Theoretical and experimental study of a power split continuously variable transmission system Part 1

Continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) have made notable progress, especially in the automotive industry, over the past years. In this paper the results of a theoretical and experimental study of an original power split CVT (PS-CVT) system are obtained. The main advantage of the proposed solution is to improve the efficiency of the CVTs by means of a power flow without recirculation using two separate phases of operation. The kinematic characteristics of the single-component devices are obtained. Using a special test rig, the power flows and the efficiency of the PS-CVT system are experimentally determined in the first operational phase. The results are compared with those obtained by a theoretical model. The advantages are therefore shown, in terms of power and efficiency, of the PS-CVT system proposed in this paper in comparison with the single CVT.