Abstract
This paper describes the improvement in passenger car performance obtained by using a dual cavity half toroidal continuously variable transmission (CVT). This toroidal CVT is characterized by its high efficiency, quick ratio change response, large capacity and applicability to rear-wheel-drive (RWD) vehicles. High efficiency is achieved in the low-load region because of the small fixed friction loss, resulting in excellent fuel economy in the practical range of everyday driving. Because the ?steering" effect produced by offsetting the rotational centers of the discs and power rollers is used to accomplish ratio changes, exceptionally quick ratio change response is obtained to provide ratio change performance unmatched by other types of transmissions. Since the two cavities are linked in parallel, the toroidal CVT can be applied to vehicles with large torque capacities. Another feature of this CVT is that it can also be applied to large-capacity RWD vehicles, in which the unit must be installed in the small floor tunnel.