Performance Analysis and Improvement of Flat Torque Converters Using DOE Method

Automotive torque converters have recently been designed with an increasingly narrower profile for the purpose of achieving a smaller axial size and reducing weight. Design of experiment(DOE) and computational fluid dynamics(CFD) techniques are applied to improve the performance of a flat torque converter. Four torque converters with different flatness ratios(0.204, 0.186, 0.172, and 0.158) are designed and simulated first to investigate the effects of flatness ratio on their overall performance, including efficiency, torque ratio, and impeller torque factor. The simulation results show that the overall performance tends to deteriorate as the flatness ratio decreases. Then a parametric study covering six geometric parameters, namely, inlet and outlet angles of impeller, turbine, and stator is carried out. The results demonstrate that the inlet and outlet angles play an important role in determining the performance characteristics of a torque converter. Furthermore, the relative importance of the six design parameters is investigated using DOE method for each response(stall torque ratio and peak efficiency). The turbine outlet angle is found to exert the greatest influence on both responses. After DOE analysis, an optimized design for the flat torque converter geometry is obtained. Compared to the conventional product, the width of the optimized flat torque converter torus is reduced by about 20% while the values of stall torque ratio and peak efficiency are only decreased by 0.4% and 1.7%, respectively.The proposed new optimization strategy based on DOE method together with desirability function approach can be used for performance enhancement in the design process of flat torque converters.

Numerical simulation of the flow field of a flat torque converter

A flexible flat torque converter was proposed to fulfill the requirement of miniaturization and power density maximization for automobiles.Constructed by two arcs joined by lines,the torus was designed directly from design path.The influence of flatness on the performance of the torque converter was evaluated.The software CFX and standard k-ε model were adopted to simulate the internal flow fields of the torque converter under different flatness ratios.The results indicated that the performance of the torque converter got worse as the flatness declined,but the capacity of pump increased.The efficiency and the torque ratio dropped slightly as the flatness ratio decreased.So the torque converter could be squashed appropriately to get high power density without too much efficiency sacrifice.But when the flatness ratio was below 0.2,there was a significant drop in the efficiency.

Spectrally flat supercontinuum generation in a holmium-doped ZBLAN fiber with record power ratio beyond 3μm

A spectrally flat mid-infrared supercontinuum(MIR-SC) spanning 2.8–3.9 μm with a maximum output power of 411 mW was generated in a holmium-doped ZBLAN fiber amplifier(HDZFA). A broadband fiber-based SC covering the 2.4–3.2 μm region was designed to seed the amplifier. Benefiting from the broadband seed laser,the obtained SC had a high spectral flatness of 3 dB over the range of 2.93–3.70 μm(770 nm). A spectral integral showed that the SC power beyond 3 μm was 372 mW, i.e., a power ratio of 90.6% of the total power. This paper,to the best of our knowledge, not only demonstrates the first spectrally flat MIR-SC directly generated in fluoride fiber amplifiers, but also reports the highest power ratio beyond 3 μm obtained in rare-earth-doped fluoride fiber until now.

Development of a rapid measurement system for coarse aggregate morphological parameters

Morphological parameters of coarse aggregates,including the angularity index (Al),flat and elongated ratio,flatness ratio,and sphericity,strongly affect the performance of asphalt concrete.A device must be developed to efficiently and accurately measure these parameters.Herein,a charge-coupled device camera and a linear profile scanner are combined to evaluate the parameters.The Al is calculated using three methods.The results show that the fitted-ellipse method provides superior results among the three Al measurement methods.Moreover,the use of a linear profile scanner improves the Al measurement accuracy.Therefore,the proposed combination has high measurement efficiency and is suitable for batch inspections.