09PFL-0925

Application of a Variable Drive to Supercharger & Turbo Compounder Applications

Chris Brockbank
Torotrak (Development) Ltd
Copyright 2008 SAE International

ABSTRACT
With the increasing focus on vehicle fuel economy and powertrain efficiency, pressure charging of engines is becoming increasingly prevalent. Building on the successful application of the full-toroidal traction drive CVT in both mechanical hybrid systems for Formula 1 Motorsport and mainstream road cars and as a transmission system for low power and torque systems in the Outdoor Power Equipment market sector, the Torotrak variable drive technology is now applied as a variable drive for supercharger and turbo compounding systems providing enhanced operation and maximising system efficiency. This paper considers the options for providing a variable drive for pressure charging systems to further optimise powertrain efficiencies.

The result is a family of cost-effective, small, power dense variable drive units that can be applied to ancillary powertrain systems to improve the overall powertrain efficiency. Two applications are described here namely :1. Taking the two roller design concept from the OPE application and developing simple variable drive systems for superchargers and 2. Using the Variator technology from the mechanical hybrid as a variable drive unit for a turbo compounding system.

BACKGROUND
THE FULL TOROIDAL VARIATOR

INTRODUCTION
Torotrak is a Research & Development company specialising in development of full toroidal traction drive transmission technology. Applications range from lowpower ancillary drive units through to multi-regime transmissions suitable for passenger cars, SUVs, buses, trucks and off-highway vehicles. Although Torotraks technology is normally associated with high torque maindrive transmissions for automotive applications, first commercial launch of the technology has occurred in the USA in the Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) market for domestic and commercial ride on lawnmowers and garden tractors. In addition, the full toroidal traction drive Variator has recently been applied as part of a flywheel based mechanical hybrid for Formula 1 motorsport and mainstream automotive applications. Both the OPE and mechanical hybrid developments have generated technical improvements in the full toroidal technology resulting in significant cost, weight and power density benefits.

The heart of the Torotrak variable drive system is the full toroidal traction drive Variator. The schematic in Figure 1 explains the operating principle of the Variator.

1 1. The input disc(s) Powered by the engine 2. The variator roller(s) Transfer power and match Disc speeds 3. The output disc(s) Transmit power to the drive shaft 4. Ratio Change Rollers steer like a castor to reflect the ratio change. 4 2

3 2

Figure 1: Full toroidal Variator schematic The power source (normally an engine) drives the input discs (1) and power is transmitted via the rollers (2) to

the output discs (3). When the rotational velocities of the input and/or output discs change, the rollers automatically alter their inclination in order to adjust to the new operating conditions (4). Power transmission is achieved by traction, i.e. by shearing an extremely thin, elasto-hydrodynamic fluid film (traction fluid [1]) and not through metal-to-metal friction. Hence the name 'traction drive', which is defined in [2] as: a power transmission device which utilizes hardened, metallic, rolling bodies for transmission of power through an elastohydrodynamic fluid film. The force balance in the discs and rollers is shown in figure 2.
Castor Angle Tangential Force

Figure 3: Principle of Torque Control Previously, Torotrak have demonstrated a 20% fuel economy benefit from the full toroidal traction drive technology in a twin regime Geared Neutral Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT) arrangement in a fleet of V8 powered Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) [4]. In addition, the disc and roller durability [4] and traction fluid developments [5] have been reported.

Endload

Endload

VARIABLE DRIVE SUPERCHARGER SYSTEM

Reaction Force

BACKGROUND The first Series Production of the Torotrak full toroidal Variator technology is as part of a transmission system for a ride on lawntractor in the Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) market. To compete in this particularly cost sensitive market segment, significant simplification was required in both the design and operation of the Variator. This simplification was achieved by utilizing a single cavity design, reducing the number of rollers in the cavity from three to two and introducing a simple yoke style roller control mechanism.

Figure 2: Variator Force Balance The application of a castor angle to the roller carriages (as described in Figure 2) enables the rollers to steer to a new angle of inclination and hence Variator ratio. The Torotrak Variator is torque controlled in that the required system torque is set by applying pressure to the pistons connected to the rollers and the Variator follows the ratio automatically [3]. Figure 3 explains this approach using a simplified single roller model. Applying a reaction force F to the roller causes a reaction torque (Ta and Tb) at the Variator discs and consequently an acceleration of the two inertias (engine side inertia A and vehicle side inertia B). This may change the speed of the engine and/or vehicle inertia resulting in a change of Variator ratio. Due to application of the castor angle, this ratio change happens automatically. In the Torotrak Variator design described above, reaction force is applied hydraulically to individual roller carriage pistons.

Figure 4: Two Roller Control Mechanism

This two roller design is in Series Production in the Twin Toroidal Transmission (TTT) as shown in Figure 5.

Hence, having determined that a variable speed drive to a supercharger is potentially beneficial, the next step was to determine the optimal arrangement including Variator ratio spread and supercharger speeds. Various gearing arrangements and Variator ratio spreads where investigated with the conclusion that a Variator ratio spread of 5 connected directly to the engine with a step up gearing on the output would provide the best arrangement of the system. To minimise package, the Torotrak Variator is normally arranged with a symmetrical variable ratio spread around the 1:1 point. Therefore, for a ratio spread of 5, a Variator with a maximum ratio of 2.236 (= 5) and a minimum ratio of 0.447 (= 1/5) is applied. With this ratio spread, a step up gear of 2:1 between the Variator and the supercharger was assumed. This provides the potential envelope of supercharger operating speeds as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 5: Twin Toroidal Transmission

25,000 Supercharger Speed, rpm

With the two roller technology now validated, a simple, low-cost variable drive system has been created. One application of such a variable drive is optimization of a supercharger. SUPERCHARGER DRIVE The increasing demand for improving vehicle fuel economy is guiding automakers into developing more efficient powertrain systems. One area receiving significant attention is the optimisation of the base engine itself where both downsizing and reducing the pumping losses of the engine are essential. Therefore, pressure charging the engine, either via a supercharger or a turbocharger, is becoming increasingly prevalent in both todays and in particular future automobiles. It is recognized that pressure charging a downsized engine provides increased performance and thermal efficiency. However it is also recognised that a downsized pressure charged engine lacks power and torque at lower engine speeds. In supercharger applications, in an attempt to alleviate this issue, the supercharger is normally geared up with the advantage of providing sufficient boost at low engine speeds. The disadvantage of speeding up the supercharger are the losses incurred by spinning at high speeds and the requirement to bypass at higher engine speeds the supercharger provides more boost than is needed and hence the system is bypassed introducing a further inefficiency into the system. An alternative to driving the supercharger directly would be to provide a variable drive one that would speed the supercharger up at low engine speeds / when boosting is required and slow the supercharger down at higher engine speeds or when boosting is not required (highway cruising speeds).

20,000

15,000

10,000

Potential Variable Drive Supercharger Operating Region

5,000

0 1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

Engine Speed, rpm

Figure 6: Potential Supercharger Speed Envelope With a clear focus on achieving a low cost, weight and package solution, a variable drive for a supercharger needs to be based upon the two roller yoke control Variator design from the OPE transmission. Two supercharger drive designs have been developed in single and twin cavity format with a high level of commonality between designs with both employing 50mm diameter rollers. The single cavity design is shown in Figure 7 :-

Therefore, application of a simple bevel spring arrangement to generate the clamping forces together with a thrust bearing to react the loads is possible. The significant advantage of the single cavity design is simplicity and low cost due to the low parts count. The compromise for this low-cost solution is efficiency due to the end load being reacted through a thrust bearing, the single cavity Variator has an efficiency of ~82% to 83% at high reaction loads. Given this efficiency, a single cavity design utilising a 50mm roller diameter has a power capacity of ~ 15kW (constant). This is suitable for the lower cost, entry level supercharger systems. Discs x roller arrangement Roller Size Power Capacity Efficiency Variator Ratio Weight discs & rollers Weight Variator unit Package (L x W x D) 2x2 50 mm ~15 kW ~ 82 to 83 % 5:1 1.26 kg ~3 kg 100 x 90 x 110mm

Table 1: Single Cavity Specification Regarding the axial loads, if a second toroidal cavity is introduced, the two cavities react the loads against each other so removing the need for the thrust bearings. This increases the efficiency to ~89% (at high reaction loads) and correspondingly, increases the power capacity for the same 50mm roller diameter, ~45kW power capacity results. The compromise is increased size and parts count. However, as the thrust bearings have been deleted, the impact on length of the variable drive system is minimised. The twin cavity design is shown in Figure 9 :-

Figure 7: Single Cavity Supercharger Variable Drive For a traction drive device to operate, the discs and rollers need to be clamped together. Various method of achieving the necessary clamping or End load force exist from complex hydraulic arrangements to simple bevel spring designs. Focussing on cost, the Variator geometry and associated gearing have been designed in conjunction with the speed and load characteristics of a supercharger to produce a relatively flat high reaction force End Load requirement curve (Figure 8).
12,000

Ideal End Load, N

9,000

6,000 3,000

SIngle Cavity Twin Cavity

0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

Engine Speed, rpm

Figure 8: Supercharger Variable Drive High Reaction Force End Load Requirements

Exhaust

Air

Figure 9: Twin Cavity Supercharger Variable Drive Discs x roller arrangement Roller Size Power Capacity Efficiency Variator Ratio Weight discs & rollers Weight Variator unit Package (L x W x D) System Inertia 3x4 50mm ~45 kW ~ 89 % 5:1 2.02 kg ~5 kg 146 x 97 x 114mm ~ 2.3 x 10-3 kgm Figure 10: Variable Speed Turbo Compound System By extending a shaft from the primary turbine, a Torotrak Variator can be connected to the shaft and subsequently connected into the crankshaft. Gearing either side of the Variator, together with the spread of the Variator itself, provide the necessary ratio to connect the low speed crankshaft to the high speed turbocharger. The advantage of utilising a Torotrak Variator in this system is the ability to control both the direction of torque (and hence energy) flow as well as the quantity of energy. If reaction force is applied on the pistons of the Variator in one direction, energy will flow from the turbo charger into the crank i.e. energy can be recovered from the exhaust gas to the crankshaft. Conversely, if reaction force is applied to the pistons in the opposite direction, then energy will flow from the crankshaft into the turbocharger i.e. the crank will drive the turbo and hence supercharge the engine. Therefore, by modulating the loads on the Variator, the turbocharger can :1. Operate as a supercharger at low exhaust gas flows. 2. Operate as a standard turbocharger at medium exhaust gas flow with the Variator unloaded. 3. Load the turbocharger to recover energy to the crank at high exhaust energy gas flows. 4. Enhance engine braking by increasing cylinder pressure (supercharging) in overrun. A Turbo Compounding system of the type described above was developed by Torotrak a number of years ago for a Commercial Vehicle application. This system which successfully met the project targets of :1. Improving the thermal efficiency of the engine. 2. Supercharge the engine at low engine speeds. 3. Recovering energy to the crankshaft at high exhaust gas flows.

Table 2: Twin Cavity Specification The twin cavity design therefore provides a power dense variable drive in a package compatible with automotive supercharger applications.

VARIABLE SYSTEM

DRIVE

TURBO

COMPOUNDING

Traditional Turbo Compounding systems comprise a second power turbine located in the exhaust downstream of the primary turbine. This second turbine is mechanically connected to the crankshaft of the engine in order to recover energy from the exhaust that would have otherwise have been lost. Turbo compounding has been applied to airplane engines and in both on- & off-highway Commercial Vehicles (e.g. Case Steiger and Detroit Diesel DD15). An alternative arrangement to introducing a second power turbine is to introduce a mechanical variable drive system connected between the primary turbine and the crankshaft of the engine (Figure 10).

A twin cavity Variator utilising three rollers per cavity was developed and successfully applied to the target engine. Hardware is shown in Figure 11.

The result of the developments is a particularly power dense Variator unit with the 55mm roller diameter unit from the Mechanical Hybrid having a maximum power capacity in excess of 110 kW.

Figure 11: Previous Torotrak Turbo Compounder Drive To damp out the torsional oscillations from the crankshaft, a fluid coupling was utilised between the crank and the Variator. Although successful in meeting the project targets, the Torotrak technology was immature at the time of this project (early 1990s). The Variator utilised a twin cavity, six roller Variator design of 85mm roller diameter for a ~ 45kW capacity. The result, therefore, was a variable drive system that was too big, heavy and expensive for application as a Series Production Turbo Compounder Drive. Since this time, Torotrak have developed the full toroidal traction drive technology with particular focus on cost, weight, package and performance [1],[2], [5] & [6]. An example of the level of development is demonstrated in the Flywheel Based Mechanical Hybrid system developed for Formula 1 and mainstream automotive applications. The Flywheel Based Mechanical Hybrid system comprises a flywheel as the energy storage medium and a Torotrak full toroidal Variator to control the power and energy flow between the vehicle and flywheel & is described separately [6]. Figure 13: Mechanical Hybrid Variator Unit The hardware from Figures 12 and 13 has been realised and the Variator power capacity, efficiency, durability, contact pressure and temperature performances have been measured see Figures 14 & 15.

4.5 4.3 M ax Con tact Pre ssure (G Pa) 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

0.925 0.92 0.915 0.91 0.905 0.9 0.895 0.89 0.885 1.4 Varia tor Effic iency

Time (secs) m contact pressure - 4rollers kc=1.1 ax m contact pressure - 4rollers kc=1.22 ax Variator efficiency - 6rollers kc=1.1 m contact pressure - 6rollers kc=1.1 ax Variator efficiency - 4rollers kc=1.1 Variator efficiency - 4rollers kc=1.22

Figure 14: Variator Unit Efficiency & Durability Data

Figure 12: Flywheel Based Mechanical Hybrid (Reproduced courtesy of Flybrid Systems LLP)

200

CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

Torotrak have developed the full toroidal traction drive Variator in three formats for use as variable drives for pressure charging systems. Designs comprising both the two roller yoke design and the more traditional, twin cavity / 6 roller design have been realised in hardware in alternative applications providing test data which verifies the functionality and performance of the variable drives.

M ax Ro ller Te m pera ture (d egC)

180

160

140

120

100

80 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

REFERENCES
[1] Newall J, Nicolson D, Lee A, Evans S; Development and Assessment of Traction Fluids for Use in Toroidal IVT Transmissions; SAE 2002 World Congress; March 2002; Detroit; Michigan; USA. Number 2002-01-0587 [2] Hewko L. O; Automotive traction drive CVTs An overview; SAE paper 861355; [3] Brockbank C, Heumann H; Delivery of IVT for a 5 litre SUV: Addressing the concerns of Geared Neutral; IIR conference Innovative Fahrzeuggetriebe; C1143; Bad Mergentheim; March [4] 1986Lee A, Newall J; Durability of a compact DualCavity Full-Toroidal IVT Variator. SAE 2004 World Congress, Detroit, USA. Number 2004-10-0353 [5] 2002Burke M, Briffet G, Fuller J, Heumann H, Newall J; Powertrain efficiency optimization of the Torotrak Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT). SAE 2002 World Congress, Detroit, USA. Number 2002-03AC-75 [6] Brockbank C, Cross D Mechanical Hybrid system comprising a flywheel and CVT for Motorsport & mainstream Automotive applications; SAE 2007 World Congress, Detroit, USA. Number 09PFL-0922

Time (secs )
Troller - 4 rollers, kc=1.1 Troller - 6 rollers, kc=1.1 Troller - 4 rollers, kc=1.22

Figure 15: Variator Unit Roller Temperature Data From this data, it is clear that the full toroidal traction drive Variator technology has progressed to a level where it is suitable for series application as a variable drive for a turbo compounding system. Analysing the power capacity of two Variator designs with 50mm or 60mm roller diameter Variators produces Figures 16 & 17 i.e. Variators capable of 100kW and 130kW respectively with efficiencies of 90 to 91%.
140

120

Max Power (kW)

100

80 50mm Roller Diameter 60 60mm Roller Diameter

40 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5 -2 -2.5

Variator Ratio

Figure 16: Variator Unit Power Capacities

91.5%

CONTACT
Chris Brockbank Torotrak (Development) Ltd 1 Aston Way Leyland Lancashire UK PR26 7UX chris.brockbank@torotrak.com

91.0%

Variator Efficiency (%)

90.5%

90.0% 50mm roller diameter 60mm roller diameter 89.0% 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5 -2 -2.5

89.5%

Variator Ratio

Figure 16: Variator Unit Efficiencies