An automatic transmission, the thing that makes most motor vehicles drive, is an extremely complicated but fascinating process. In this week's first article we will dive into the process of how an automatic transmission transfers energy from the engine to the wheels...
In the image to the left, you can see a crazy looking device. It's called a torque converter and it's what eliminates the need for a third pedal next to the accelerator and brake pedals. You're probably wondering why this is. Well, it's somewhat simple while being very complex at the same time. When you speed up the fluid inside the turbine section (the section that looks much like a jet engine) increases in pressure, pushing on to the clutch making it change gears. It does this for each gear speed making it a very useful device.
The next part is a little more hard to grasp, so bear with me here... When you come to a complete stop, one half of the torque converter is spinning with the engine, and the other is not spinning at all. That half is what is in sync with you wheels. That is pretty hard to picture, but if you could see it while you're driving, you would be able to tell me why it works.
The gears are even harder to explain because of the complexity of the mechanisms in any automatic drivetrain. The image to the right is a planetary gear mechanism, or part of it.
This makes sure the flow of energy is evenly distributed throughout the wheels when you drive. I will go more in depth in another article on why this works later.
As always, thanks for reading!
This is how I learned how auto transmissions work!