Dynamic Analysis of a Novel Geared Infinitely Variable Transmission

Abstract

A novel geared infinitely variable transmission (IVT) that can generate a continuous output-to-input speed ratio from zero to a certain value is studied for vehicle and wind turbine applications. The principle of changing the output-to-input speed ratio is to use a crank-slider mechanism; the output-to-input speed ratio is controlled by adjusting the crank length. Since the crank-slider mechanism can lead to relatively large variation of the output-to-input speed ratio in one rotation of the crank, the instantaneous input and output speeds and accelerations have variations and the corresponding forces exerted on each part of the IVT can have obvious changes in one rotation of the crank. Since forces on some parts of the IVT are critical and can cause failure of the IVT, a dynamic analysis of the IVT is necessary to simulate the input and output speeds and accelerations. A method that combines Lagrangian dynamics and Newtonian dynamics is developed in this work to analyze the motion of the IVT. The dynamic analysis results can be used to evaluate the design of the IVT.