Study on Blade Mould CAD/CAM for Hydrodynamic Torque COnverters

Aim To develop blade mould CAD/CAM system of torque converter. Methods The mouldconsisted of four parts and an interactive computer program was developed to design a blade mould of torque converter based on UG at workstation. Results As compar- ed to manual modeling, it is showed in the application that this means not only improves the accuracy of blade shape and manufacture efficiency of converter, but also reduces costs. Conclusion It is proved that this CAD/CAM system is successful, and it opens up widely prospects for design and manufacture of the blade elementsand their moulds.

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.

Performance Optimization of Torque Converters Based on Modified 1D Flow Model

A methodology for performance optimization of torque converters is put forward based on the one-dimensional (1D) flow model. It is found that the inaccuracy of 1D flow model for predicting hydraulic performance at the low speed ratio is mainly caused by the separation phenomenon at the stator cascade which is induced by large flow impinging at the pressure side of the stator blades. A semi-empirical separation model is presented and incorporated to the original 1D flow model. It is illustrated that the improved model is able to predict the circumferential velocity components accurately, which can be applied to performance optimization. Then, the Pareto front is obtained by using the genetic algorithm (GA) in order to inspect the coupled relationship among stalling impeller torque capacity, stalling torque ratio and efficiency. The efficiency is maximized on the premise that a target stalling impeller torque capacity and torque ratio are achieved. Finally, the optimized result is verified by the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation, which indicates that the maximal efficiency is increased by 0.96%.

Application of Dual-blade Stator to Low-speed Ratio Performance Improvement of Torque Converters

With application of the lock-up clutch in the torque converter（TC）, fuel economy is not much determined by its high-speed ratio transmission efficiency. As a benefit, more researches are focused on its low-speed ratio performance so as to improve vehicle gradeability and launching acceleration performance. According to the results of computational fluid dynamics（CFD） analysis, hydrodynamic loss inside the stator cascade accounts for 42% of the total energy loss at stalling speed ratio. It is found that upstream flow with large impingement angle results in boundary layer separation at the leading edge, which aggregates hydrodynamic loss and decreases circular flow rate dramatically at low-speed ratio. In this paper, a dual-blade stator is proposed to suppress the boundary layer separation, which is parameterized by using the non-uniform rational B spline（NURBS） method. The mean camber line and blade profile curve are expressed by a three control points quadratic open NURBS and a cubic closed one respectively. The key design parameters included the slot width and suction side shape of the primary blade are analyzed. The most effective slot width is found to be between 4% and 8% chord length, and the boundary layer separation can be suppressed completely by decreasing distribution of momentum moment at the primary blade and adding it to the leading edge of the secondary blade. As a result, circular flow rate and impeller torque capacity is increased by 17.9% and 9.6% respectively at stalling speed ratio, meanwhile, low-speed ratio efficiency is also improved. Maximum efficiency at high-speed ratio decreases by 0.5%, which can be ignored as the work of lock-up clutch. This research focuses on using the dual-blade stator to optimize low-speed ratio performance of the TC, which is benefit to vehicle power performance.

Fluid-solid interaction analysis of torque converters

In order to extend the service life of torque converters, it is essential to predict the pressure condition and improve its weak areas. According to computational fluid dynamics and structural statics, a model of torque converter is constructed using software ANSYS. Then, a fluid-solid interaction(FSI) analysis method is proposed to obtain its stress distribution, in which the fluid pressure is applied to the coupling surface to calculate the interaction between fluid and solid. The results show that the fluid pressure at the inlet of the impeller is maximum and decreases along the flow direction, the pressure at the inlet of the turbine blade is minimum and the outlet pressure is the largest, increasing along the flow direction gradually;the pressure distribution of the impeller is concentrated mainly at the corner, especially between the inner ring and the impeller blades;the pressure of the turbine is concentrated mainly on the connection between turbine and the outer edge of the blade.

Analysis and Experimental Identification of Torsional Dynamic Characteristics of Hydrodynamic Torque Converter

The subsection linear torsional model of hydrodynamic torque converter was established and further simplified. According to the identification theory, the frequency characteristic was achieved with the Matlab/ Ident toolbox. Then parametric model was established by adopting the subsection linearization method, and the damp value was estimated. The curve and function of damp changing with speed ratio was also established by fitting. In order to validate the identification results, the experimental output was compared with the output of the model in which torque was chosen as input signal and speed as output signal in Matlab/Ident toolbox. It was shown that model output is in good agreement with experimental output.

Mathematical Model of Hydrodynamic Torque Converter and Analytic Description of Streamline

The mathematical model of a 3-element centripetal-turbine hydrodynamic torque converter and analytic description of fluid flow inside the hydrodynamic torque converter are investigated. A new torus coordinate system is proposed so as to quantitatively describe fluid movement inside the hydrodynamic torque converter. The particle movement inside the hydrodynamic torque converter is decomposed into meridional component movement and torus component movement, and a universal meridional streamline equation is derived. According to the relationship between the converter wheel velocity polygon and its blade angle, a torus streamline differential equation is established. The universal meridional streamline equation is approximated with square polynomials. The approximation error curve is given and the percentage error is not greater than 0.86%. Considered as a function of polar angle, the blade angle cotangent of each converter wheel varies linearly with polar angle. By using integral calculus, torus streamline equations are obtained. As a result, the problem of difficult flow description of the hydrodynamic torque converter is solved and a new analytic research system is established.

Numeric Simulation of Single Passage Ternary Turbulence Model in Hydraulic Torque Converter

Based on the renormalization group theory, a hydraulic torque converter 3 D turbulent single flow passage model is constructed and boundary condition is determined for analyzing the influence of the fluid field characteristic and parameters on the macroscopic model. Numerical simulation of the single fluid path is processed by computational fluid dynamics and the calculated results approach to experimental data well, and especially in low transmission ratio the torque and head results are more close to experimental data than the calculated results of beam theory. This shows that the appropriate ternary analysis method and reasonable assumption of boundary condition may analyze the flow field more precisely and predict the performance of torque converter more accurately.

SYSTEM FOR TORQUE CONVERTER DESIGN AND ANALYSIS BASED ON CAD/CFD INTEGRATED PLATFORM

A 3D torque converter design system is developed based on numerical investigation into flow field and CAD technology. The 3D steady-state flow field simulation is undertaken by using time averaged Reynolds equation and k-epsilon turbulence model, with mixing-plane boundary conditions at three section interfaces. The blades are designed according to the flow field characteristics by using a reverse design method in the system. The accurateness of numerical analysis and the validity of design system are verified by the fluid field experiment of desingn example of the torque converter. This kind of design and analysis system for torque converter based on integration of comput ationol fluid dynamics （CFD） and CAD is a powerful tool for torque converter manufacturing, but also a prettg important significance for research and development.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW FIELD OF TURBINE IN TORQUE CONVERTER

Three-dimensional flow field of turbine in torque converter is simulated by numerical calculation in order to improve the performance of torque converter. Calculation model of a torque converter is presented based on the mixing-plane technology. In the calculation of flow field, the 3D N-S equations are separated by finite-volume method and solved by semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations（SIMPLE）. Based on flow field calculation, the flow field of turbine is simulated. The velocity and pressure in the flow field of turbine are analyzed. The external performance of the torque converter is also calculated. Results of flow simulation show that there are secondary flow, off flow and velocity gradient in turbine passage. The validity of numerical simulation is verified by comparing the results of numerical simulation with experiment data.

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.

Influence of Charging Oil Condition on Torque Converter Cavitation Characteristics

Cavitation inside a torque converter induces noise,vibration and even failure,and these effects have been disregarded in previous torque converter design processes.However,modern torque converter applications require attention to this issue because of its high-speed and high-capacity requirements.Therefore,this study investigated the cavitation effect on a torque converter using both numerical and experimental methods with an emphasis on the influence of the charging oil feed location and charge pressure.Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)models were established to simulate the transient cavitation behaviour in the torque converter using different charging oil pressures and inlet arrangements and testing against a base case to validate the results.The CFD results suggested that cavitating bubbles mainly takes place in the stator of the torque converter.The transient cavitation CFD model yielded good agreement with the experimental data,with an error of 7.6%in the capacity constant and 7.4%in the torque ratio.Both the experimental and numerical studies showed that cavitation induced severe capacity degradation,and that the charge pressure and charging oil configuration significantly affects both the overall hydrodynamic performance and the fluid behaviour inside the torque converter because of cavitation.Increasing the charge pressure and charging the oil from the turbine-stator clearance were found to suppress cavitation development and reduce performance degradation,especially in terms of the capacity constant.This study revealed the fluid field mechanism behind the influence of charging oil conditions on torque converter cavitation behaviour,providing practical guidelines for suppressing cavitation in torque converter.

Optimization of the Impeller Geometry for an Automotive Torque Converter Using Response Surface Methodology and Desirability Function

Response surface methodology (RSM) based on desirability function approach (DFA) is applied to obtain an optimal design of the impeller geometry for an automotive torque converter. The relative importance of six design parameters including impeller blade number, blade thickness, bias angle, scroll angle, inlet angle and exit angle is investigated using orthogonal design approach. The impeller inlet angle, exit angle and bias angle are found to exert the greatest influence on the overall performance of a torque converter, with two flow area factors being considered, namely 17% and 20%. Then, RSM together with central composite design (CCD) method is used to in-depth evaluate the interaction effect of the three key parameters on converter performance. The results demonstrate that impeller exit angle has the strongest impact on peak efficiency, with larger angles yielding the most favorable results. The stall torque ratio maximization is attainable with the increase of impeller bias angle and inlet angle together with smaller exit angle. In the end, an optimized design for the impeller geometry is obtained with stall torque ratio and peak efficiency increased by 1.62% and 1.1%, respectively. The new optimization method can be used as a reference for performance enhancement in the design process of impeller geometry for an automotive torque converter.

Transient dynamic analysis and comparison on wedging processes of overrunning clutches with different contact surfaces

The effects of contact surface on dynamic wedging behavior of the roller and inner-ring of the overrunning clutch in a dual-turbine torque converter were investigated to reveal the friction self- locking mechanism and dynamic process. Planar strain clutch models including roller, inner-ring and outer-ring were built, and transient wedging process was analyzed with an explicit dynamics meth- od. The modeling of stress and strain distribution and variation of two kinds of contact surfaces show that there are three stages named slipping, wedging and binding respectively during whole wed- ging process. Meanwhile the geometric structures of contact surfaces greatly influence the peak stress and strain distribution of the wedging process of the roller and inner-ring. The load bearing performance of contact surfaces with logarithmic spiral curve is better than that with straight line. Our study provides theoretical foundation for design and further optimization of wedging contact surface of an overrunning clutch in a dual-turbine hydrodynamic torque converter.

Hybrid Loader Automatic Shift Strategy Based on Neural Network

Hybrid loader 's comprehensive performance mainly depends on the performance of hydraulic torque converter during its driving and working. Hybrid loader and hydraulic torque converter are taken for the research objects. The primary characteristic curve of hydraulic torque converter and the traction curve of hybrid loader are acquired by analyzing the characteristic parameters of hydraulic torque converter, the characteristic parameters of engine, the characteristic parameters of battery pack and geometric parameters of hybrid loader. The gear shift curves based on the best energy saving performance and the best power performance are acquired respectively with the opening of throttle,the speed of pump wheel and the speed of turbine as parameters. Then the two curves are combined to get the comprehensive gear shift curve. Radical basis function( RBF) neural network is applied to building the gear shift strategy to keep hybrid loader with the best power performance and energy saving performance. The experimental bench is set up for experimental verification. It proves that both of the power performance and energy saving performance of hybrid loader are improved effectively by using the automatic shift strategy.

Design and Optimization of Bionic Janus Blade in Hydraulic Torque Converter for Drag Reduction

The chief aim of the present work was to achieve drag reduction in stator blades with liquid using boundary layer control. A stator blade of hydraulic torque converter with bionic grooves in suction side and hydrophobic surface in pressure side was designed. The hydrophobic surface was created using anodic oxidation method and irregular A1203 thin films were found on the surface. They formed hierarchical structure consisting of mini porous structures and microscopic pore spaces, resulting in the hydrophobicity. The bionic groove was designed by Computational Fluids Dynamics （CFD） method. Multi-Island Genetic Algorithm （MIGA） was adopted for groove multi-objective optimization. Through optimization, the maximum drag reduction was close to 12% in oil. In addition, the drag reduction calculation was verified by closed channel experiment and ＂Tire Vortex＂ was proposed to explain the drag reduction mechanism. The bionic Janus blade could maintain its initial profile without any additional device, which had lower risk and less cost. The results are encouraging and show great potential to apply in other flow machineries.

Flow Through Aerodynamic Torque Converter Installed in New Type Turbofan Engine

It is desired to increase the core engine speed of the turbofan, to get the best efficiency for the next leap of the engine technology. The conventional mechanism in which the front fan is directly connected to the output shaft of the core engine has a limit of increasing the spool speed because the fan diameter is very large. The authors have proposed a new driving system in which the front fan is driven through the aerodynamic torque converter. The front fan can work at the conventional speed while the core engine runs more efficiently at higher speed. Continuously, in this paper, the flow through the converter is simulated numerically by CFX-5 with the k-εturbulence model of the commercial CFD code. The secondary flow occurred on the hub wall affects markedly the flow condition on the blade surfaces, and the flow along the suction surface of the driver blade separates near the trailing edge, which is deviated to the blade tip by the centrifugal force due to the wheel rotation.

Unsteady Operation of New Type Turbofan Engine with Aerodynamic Torque Converter Reducing Front Fan Speed

It is desired to increase the rotational speed of the core engine of the turbofan so as to get the best efficiency for the next leap of engine technology. The conventional mechanism in which the front fan is directly connected to the output shaft of a core engine, have a limit of increasing the spool speed, because the fan diameter is very large. The authors have proposed a new driving system in which the front fan is driven through the aerodynamic torque converter. The front fan can work at the best performance at slower speed while the core engine runs more efficiently at higher speed. Continuously, this paper discusses the response of the front fan in the unsteady operation of the core engine, accompanying with the internal flow. The system has the acceptable responsibility in the unsteady operation which is very important for the aircrafts.