The variety of transmissions available for sale today has grown exponentially within the last 15 years, all while increasing in complexity. The effect is that we are now coping with a varied number of transmitting types including manual, conventional automatic, automatic manual, dual clutch, constantly variable, split power and pure EV.
Until extremely recently, automotive vehicle manufacturers largely had two types of transmission to choose from: planetary automatic with torque converter or conventional manual. Today, nevertheless, the volume of options avaiable demonstrates the adjustments seen over the industry.

That is also illustrated by the many various kinds of vehicles now being manufactured for the market. And not merely conventional vehicles, but also all electrical and hybrid vehicles, with each type needing different driveline architectures.

The traditional advancement process involved designing a transmission in isolation from the engine and the rest of the powertrain and vehicle. Nevertheless, that is changing, with the limitations and complications of this method becoming more widely recognized, and the continuous drive among manufacturers and designers to deliver optimal efficiency at reduced weight and cost.

New powertrains feature close integration of components like the prime mover, recovery systems and the gearbox, and also rely on highly advanced control systems. This is to make certain that the best degree of efficiency and performance is delivered all the time. Manufacturers are under improved pressure to create powertrains that are completely new, different from and better than the last version-a proposition that’s made more complex by the need to integrate brand components, differentiate within the market and do it all on a shorter timescale. Engineering groups are on deadline, and the development process needs to be better and fast-paced than previously.
Until now, the use of computer-aided engineering (CAE) has been the most typical way to build up drivelines. This technique involves parts and subsystems designed in isolation by silos within the organization that lean toward confirmed component-level analysis tools. While these are highly advanced tools that allow users to extract extremely dependable and accurate data, they remain presenting data that is collected without concern of the whole system.

Broaden your expertise of driveline gearboxes.