Dave, Louise:
I've been a fan of this concept of "infinitely variable" power transmission
for a little over four decades now. I recall a little "euromobile" car that
began using the expanding pulley/ contracting pulley v-belt mechanism back
about late-'50s-- DAF, I think it was(?); Danish(?). 2-stroke(?)
Anyway, the rap against that mechanism has always been that it won't handle
enough torque. One (or more) of the Japanese car mfgs. has done some
development work and even a production model (Japan only, I think) and has
gotten the capacity up to 150hp, or so.
W/resp. to our LSR machines-- those with 150hp (or less) are almost all very
light, and don't need much help with acceleration (or traction-- due to the
lower power delivery requirement). The machines that do need acceleration/
traction help (our big, heavy streamliners, for example) would destroy that
mechanism very quickly. Someone (Skip Higginbotham, I think) was telling me
that somebody ran one at Bonneville a few years ago, anyway.
You can transmit a lot more torque with the hydraulic infinitely-variable
transmissions used in some heavy equipment (and some stationary industrial
applications). As I'm sure you would expect, there is a lot of power loss
through such systems-- however, it's probably not as bad as the 40%
wheelslip figure I've heard for some of the big 'liners.
Easy to optimize torque delivery (with the hydraulic pump/ slave) with a
pressure sensor and a simple control algorithm.
Russ, #1226B
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Landspeed Louise
Ann Noeth
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 11:13 AM
To: ddahlgren@snet.net
Cc: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Torque Converter Slippage
Ah Ha!
I had wondered about constant variable, but because they are so new (at
least to the production line game) and I have test driven only a half-dozen,
I didn't think it was up to the test of adapting to racing, but have
marveled at how smooth they operated.
Ah Dave, you marvelous metal head, no marketing considerations get in your
way, its all pure power lust! Crafting one stout enough would be the trick,
I wonder what the OEM stuff has been tested to already? Most new technology
gets hammered before it is turned loose on the public (most brutal testing
group on the planet) so it would be interesting to know when test mules
broke. . . .Hmm, I wonder if JATCO would let loose with some data? I will
ask.
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