"Zero-shift" transmission
Discussion
Just had a read of a magazine called Racecar Engineering, and they are talking about a new transmission called zero-shift, whereby there is no delay in changing gear.....part of the article is on their website www.racecar-engineering.com where I've grabbed the following text:
Paradigm shift
Before you get too deep into this feature, it’s only fair to warn you that, due to the sensitivity of the technology we’re writing about, we’re unable to bring you the whole story.
Normally we wouldn’t do that. Either we would insist on telling our readers everything or we would hold off until we were in a position to. This, however, is an exception. The principle behind the gearbox you are about to read about is so revolutionary and so original that even the limited amount we are allowed to tell you makes the story worth telling.
The Holy Grail of gearbox design is reduced shift time ultimately leading to no discernable break in power delivery at all. While any decent racing box measures its shift times in milliseconds, to an engineer it represents a huge gap during which any application of power to the road is prevented. Take the time for one shift, multiply it by the number of up changes in a race or even a qualifying lap and the resultant time the car spends just coasting is enough to make a race engineer weep.
If changes could be made not only without cutting the engine’s power but also without breaking drive to the road then the gains are obvious to anyone. This is an objective that has eluded everyone including all the Formula 1 teams, but a new company in the UK has achieved it. Notice that we don’t say ‘claims’ or even ‘appears’ because even though we can’t say exactly how it is done, we have seen it and you must believe us when we say it works.
Later on in the full article they mention that they tested the design in ex-Tuscan Racer Phil James road going Cerbera, and it worked a dream.
The article also mentioned that component wear is reduced, stress is reduced, stability (accelerating, cornering and braking) is increased due to improved smoothness in changing gear.
Interesting reading...
LB
Paradigm shift
Before you get too deep into this feature, it’s only fair to warn you that, due to the sensitivity of the technology we’re writing about, we’re unable to bring you the whole story.
Normally we wouldn’t do that. Either we would insist on telling our readers everything or we would hold off until we were in a position to. This, however, is an exception. The principle behind the gearbox you are about to read about is so revolutionary and so original that even the limited amount we are allowed to tell you makes the story worth telling.
The Holy Grail of gearbox design is reduced shift time ultimately leading to no discernable break in power delivery at all. While any decent racing box measures its shift times in milliseconds, to an engineer it represents a huge gap during which any application of power to the road is prevented. Take the time for one shift, multiply it by the number of up changes in a race or even a qualifying lap and the resultant time the car spends just coasting is enough to make a race engineer weep.
If changes could be made not only without cutting the engine’s power but also without breaking drive to the road then the gains are obvious to anyone. This is an objective that has eluded everyone including all the Formula 1 teams, but a new company in the UK has achieved it. Notice that we don’t say ‘claims’ or even ‘appears’ because even though we can’t say exactly how it is done, we have seen it and you must believe us when we say it works.
Later on in the full article they mention that they tested the design in ex-Tuscan Racer Phil James road going Cerbera, and it worked a dream.
The article also mentioned that component wear is reduced, stress is reduced, stability (accelerating, cornering and braking) is increased due to improved smoothness in changing gear.
Interesting reading...
LB
Sounds incredible, and I'd be very interested to find out how it works (if it actually does) when they go public. Since they're basing it on standard manual boxes this seems to rule out the fancy dual clutch stuff and so on. The only way I can think of for this to work, is to have a 'dog box' sort of system where, when the gear is disengaged instead of the gear being positively pulled out of engagement it is left with a spring trying to pull it out, while the torque holds it in gear. As soon as you remove the torque the spring pulls it out. Then, to change gear you simply engage a higher gear, due to the relative gearing the higher gear will take all the torque allowing the lower gear to disengage. This would try to drop the engine revs instantaneously but I guess you could use the clutch as a torque limiter to let it spin down more gently. But this seems pretty far fetched and as far as I can see this would only work going up the box, if you tried to use it going down both gears will stay engaged and it all locks solid. Maybe they've found a way round that, or maybe they're working a less hair-brained approach. Or maybe they're bluffing.
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