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COUPLING DEVICES  How A Torque Converter Works

COUPLING DEVICES

How a torque converter Recent Comments

works
bhanu on Kirchhoff’s
Current and Voltage Law
Most of the modern vehicles are equipped with internal (KCL and KVL) with Xcos
combustion engines (ICE). One disadvantage of the ICE, example
compared with the electric motor, is that it can not start
Alex on How to read and
under load and it needs an external starting device (electric write matrix data with
starter). Therefore, to avoid engine stopping while the vehicle external les in Scilab
is stationary, we need to disengage the engine from the
Anthony Stark on Anti-lock
wheels.
braking system (ABS)
modeling and simulation
On a vehicle with manual transmission (MT), the engine
(Xcos)
disengagement can be done in two ways:
Anthony Stark on Anti-lock
by pressing the clutch pedal braking system (ABS)
by selecting Neutral with the gear-shift lever modeling and simulation
(Xcos)

On a vehicle with automatic transmission (AT), the engine Ionut on Anti-lock braking
disengagement from the transmission is done automatically, system (ABS) modeling and
without the intervention of the driver. This is possible thanks simulation (Xcos)
to the torque converter‘s work principle.

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Image: Automatic transmission with torque converter systems

Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF)

The torque converter is placed between the internal
combustion engine and the gearbox.  An automatic How to import xls data into
transmission, inside its  case, contains three main parts: the Scilab and Xcos
torque converter, the epicyclic (planetary) gearbox and the
electro-hydraulic control module.
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The ICE crankshaft is mechanically connected to the torque
converter. Inside the torque converter, the engine power is
transferred to the gearbox hydrodynamically. When the Select Category

torque converter is not locked, there is no mechanical

connection between the input (engine) and the output
(gearbox).
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In order to understand better how a torque converter works, About

let’s discuss on the following example. If you have two
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electric desktop fans, placed on in front of the other (like in
the image below), with one of them powered, what is going to Cookie Policy
happen?
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 Image: Torque converter – principle of work

The left fan  is powered with electric current  from the grid.
While spinning it will generate an axial ow of air. The air ow
will hit the right fan (not powered), which will start to rotate.
Power is transferred from the left fan to the right fan through
a working uid (in this case is air). Obviously, the e ciency
of this system is very low since a lot of air will be dissipated
around the blades of the right fan.

The same principle applies to the torque converter, with

some differences. In the case of the torque converter, both
“fans” are very close together, in order to minimize the power
loss. The working uid is a liquid (AT oil). Also, between the
two “fans”, there is another component, which redirects the
uid ow in order to minimize the losses and ampli es the
transferred torque.
 Image: Torque converter – main components
Credit: Luk

The “fan” which is generating power is called impeller and it’s

connected mechanically to the engine crankshaft. The “fan”
receiving the hydraulic power is called turbine and it’s
connected mechanically to the input shaft of the gearbox.
Between the impeller and the turbine is  a stator, which
redirects the oil ow. The volume created by these
components is lled with oil.

When the ICE is idling, the impeller rotation is “throwing” the

oil into the turbine. Since the engine speed is low, the kinetic
energy of the moving oil is not enough to power the vehicle.
There is a small  amount of torque being transferred, this
torque being called drag torque.

The drag torque increases if the oil viscosity increases (at

low temperature). The drag torque makes the vehicle to
“creep“. This meas that, when the shift selector is in drive (D),
with both accelerator and brake pedal released, the drag
torque is slightly moving the vehicle. If the driver presses the
brake pedal, the vehicle will stop because the drag torque is
insigni cant compared to the braking torque at the wheels.
When the driver pushes the accelerator pedal, the engine
speed will increase. The impeller will rotate faster and
increase the kinetic energy of the oil. The turbine will receive
more energy which will result in a higher torque transferred to
the gearbox.

Image: Torque converter – schematic

In the schematic  above we can distinguish easily between

the components of the torque converter. The impeller (green)
is connected to the engine  and the turbine (yellow) to the
gearbox input shaft. The stator (blue) as the name suggests
is most of the time static ( xed).

The oil ow movement in the torque converter has two

components:

revolution, around the center axis together with the impeller

and turbine
rotation (red arrows), around the radial center of the torque
converter

The rotation movement is the transition of the uid from

impeller to turbine, to stator and back to impeller.
 Image: Torque converter – stator
Credit: Luk

Between the impeller and the turbine there is a permanent

slip. This means that they rotate with different speeds.  The
ratio between the speed of the turbine and the speed of the
impeller is called the speed ratio of the torque converter. The
speed ratio is 0 when the turbine is static and the impeller
rotates, and 1 when both rotate at the same speed.

The torque converter has also a torque ratio. This is the ratio
with which the input (engine) torque is multiplied before
being transferred to the gearbox. The maximum value of the
torque ratio (around 2.3 – 3.0) when the speed ratio is
0.0  and the minimum (1.0) when the speed ratio is above
0.85 – 0.9.

The stator is xed as long as there is signi cant slip between

impeller and turbine. When the speeds are close to each
other, when the speed ratio is around 0.85 – 0.9, the direction
of the uid changes and the stator begins to rotate as well.
This is possible because the stator is mounter on a on-way
mechanism.
 Image: Torque converter – lock-up clutch
Credit: Luk

The torque converter has also an e ciency, which is quite

low. Because it has permanent slip, there is a lot of friction
between the working uid (oil) and mechanical components
(impeller, turbine and stator).The e ciency is minimum
(below 10%) when the speed ratio is near 0, and peaks 85 –
90 % when the speed ratio is around 0.85.

In order to improve the e ciency of the torque converter,

when the slip between the impeller and the turbine is
relatively small, the torque converter is locked. This is
possible by using a lock-up clutch, which links mechanically
the impeller  with the turbine. This way there is no more
friction between the oil and components, and engine power
is mechanically transferred to the gearbox.

The torque converter is locked usually in the higher gears

(above 2nd), or when the vehicle speed is above 20 kph.
When the gearbox is performing a gearshift, the lock-up
clutch is put in a slipping state to help damp the driveline
oscillations.
 Image: Torque converter – lock-up clutch vibration damper
Credit: Luk

Similar to a clutch in a manual transmission, the lock-up

clutch has a vibration damper, which damps the oscillations
during the torque converter lock-up phase.

The torque converter is the default  coupling device in most

of the epicycloidal automatic transmissions (AT) as well as
in some continuously variable transmissions (CVT). The
main characteristics of the torque converter being automatic
engine disconnection from the driveline at low engine
speeds, torque ampli cation and vibration damping (due to
hydrodynamic power transfer).

For any questions or observations regarding this tutorial

please use the comment form below.

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2 Comments

Santosh 

Can you please add topic on dual clutch transmission

working?
Also electro-hyrdomechanical working.

Anthony Stark

It’s in the plan, I might bring it in the front queue though.

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