 to 60 kph, the highly pressurized transmission fluid is channeled through the transmission shaft and activates a clutch piston. This metal pin locks the turbine to the pump, in effect bypassing the torque converter and giving a direct drive. It remains this way until the vehicle slows below 50 kph, at which point the clutch piston disengages and the torque converter kicks in again.
3. SIMPLE PLANETARY GEAR SET
fig. 3
The basic planetary gear set as shown in fig. 3 consists of a sun gear, a ring gear and two or more planet gears, all remaining in constant mesh. The planet gears are connected to each other through a common carrier. Each of these three components can be the input, the output or can be held stationary. Choosing which piece plays which role determines the gear ratio for the gear set. Following table shows the different gear ratios possible:
Input Sun (S) Planet Carrier (C) Sun (S)
Output Planet Carrier (C) Ring (R) Ring (R)
Stationary Ring (R) Sun (S) Planet Carrier (C)
Gear Ratio 1 + R/S 1 / (1 + S/R) -R/S
4. COMPOUND PLANETARY GEAR SET
4.1 INTRODUCTION: The compound planetary gear set looks like a simple planetary gear set but actually behaves like two planetary gear sets combined. It has one ring gear that is always the output of the transmission, but it has two sun gears and two sets of planets.
4.2 CONSTRUCTION: Fig. 4 shows the exploded view of the compound planetary gear set. The fig. 5 shows the planets in the planet carrier. The planet on the right sits lower than the planet on the left. The planet on the right does not engage the ring gear, it engages the other planet. Only the planet on the left engages the ring gear. The shorter gears are engaged only by the smaller sun gear. The longer planets are engaged by the bigger sun gear and by the smaller planets.
In such gear sets, the sum of number of teeth on sun gear and ring gear divided by the number of planets must be a whole number. Otherwise certain combination of tooth numbers cannot be assembled because of need of equal spacing on the planets.
4.3 GEAR RATIOS:
Consider a planetary gear set with ring gear having 72 teeth the smaller sun gear having 30 teeth and the larger sun gear having 36 teeth. First Gear: In first gear, the smaller sun gear is driven clockwise by the turbine in the torque converter. The planet carrier tries to spin counterclockwise, but is held still by the one-way clutch (which only allows rotation in the clockwise direction) and the ring gear turns the output. Referring to table 1, the gear ratio is: -R/S = - 72/30 = -2.4:1 So the rotation is negative 2.4:1. But the output direction is really the same as the input direction. This is due to the two sets of planets. The first set of planets engages the second set, and the second set turns the ring gear; this combination reverses the direction. This would also cause the bigger sun gear to spin; but because that clutch is released, the bigger sun gear is free to spin in the opposite direction of the turbine (counterclockwise).
Second Gear: This acts like two planetary gear sets connected to each other with a common planet carrier. The first stage of the planet carrier actually uses the larger sun gear as the ring gear. So the first stage consists of the sun (the smaller sun gear), the planet carrier, and the ring (the larger sun gear). The input is the small sun gear; the ring gear (large sun gear) is held stationary by the band, and the output is the planet carrier. For this stage, with the sun as
input, planet carrier as output, and the ring gear fixed, referring to table 1 the gear ratio is: 1 + R/S = 1 + 36/30 = 2.2:1 The planet carrier turns 2.2 times for each rotation of the sun gear. At the second stage, the planet carrier acts as the input for the second planetary gear set, the larger sun gear (which is held stationary) acts as the sun, and the ring gear acts as the output, so referring to table 1, the gear ratio is: 1 / (1 + S/R) = 1 / (1 + 36/72) = 0.67:1 To get the overall reduction for second gear, we multiply the first stage by the second, 2.2 x 0.67, to get a 1.47:1 reduction.
Third Gear: Most automatic transmissions have a 1:1 ratio in third gear. All we have to do is engage the clutches that lock each of the sun gears to the turbine. If both sun gears turn in the same direction, the planet gears lockup because they can only spin in opposite directions. This locks the ring gear to the planets and causes everything to spin as a unit, producing a 1:1 ratio.
Overdrive: By definition, an overdrive has a faster output speed than input speed. It's a speed increase. When overdrive is engaged, a shaft that is attached to the housing of the torque converter (which is bolted to the flywheel of the engine) is connected by clutch to the planet carrier. The small sun gear
freewheels, and the larger sun gear is held by the overdrive band. Nothing is connected to the turbine; the only input comes from the converter housing. With the planet carrier for input, the sun gear fixed and the ring gear for output, referring to table 1 the gear ratio is: 1 / (1 + S/R) = 1 / (1 + 36/72) = 0.67:1
Reverse: Reverse is very similar to first gear, except that instead of the small sun gear being driven by the torque converter turbine, the bigger sun gear is driven, and the small one freewheels in the opposite direction. The planet carrier is held by the reverse band to the housing. So, referring to table 1, the gear ratio is: -R/S = -72/36 = -2.0:1 So the ratio in reverse is a little less than first gear.
5. HYDRAULIC SYSTEM
5.1 INTRODUCTION: The hydraulic system provides the pressurized fluid to operate an automatic transmission. Major components of the hydraulic system include the bands, clutches and oil pump. Other major components are the governor, throttle valve, modulator and the valve body.
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5.2 FUNCTIONS OF THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM: The effective operation of an automatic transmission relies upon a hydraulic control system to actuate the gear changes relative to vehicles road speed and acceleration pedal demands with engine delivering power. The system performs the following functions, Supplies fluid to the torque converter. Directs pressurized fluid to the bands and clutches. Lubricates the internal parts.
5.3 TRANSMISSION FLUID: Trasmission fluid serves a number of purposes including: Shift control. General lubrication Transmission cooling.
Unlike the engine, which uses oil primarily for lubrication, every aspect of a transmission's functions is dependant on a constant supply of fluid under pressure. This is not unlike the human circulatory system where even a few minutes of operation when there is a lack of pressure can be harmful or even fatal to the life of the transmission. A typical transmission has an average of ten litres of fluid between the transmission, torque converter, and cooler tank. In fact, most of the components of a transmission are constantly submerged in
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fluid including the clutch packs and bands. The friction surfaces on these parts are designed to operate properly only when they are submerged in oil.
5.4 COOLING THE TRANSMISSION FLUID: In order to keep the transmission at normal operating temperature, a portion of the fluid is sent through one of two steel tubes to a special chamber that is submerged in the radiator. Fluid passing through this chamber is cooled and then returned to the transmission through the other steel tube.
6. PARTS OF THE HYDRAULIC SYSTEM

6.1 INTRODUCTION: For the change of gears, lots of things have to be connected and disconnected. The clutches connect different members to be driven and the bands hold the required member stationary. The hydraulic system controls which clutches and bands are energized at any given moment. The hydraulic
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system receives information from the governor and throttle cable or vacuum modulator.
6.2 CLUTCHES: A clutch consists of
alternating disks that fit inside a clutch drum. As shown in fig. 6, half of the disks are steel and have splines that lock on the inside of the drum. The other half have a friction material bonded to their surface and have splines on the inside edge that lock onto one of the gears. There is a piston inside the drum that is activated by oil pressure at the appropriate time to squeeze the clutch pack together so that the two components become locked and turn as one.
6.3 BANDS: A band is a steel strap with friction material bonded to the inside surface. Fig. 7 shows the band and its servo. One end of the band is anchored against the transmission case while the other end is connected to a servo. At
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the appropriate time hydraulic oil is sent to the servo under pressure to tighten the band around the drum to stop it from turning, thus locking that part of the gear train to the casing.
6.4 OIL PUMP: The automatic transmission systems use a gear pump. The gear pump is responsible for producing all the oil pressure that is required in the transmission. The oil pump is mounted to the front of the transmission case and is directly connected to a flange on the torque converter housing. Since the torque converter housing is directly connected to the engine crankshaft, the pump will produce pressure whenever the engine is running as long as there is a sufficient amount of transmission fluid available. The oil enters the pump through a filter that is located at the bottom of the transmission oil pan and travels up a pickup tube directly to the oil pump. The oil is then sent, under pressure to the pressure regulator, the valve body and the rest of the components, as required.
6.5 PRESSURE REGULATOR: The pumps output pressure will increase roughly in proportion to the engines speed. However, the pressure necessary to actuate the various valves and to energise the clutch and band servo pistons will vary under different work conditions. Therefore the fluid pressure generated by the pump, is unlikely to suit the many operating requirements. To overcome these
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difficulties, a pressure regulating valve is used which automatically adjusts the pumps output pressure to match the working requirements at any one time. The pressure regulating valve is normally a spring-loaded spool type valve.
As pump pressure builds up with rising engine speed, line pressure is conveyed to the rear face of the plunger and will progressively move the plunger forward against a control spring, causing the exhaust port to be uncovered, which feeds back to the pump intake. Hence as the pump output pressure tends to rise, more fluid is passed back to the suction intake of the pump, thus regulating the fluid pressure. To enable the line pressure to be varied to suit the operating conditions, a throttle pressure is introduced to the spring end of the plunger, which opposes the line pressure. 6.6 GOVERNOR: The governor tells the transmission how fast the car is moving. The governor is connected to the output shaft and regulates hydraulic pressure based on vehicle speed. It accomplishes this using centrifugal force to spin a pair of weights against pull-back springs. As the weights pull further out against the springs, more oil pressure is allowed past the governor to act on the shift valves that are in the valve body which then signal the appropriate shifts. 6.7 THROTTLE CABLE AND VACUUM MODULATOR: Vehicle speed is not the only thing that controls when a transmission should shift, the load that the engine is under is also important. The more
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loads you place on the engine, the longer the transmission will hold a gear before shifting to the next one. The throttle valve and modulator serve the purpose of monitoring engine load. A transmission will use one or the other but generally not both of these devices. Each works in a different way to monitor engine load. The Throttle Cable simply monitors the position of the accelerator pedal through a cable that runs from the gas pedal to the throttle valve in the valve body. The further the gas pedal is pressed, the more pressure is put on the throttle valve. Engine vacuum reacts very accurately to engine load with high vacuum produced when the engine is under light load and diminishing down to zero vacuum when the engine is under a heavy load. The vacuum modulator is attached to the outside of the transmission case and has a shaft which passes through the case and attaches to the throttle valve in the valve body.
7. VALVE BODY
7.1 INTRODUCTION: The valve body is the brain of the automatic transmission. It contains a maze of channels and passages that direct hydraulic fluid to the numerous valves which then activate the appropriate clutch pack or band servo to smoothly shift to the appropriate gear for each driving situation. Each of the
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many valves in the valve body has a specific purpose and is named for that function. For example the 1-2 shift valve activates the 1st gear to 2nd gear upshift.
7.2 THE MANUAL VALVE: The manual valve is directly connected to the gear shift handle and covers and uncovers various passages depending on what position the gear shift is placed in. If the gear shift lever is moved in the 1st gear or 2nd gear position, the up-shift and down-shift are inhibited by the manual valve.
7.3 SHIFT VALVES: Shift valves, as shown in fig. 8 supply hydraulic pressure to the clutches and bands to engage each gear. The valve body of the transmission contains several shift valves. The shift valve determines when to shift from one gear to the next. The shift valve is pressurized with fluid from the governor on one side, and the throttle valve on the other. The shift valve will delay a shift if the car is accelerating quickly. If the car accelerates gently, the shift will occur at a lower speed.
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When the car accelerates gently, as car speed increases, the pressure from the governor builds. This forces the shift valve over until the first gear circuit is closed, and the second gear circuit opens. Since the car is accelerating at light throttle, the throttle valve does not apply much pressure against the shift valve. When the car accelerates quickly, the throttle valve applies more pressure against the shift valve. This means that the pressure from the governor has to be higher (and therefore the vehicle speed has to be faster) before the shift valve moves over far enough to engage second gear. Each shift valve responds to a particular pressure range; so when the car is going faster, the 2-to-3 shift valve will take over, because the pressure from the governor is high enough to trigger that valve.
8. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
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8.1 ADVANTAGES: 1. It minimizes driver fatigue, especially in heavy traffic by eliminating the need to operate the clutch pedal and gear lever for starting from rest and changing gear. 2. It contributes to safer driving because the concentration of the driver is not disturbed by the need to change gear; also, both hands can remain on the steering wheel. 3. Progress can be smoother under normal driving conditions, because gear changes will occur at the theoretically correct moment in terms of road speed and throttle opening.
8.2 DISADVANTAGES:
1. Cars with automatic transmission are costlier than those having manual transmission. 2. Fuel economy of cars with automatic transmission is not very good.
9. CONCLUSION
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The automatic transmission with its torque converter and planetary gear set, can successfully replace the clutch and the manual transmission gear box.
The planetary gear set gives the required gear ratios and the hydraulic system controls the planetary gear set.
Automatic
transmission
system
shifts
the
gears
automatically,
depending upon both, speed of vehicle and load on the engine.
However in cases like, descending hills, when it is desirable to employ a lower gear, though the load on the engine maybe nil or the engine maybe acting as a brake, the human element has to be retained in control.
REFERENCES
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1. William H. Crouse & Donald L. Anglin, Automotive Automatic Transmissions, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co., Sixth Edition, 1996. 2. John Fenton, Handbook of Automotive Powertrains and Chassis Design, Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd., First Published 1998. 3. Heinz Heisler, Advanced Vehicle Technology, Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers, Second Edition 2002. 4. www.familycar.com 5. www.howstuffworks.com 6. www.edmunds.com
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Automatic Transmission System

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Automatic Transmission System

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Automatic transmission system

come to a stop in gear while the engine is still running.

the various forward gear ratios as well as reverse.

The Hydraulic System: It uses a special transmission fluid sent under

pressure to control the transmission