A transmission with Zero time between shifts. That means constant power to the ground. They don't have the details, but it exists. It will be neat to see how it is applied in the coming years.


http://www.racecar-engineering.com/i...hift_14_N2.pdf

 

Cool

 

Damn right this is cool, and I don't even know how it works. Although I have about 10 pieces of paper and a bike derailler on my desk right now :D

 

Date of the article: February 2004


From the www.zeroshift.com website:

When can I have one?

ZeroShift will introduce a range of transmissions on an exchange basis to be supplied and fitted by Approved ZeroShift Speedshops. UK deliveries of the first two transmission types (ZS-T5 and ZS-T56) are scheduled for Q3 2004. You can register your interest in the Products section if you would like to get ahead.

Deliveries outside the UK will not start until one year after the first UK deliveries.


- For something so revolutionary, they're off to a pretty slow start...

I was excited at first...but for almost a year of little to no progress on the commercial front, the ridiculous claims just make it seem way overhyped....

I want to believe, but I think a revolutionary CVT will be the way to go. Maintaining RPMs at the HP peak and continuously changing the gear ratio is still the ideal gearbox. I haven't had a chance to drive Audi's CVT, but I hear it's slick...

Hehe...remember that crazy engine some guy named Wankel came up with in the mid 1900s? They said it would revolutionize the automobile industry...we all know where that engine went.... :D

-P23

 

Is there any lag time with the new Audi DSG. Since they have 1st, 3rd, & 5th on one clutch/gearset, and 2nd, 4th, & 6th on another I hear that shifts are pretty much istantaneous with no rev drops in between shifts. The car senses that you are attepmting to shift and revs up the next gear (up or down) and matches accordingly.

 

Check out Prodrive's NGT. The article is old, but I find this to be very promising if it ever reaches to production cars.

Remember that Zeroshift will probably only apply to racecars, since I believe in most cases gearboxes are not allowed to have any electronics. Zeroshift lacks this feature. I'm not really sold on the idea since the process cannot be explained.

In production cars, CVTs will probably be the on manufacturer's most wanted list, since it features the aformentioned multiple gear ratios. Ideally, a transmission should be able to have an infinite number of gear ratios in order to smoothly transmit power to the wheels. So far, Toyota has by far the best CVT in its 2nd gen. Prius.

If you're interested in Audi transmissions Fanman, check out its Multitronic.

 

CVTs are cool stuff. I'd like to get my hands on one to play with. :D

 

The terminology needs to be updated. The Audi double clutch transmission rarely shifts gears, it transitions gears. Watching a video of the new A3 with 2.0T, the DC shifts so fast. Running up to 7000, than bang, revs drop to 5000, the tach moves pretty damn fast.


CVTs days are done. they have at best 6:1 gear ratio coverage, so do all the 6 speed automatics. ZF 7p has 7.28:1, and eliminates the torque converter.
IVTs will be the next 'big' thing.

 

What is an IVT, infinitely variable transmission??

is there any point in time in the AUDI transmission where power transmission is interupted?

 

I think he meant infinite ratio transmission. I've seen one as a Design IV project, and it was really awesome. I have no idea of how they came up with the idea, but holy...

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

In audi's multitronic, no.
In audi's double clutch, yes, if the transmission mispredicts a shift direction, or if it has to skip gears 6 to 4. The shift time duration (something quoted like 40ms) is only the ammount of time the fuel injection is cut. There is still positive power being transmitted from braking the engine to the new gear speed.

 

Yup, AUDI DSG is very close to zero shift power loss. I wonder why this hasn't been copied yet ... technically it sounds "simple" (or "state of the art" at best), they probably have a truckload of copyrights for the mechanism.