Planetary gear transmission systems or components – Fluid drive or control of planetary gearing – Fluid pump and motor in one of plural paths to or from...
Patent
1991-09-12
1993-02-16
Braun, Leslie A.
Planetary gear transmission systems or components
Fluid drive or control of planetary gearing
Fluid pump and motor in one of plural paths to or from...
475 72, 475 78, 475 80, 475340, F16H 4704
Patent
active
051866927
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to automotive transmissions of the automatic type in which the torque and speed ratios of a vehicle drive can be continuously varied from vehicle start-up with its high torque/lower speed conditions through low torque/higher speed conditions of normal highway driving.
BACKGROUND
Automatic transmissions for automobiles are recognized as wasteful and complex, and yet they remain very popular. The inefficiency of the automatic transmission, with its torque converter, makes it a target for improvement, to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Automatic transmissions have also changed speed and torque ratios in several shifts that are noticeable when they occur. A continuously variable transmission that smoothly changes torque and speed ratios is also clearly preferable for an automotive transmission.
Orbital-type drives have long been used in transmissions for speed reduction. For instance: U.S. Pat. No. 1,684,162 (Trumpler), an orbiting bevel gear spider is used to obtain a variable range of speed and power regulation for a drive shaft coupled to a machine tool; U.S. Pat. No. 1,984,830 (Higley) discloses a variable speed drive in which a pair of orbital drive transmissions are used to provide independent connections between a constant speed engine and each of the drive wheels of a heavy-duty, slow-moving, self-propelled vehicle; in U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,251 (Moss), a constant-speed output is obtained from a variable speed input by a transmission incorporating an orbital drive controlled by a variable displacement hydraulic pump/motor arrangement; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,370 (Stidworthy) shows a transmission which uses an orbital-type drive and operates as a non-slip automotive clutch.
We have devised as improved orbital drive to provide a continuously variable transmission that smoothly changes torque and speed ratios in an efficient automatic automotive transmission. It uses a direct drive for high gear, has no torque converter, and is more efficient than the automatic transmissions that have reached the marketplace. It also continuously varies speed and torque ratios from a low gear up to the direct drive, so that speed and torque ratios are varied smoothly and continuously throughout this range. Our transmission is compact and no more expensive than a conventional automatic transmission, so that it achieves these advantages without costing more, taking up more space, or suffering other disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Our automatic transmission uses an orbital reduction drive connectable between an engine drive and an output, for lower speeds and higher torque; and it allows the engine drive to be connected directly with the output, for a higher speed, lower torque, direct drive. For starting up or climbing hills, where higher torque is needed, the engine drive is applied to the orbit drive to orbit a cluster gear around an output gear and a control gear meshed with the cluster gear and arranged on a common axis. A control input to the control gear establishes and varies a reduction from the engine drive to the output. Holding the control gear still establishes the largest reduction for a low gear drive to the output; rotating the control gear in a forward direction diminishes the reduction as a function of the speed of the control gear, for continuously varying the speed/torque ratio from low gear up to direct drive; and rotating the control gear in a reverse direction reverses the output.
Four preferred embodiments of our automatic transmission are disclosed, along with an additional underdrive unit which can be used with any of the embodiments to provide a low-low transmission for a heavy truck. In the first embodiment, the elements of our transmission are arranged so that its size is very similar to most automotive automatic transmissions presently in use. The second embodiment is similar to the first except that it uses ring gears instead of external gears for the output and control gears. The other two embodiments use external gearing similar to the
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Gleasman Keith E.
Gleasman Vernon E.
Braun Leslie A.
Ta Khoi Q.
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