Experimental flow fields in an automotive torque converter - an invited summary and review paper

Abstract

In this paper, more than a decade of research on automotive torque converters at the University of Virginia and complementary work is reviewed. A torque converter was tested with a diameter of 230 mm. Laser velocimetry was used to map out the average and periodic 3-D velocities in different planes in the pump, turbine and stator. A range of turbine to pump speed ratios was tested as well as different pump speeds. Large jet/wake regions, including separated back flows, were often identified and well as strong secondary flows. In most cases, flow was strongly periodic at the blade pass frequency at the inlets to the pump, turbine and stator and much less so at the component exits. By integration of the velocity fields, overall performance parameters such as mass flow rates, slip factors, vorticities and torque distributions were derived.