Gears are one of the most basic transmission devices. If you are not a mechanical engineer, you will be amazed by the extent to which gears affect our daily life.
There are two basic functions that gears perform.
First, they make power travel from one part of a machine to another. For instance, when you are pedaling a bicycle, it is the arrangement of gears that causes the transmission of power from your leg movement to the rotation of the wheels. Likewise with most other forms of gear based machines.
Second, gears act as reducers. Thereby, they reduce the output speed but increase the torque. To understand this, once again consider the example of a bicycle. If you are climbing up a slope, you move to a smaller gear. This reduces the speed at which the cycle moves, but it increases the power generated by the rotation of the wheels. Hence, on the whole cycling-up the slope becomes easier. A similar example could be considered for a stick-shift car, whereby, you climb up steep slopes in a lower gear.
And to think that in their simplest form, gears are nothing but an interlinked pair of toothed wheels. But, gears can get more complicated. For instance, we could have a chain of gears when gear-one rotates gear-two, which rotates gear-three and so on. Likewise, we could have a situation where one of the toothed element is a cylinder, while the other is a disc. Also, again going back to the example of the cycle, we could have the two gears separated by some distance, but interlinked by a chain, or other transmitting device.
High Performance Car Transmissions
A transmission or gearbox is the system of gears that transmits mechanical power from the engine which ends at the wheels to produce higher torque/speeds.
The difference between Automatic Transmissions and Manual Gear boxes is that Automatic Transmissions change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves therefore not giving the driver control over when to shift gears, Where as the Manual Gearbox allows the driver to shift gears according to their needs whether it be high for high torque or high speeds.
Transmissions provide a major speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque by using gear sets. The cars transmission provides different speed-power ratios. Performance car transmissions must match the power output of the engine for the vehicle to perform at its peak and to reduce the risk of engine damage from over revving the engine.
All transmissions have different gear ratios and several gears to provide for high and low speed torque.
Low gears are used to give the car higher torque at low speeds and high gears increase the speed but have a lower torque therefore the more gears that the Transmission/Gearbox has the higher the speeds that can be gained. So by changing the gear ratios in the transmission/gearboxes you can maximize the power output and acceleration at any given speed. So you can now you can see the importance of the Transmission /Gearbox optimization has on high performance cars.
The difference between Automatic Transmissions and Manual Gear boxes is that Automatic Transmissions change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves therefore not giving the driver control over when to shift gears, Where as the Manual Gearbox allows the driver to shift gears according to their needs whether it be high for high torque or high speeds.
Transmissions provide a major speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque by using gear sets. The cars transmission provides different speed-power ratios. Performance car transmissions must match the power output of the engine for the vehicle to perform at its peak and to reduce the risk of engine damage from over revving the engine.
All transmissions have different gear ratios and several gears to provide for high and low speed torque.
Low gears are used to give the car higher torque at low speeds and high gears increase the speed but have a lower torque therefore the more gears that the Transmission/Gearbox has the higher the speeds that can be gained. So by changing the gear ratios in the transmission/gearboxes you can maximize the power output and acceleration at any given speed. So you can now you can see the importance of the Transmission /Gearbox optimization has on high performance cars.
Green Living
I recently took delivery of my new car, a Honda Civic Hybrid, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it drove like a 2ltr car but in reality only had a 1300 cc engine.
For the uninitiated a hybrid car has a small engine and an electric motor in series. The gearbox is a CVT (continuously variable transmission) so no automatic gear changes are perceptible. In normal motoring the car uses the small engine; when you need more power, the electric motor assists the engine and conversely when less power is needed the car charges the batteries, equally when braking the energy is directed to the batteries as well.
The one feature which was initially unsettling was that the engine stops when at a standstill with the foot brake applied. Releasing the foot brake starts the engine again.
The dashboard has an additional dial which indicates the state of charge of the batteries and an indication of assist (using the stored power from the batteries) or charge (putting power back into the batteries.
Questions
Do the batteries need recharging?
No, they are automatically charged when the car is used.
Do the batteries make the boot very small?
No, the 150 volt batteries sit behind the rear seat so the boot is a normal size.
What MPG is available?
The car is new so 50 MPG is what I am getting now, but I am assured that this will increase as the car loosens up, although the published top MPG of 65+ I think is unrealistic.
What are the other advantages?
Exempt from the London Congestion charge, £18 road tax and low CO2 emissions.
Is the car reliable?
Honda comes top in the car reliability stakes.
For the uninitiated a hybrid car has a small engine and an electric motor in series. The gearbox is a CVT (continuously variable transmission) so no automatic gear changes are perceptible. In normal motoring the car uses the small engine; when you need more power, the electric motor assists the engine and conversely when less power is needed the car charges the batteries, equally when braking the energy is directed to the batteries as well.
The one feature which was initially unsettling was that the engine stops when at a standstill with the foot brake applied. Releasing the foot brake starts the engine again.
The dashboard has an additional dial which indicates the state of charge of the batteries and an indication of assist (using the stored power from the batteries) or charge (putting power back into the batteries.
Questions
Do the batteries need recharging?
No, they are automatically charged when the car is used.
Do the batteries make the boot very small?
No, the 150 volt batteries sit behind the rear seat so the boot is a normal size.
What MPG is available?
The car is new so 50 MPG is what I am getting now, but I am assured that this will increase as the car loosens up, although the published top MPG of 65+ I think is unrealistic.
What are the other advantages?
Exempt from the London Congestion charge, £18 road tax and low CO2 emissions.
Is the car reliable?
Honda comes top in the car reliability stakes.
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