Continuously Variable Transmissions
A fundamentally different type of automatic transmission is the continuously variable transmission or CVT, which can smoothly and steplessly alter its gear ratio by varying the diameter of a pair of belt or chain-linked pulleys, wheels or cones. Some continuously variable transmissions use a hydrostatic drive — consisting of a variable displacement pump and a hydraulic motor — to transmit power without gears. CVT designs are usually as fuel efficient as manual transmissions in city driving, but early designs lose efficiency as engine speed increases.
A slightly different approach to CVT is the concept of toroidal CVT or infinitely variable transmission (IVT). These concepts provide zero and reverse gear ratios.
Some current hybrid vehicles, notably those of Toyota, Lexus and Ford Motor Company, have an electronically controlled CVT (E-CVT). In this system, the transmission has fixed gears, but the ratio of wheel-speed to engine-speed can be continuously varied by controlling the speed of the third input to a differential using an electric motor-generator.
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Famous quotes containing the words continuously and/or variable:
“When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Walked forth to ease my pain
Along the shore of silver streaming Thames,
Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
Was painted all with variable flowers,”
—Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)