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A re-cap on Previous : John Mortimer (IVT) comments...

Automotive World : John Mortimer : 1 year ago : 03.01.2006

UK: 70 miles per gallon from city car IVT

By John Mortimer
3 January, 2006
Source: AWKnowledge

A UK company has designed and developed an infinitely variable transmission (IVT) for automotive applications.

The compact front wheel drive unit will fit into most small cars with engines up to 1.5_litres. It measures only 300mm in length and offers ...



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Automotive World : John Mortimer : 13th December 2005

UK: Small IVT for city cars?

By John Mortimer
13 December, 2005
Source: AWKnowledge

A small infinitely variable transmission (IVT) developed for ride-on tractors could be developed for small city cars.

The IVT forms the basis of a new joint venture between MTD holdings of Cleveland, Ohio and Torotrak Ltd of Leyland, UK. The new company, Infinitrak LLD, has been licensed by Torotrak to manufacture IVT units for the outdoor power equipment (OPE) market, which covers a wide range of products from ride-on lawnmowers to compact tractors.

The Infinitrak IVTs will be supplied to MTD, which claims to be the world’s largest supplier of petrol-powered garden machinery. Torotrak has invested in Infinitrak the exclusive global rights to IVT technology in the 0-25kW range, and the exclusive North American rights to the 25-45kW power range for certain products.

MTD begins production in 2006 when total output for the year will reach 100,000 units, suggesting an end-of-year annualised output of at least 180,000 units. This provides the security of a guaranteed customer base for Torotrak.

Sales of Infinitrak products to third parties in the OPE market begin in 2008. It is estimated that the cost of the new mini IVT is around US$100.

MTD, formerly Modern Tool & Die, is said to be the world’s largest supplier of petrol-powered garden machinery.

However, although the OPE market is sizeable it is not as large as the automotive market. Here, Infinitrak could be licensed to produce transmissions for small passenger cars, according to Torotrak chief executive Dick Elsy.

According to Elsy the transmission is scaleable up to 340kW (500bhp) for 40-ton vehicles, paving the way for a wide range of variable drive applications, including combine harvesters.

Elsy declined to reveal the secret configuration of the new mini IVT, declaring that all would be revealed in due course. Patents are being filed. However, it is known that the IVT has only one variator, compared with two variators for Torotrak’s ‘conventional’ full toroidal IVT.

To broaden the range of applications, Torotrak has been developing a new low-cost hydromechanical control mechanism that allows access to the high-volume commodity market in the 50-110kW power range. This system allows the variator to be controlled by hydraulic actuation alone without electronics. A prototype vehicle incorporating this technology is being built for evaluation at the end of 2005. However, electronics would certainly be required for small city car applications.

Meanwhile, Torotrak is developing a direct-coupled parallel hybrid. An internal combustion engine is directly coupled to a 20kW electric motor/generator and IVT, all linked to the road wheels. The vehicle has a nickelmetalhydride (MHD) battery and is being used to validate mathematical modeling developed at Cranfield University, UK.

At the premium end of the spectrum, the proven 230kW/450Nm state-of-the-art transmission jointly developed by Equos Ltd and Koyo has reached the stage where in 2006 further prototypes will be built. Equos is the research arm of Aisin AW Co. Ltd, the world’s largest Tier 1 supplier of automatic transmissions and a global supplier to General Motors. Aisin, part of the Toyota group, had sales in the year ended 31 March 2005 of ¥613bn. It manufactured 4.285 million transmissions. Aisin is working closely with a customer for the IVT.

Equos has bankrolled development of the transmission thus far, with further on-costs expected with the manufacture of prototype units. Equos and Koyo are the most advanced of the three Tier 1 suppliers actively progressing Torotrak’s IVT – the others are Getrag and ZF.

According to Elsy, both the European bus and truck applications are still being progressed. Elsy remains buoyant of the effectiveness of his three-year phased rollout of IVT technology into the market place: MTD for the short term, agricultural machinery for the near term (18-24 months) and automotive for the long term (36 months).

Elsy notes that the Infinitrak joint venture demonstrates that traction drive IVT is capable of cost-effective mass production, proves the versatility of Torotrak’s technology and provides a cash generating income to Torotrak.



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