Gear Production

DEC 2015

Gear Production

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16—GEAR Production Supplement F E A T U R E speed of 120 km/h (74.6 mph), the nine-speed shows as much as a 16 percent improvement in fuel effciency. In addition, the 9 hp is capable of being used in start-stop powertrain systems, which provide even more fuel effciency. However, there is still the question of more full-vehicle electrifcation, even if it will take time for vehicles, at least in volume, to get to the point of the Smart Urban Vehicle. Accumulated Experience And here the enormous experience of the Zahnradfabrik personnel comes to the fore. One of the things ZF has been doing is designing many of its products in a modular way. This means that there is, in effect, plug-and-play capability among various related components. In the case of the 8 hp, modularity leads to an eight-speed transmission for a plug-in hybrid vehicle. That's right: ZF engineers have used the 8 hp as the basis to produce a transmission for a hybrid. While conventional transmissions are predicated on being driven solely by combustion engines, the plug-in hybrid transmission was developed taking electric driving capability into account. So the engineers had to make sure that drag torque between the transmission and the engine is minimized, and that they would be able to reduce the torsional vibrations of the combustion engine. This is achieved by installing two dampers, one of them speed adaptive. So for the eight-speed plug-in there is an Gears meet electrons in this, the eight-speed plug-in transmission from ZF, based on the conventional eight-speed. It is ftted with an electric motor, clutches, torsional vibration dampers, and hydraulics. This transmission enables a vehicle to drive on electricity alone for as many as 31 miles. "One of the things ZF has been doing is designing many of its products in a modular way. This means that there is, in effect, plug-and-play capability among various related components."

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