Energy Efficiency of Power Plants: the Potential of Automatic Transmissions to Meet New International Requirements

• Main Author: Leonid G. Krasnevskiy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, State Scientific Institution “The Joint Institute of Mechanical Engineering" 2017-12-01
• Series: Механика машин, механизмов и материалов
• Subjects: energy efficiency of power plants; mobile machines; automatic transmissions; hybrid power units
• Online Access: http://mmmm.by/en/readers-en/archive-room-en?layout=edit&id=1155

An analysis of new requirements for environmental standards for 2017–2025 years from the standpoint of using the technical capabilities of modern automatic transmissions (ATs), including the hybrid ones, to increase the fuel efficiency of power plants of mobile vehicles, was conducted. It is shown that high potential of the main types of ATs is connected with possibility of ensuring the operation of a thermal engine near the zone of minimum fuel consumption – the closer, the more mechanical steps AT has. Current level is 9–10 in passenger cars and 10–14 in heavy hydromechanical and mechanical ATs, which brings them closer to the hybrid ones in terms of the effect size. In addition, there are reserves of increasing the efficiency of ATs by reducing their internal losses.