Tech Briefs

Audi takes CVT from 15th century to 21st

century
In 1490, Leonardo da Vinci made a sketch that indicated the
potential of the stepless continuously variable transmission
(CV!" Leonardo, it seems, took the invention of the
automobile itself as mundane and obvious# $e %ust &anted to
'et do&n to details" $e reckoned t&o pedals &ould be better
than three and that conventional 'ears &ere already passe"
$o&ever, he has had a lon' &ait" CVs may be 'reat in theory
but the fact is they have a (uestionable ima'e and have made,
until recently, relatively little impact on the automotive scene"
)o&, *udi has revealed that it has developed a ne& CV it
believes overcomes the dra&backs of earlier systems and &ill,
at last, make the principle 'enerally acceptable" It adds that its
CV, &hich it calls multitronic, &hen installed in an *+ sedan or
&a'on (*vant! not only offers markedly better fuel consumption
than a re'ular automatic but 'ives mar'inally improved
acceleration to 100 km,h (+- mph! compared to a five.speed
manual" *nd *udi feels it can offer the system at only sli'htly hi'her cost than its current
conventional automatic" */I &ent to 0ermany to find out more"
In /urope, 1af in he )etherlands produced a CV for a car in 1923" his &as developed and
improved over the years" 4asically it &as a simple (some &ould say crude! rubber band and cone
system" he attractions of CV are (in theory! many and varied, includin' seamless po&er delivery,
the ability to allo& the en'ine to rev almost immediately to deliver ma5imum tor(ue, and a &ide
spread of ratios" $o&ever, the 1af CV had somethin' of an ima'e problem" 4ecause it &as simple
to use &ith %ust a stick shift for selectin' for&ard or reverse and fitted to a lo&.po&ered car (the
ori'inal production 1af had a 0"+.L en'ine! it &as popular &ith older people" Later, the system &as
taken up by various manufacturers but at a time &hen cars &ere becomin' (uieter and more
refined" he CV6s trait of 'oin' to hi'h revs on &ide throttle openin's &ith subse(uently increased
interior noise levels met &ith customer resistance" It &as also decided that the system should have
lo& speed 7creep7 similar to that of a re'ular automatic for lo&.speed maneuverin' or &hen drivin'
in very slo& city traffic" 4ut this created a %erky response" Its performance &as improved as more
advanced electronics &ere developed, but the electronics actually became a limitin' factor" here
&as also a problem &ith re'ard to the ma5imum tor(ue that could be handled by a CV even &hen
the rubber belt &as replaced by a steel thrust belt"
*udi6s research and development en'ineers &atched all this &ith caution and it has been almost -0
years since its first tentative CV &ork started, and only no& it feels that it has overcome the
system6s minus points and enhanced its pluses" o demonstrate it, *udi invited */I to sample its
multitronic system fitted to a -"3.L *+, over a mi5ed route of re'ular roads and autobahn" It is unlike
other CVs e5perienced by this %ournalist" *udi states that multitronic finally overcomes all the
dra&backs of the stepless principle, and that the multitronic is the first transmission of its kind not to
pay the hi'h price of poorer dynamism and economy for the added convenience it brin's"
* key element of the *udi desi'n is a variator that *udi e5plains adopts a ne& transmission element
called a link.plate chain made entirely from steel, said to be almost as fle5ible as a V.belt (it has
been tested 7over a number of years7!, to handle the hi'h forces and tor(ue levels of the *+6s
en'ine, &hich has a peak tor(ue of -30 )8m (-09 lb8ft!" he variator allo&s a spread of ratios
Audi multitronic CVT showing the
variator with link-plate chain.
General view of Audi multitronic
CVT.
e(uatin' to a si5.speed system# due to its hi'h ma5imum tor(ue ratio, the variator facilitates
acceleration from rest and renders a hydraulic tor(ue converter unnecessary" *udi has opted
instead to use an oil.cooled multi.plate clutch &hich it said implements a variety of startin'
strate'ies &hich respond to driver preference via sensors linked to the accelerator pedal" he
system allo&s sport or economy mode drivin'" he multi.plate clutch also provides constant creep
behavior" 4y optimi:in' the hydraulics, the transmission en'ineers have ensured that the
ad%ustment processes take place dynamically and &ithout any trailin' effects" he 7rubber band
effect7 or 7slippin' clutch syndrome,7 &hich have been a common source of criticism on
conventional CVs, are essentially banished"
How it works: Audi's new multitronic CVT.
he variator uses a novel dual.piston system and oil flo& is separated into hi'h pressure and
coolin' circuits" ;ump output of the hydraulic system is said to be lo&er than that of a conventional
transmission, &hich aids in efficiency and road performance" he rubber band effect is avoided by
electronically controlled speed trackin', producin', says *udi, dynamic drivin' properties in
con%unction &ith a reassurin'ly familiar pattern of sound < in other &ords, the en'ine does not rev
&ith manic insistence as the car6s speed 7catches up"7 =ultitronic also has a 7manual7 mode &ith si5
fi5ed transmission sta'es, &orkin' in a similar &ay to the manual one.touch se(uential element of a
conventional automatic transmission" *udi claims that the multitronic *+ accelerates from 0.100
km,h (0.+- mph! 1"> s (uicker than a 'eared automatic transmission and is 0"1 s (uicker over the
same speed than an e(uivalent model &ith 7optimum7 use of a five speed manual 'earbo5"
0asoline consumption measured to /? standards sho&s a 0"9.L (0"-2.'al! savin's over 100 km (+-
mi! less than an automatic and 0"- L (0"04 'al! less than a manual" *udi claims it to be the first
automatic transmission to achieve lo&er fuel consumption and better performance than an
other&ise identical model &ith a manual five.speed 'earbo5" *udi opted to use ma'nesium for the
'earbo5 housin' and claims the multitronic as the first automatic transmission to use the material"
7his factor alone brou'ht about a &ei'ht reduction of appro5imately 9 k' (12"4 lb!,7 says @einhard
0esenhaus, *udi6s =ana'er of ransmission /n'ineerin', &ho discussed some of the other key
elements of the multitronic system" 7Ae used an oil cooled drive.off clutch to replace the tor(ue
converter usually found in automatic transmissions" *n input side step.do&n 'ear matches the
tor(ue to the variator and provides a suitable overall ratio" he variator &ith link.type chain provides
a continuously variable ratio accordin' to tor(ue and en'ine speed" Butput to the front &heels is via
an inte'ral front a5le differential" he hydraulic control unit &ith inte'rated pump and local electronic
system is installed at the rear of the transmission"7
$e adds that CVs currently on the market use the van 1oorne company6s steel thrust belt as a
transmission element" 7Ae decided to 'o for a link.type chain that &e developed %ointly &ith the L?C
company" It consists of 10-2 individual links and 92 pairs of pins servin' as cradle links, all made of
hi'h.stren'th steel" In each case, either 1> or 14 links are lined up ne5t to each other" his 'ives the
chain a &idth of >9 mm (1"42 in!D a len'th of 912 mm (-3"- in!, and a &ei'ht of appro5imately 1"9 k'
(>"94 lb!" his link.type chain achieves a hi'her de'ree of efficiency, reduces the radii of the tracks,
and has a hi'her tor(ue capacity from a comparable installation space"7
0esenhaus cites the use of a tor(ue sensor as of particular si'nificance in the multitronic" or(ue
transmitted throu'h the 'earbo5 is re'istered continuously by the sensor, &hich, durin' normal
operation, sets the pressure value proportional to the tor(ue, &hich in turn clamps the chain" 7In the
event of a sudden alteration to the tor(ue value, the t&o split shells rotate,7 0esenhaus says" 7he
ramps and the bearin's located bet&een them cause an a5ial displacement of the movable ri'ht
hand split shell, &hich acts directly on the clampin' :one" he pump effect 'enerated in this manner
causes the chain6s clampin' load to be increased immediately and prevents the chain from slippin'
even durin' peak loads"7
*lso re'arded as bein' of 'reat si'nificance is &hat *udi calls its dual.piston principle" Eays
0esenhaus, 7he variator6s travel disks primarily fulfill t&o functions" Bne is the transmission of the
clampin' load to the chain, the other is the variation in 'ear ratio" Ae have separated these t&o
mechanical functions in the multitronic and developed the so.called dual.piston principle" Ahile both
clampin' cylinders &ith the lar'er surface areas ensure that the chain is sufficiently clamped, the
smaller, ad%ustin' cylinder can be called on to provide additional force if the transmission has to be
altered" he advanta'e of this system lies in the fact that durin' ad%ustin' procedures, the pump
only has to compensate for the volumetric difference in the t&o ad%ustment chambers" In the
clampin' chambers, the volume of oil is simply moved from one clampin' chamber to the other" he
ne& development plays a si'nificant part in enablin' the *udi multitronic to achieve hi'hly dynamic
'ear ratio chan'es" *nd to do so &ith a smaller, lo&.loss pump"7
*s fitted to the *+, multitronic is part of a lon'itudinally positioned po&ertrain" he company is
developin' the system for application to transverse en'ine layouts and for four.&heel.drive (uattro
installations" It believes the system could cope &ith tor(ue levels of up to >20 )8m (-23 lb8ft!" *udi
has not confirmed that multitronic &ill be offered on its ne& small *- =;V (multi purpose vehicle!"
tuart !irch
F E*/ International