Torotrak : to present at CTI Berlin Transmission Symposium

Energy Recovery System (ERS) for heavy duty vehicles and traction drive variable transmission technology in passenger cars to feature at international conference.

Low-carbon vehicle technology company, Torotrak Group, will present papers on two of its innovative, emissions reducing technologies at the 15 International CTI Symposium in Berlin on Automotive Transmissions, HEV and EV Drives (5-8 December).

Richard Dunne, Business Development Manager, will present the technical characteristics and validation details of Torotrak's Flybrid energy recovery system in a paper, entitled 'Proven flywheel ERS fuel economy improvement in heavy duty vehicle applications'.

'Since our last ERS presentation in December 2015, extensive service trials of a bus equipped with the Flybrid flywheel system have independently confirmed that fuel economy improvements in excess of 10 percent can be achieved,' said Dunne. 'We have now developed a similar module that can be applied to a variety of off-highway vehicles, such as excavators, wheel loaders, forklift trucks and reach stackers, to yield even greater fuel savings by capturing energy that is normally wasted during repetitive operations.'

Dunne's presentation will include details of both the bus and off-highway applications of the technology, in the case of the bus summarising the system engineering, its installation and the results obtained. In respect of the off-highway application, Dunne will outline the architecture of the energy recovery system and detail the short payback times that can be achieved.

In a second paper, Chris Gaskell, Senior Engineer, New Concepts at Torotrak Group, will provide an update on the company's progress with traction drive variable transmissions, entitled 'Full-toroidal variator technology and productionisation progress, with application to passenger cars'.

Gaskell's paper will show how a process of value engineering, with Torotrak Group partner and licensee UNIVANCE Corporation, has led to the development of a family of low cost variator modules suitable for auxiliary drives and main drive transmissions. Two new technologies that have contributed to reduced cost and increased functionality are DriveDisconnect™ and PitchSteer™. Fully described within the paper, DriveDisconnect is Torotrak Group's unique method of low-power disengagement for a variable drive, providing the energy characteristics of a digital latching system, but with a soft start, while PitchSteer is a low cost method of variator control with very low energy consumption that is compatible with a wide ratio spread of ten or more. New transmission concepts with high efficiency enabled by this wide ratio spread are presented, which are suitable for both front- and rear-wheel drive passenger car applications.

Dunne will present the ERS paper at 12:15 on December 6 and Gaskell will present the Toroidal Variator paper at 14:45 on the same day.

Throughout the symposium, Torotrak Group will also be exhibiting its three core technologies at the concurrent Transmission Expo: Torotrak gearless traction drive; Flybrid ERS; and
V-Charge variable ratio supercharging, which offers efficient power boosting for downsized engines.