Theoretical and experimental investigation of the thermal behaviour of a two-speed dual clutch transmission. Issue 3 (2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Xingxing; Ruan, Jiageng; Zhu, Bo; Zhang, Nong
• Is Part Of: International journal of vehicle performance. Volume 4:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 237
• Page End: 258
• Publication Date: 2018
• Subjects: thermal behaviour -- heat dissipation -- power losses -- DCT -- dual clutch transmission; Vehicles -- Design and construction -- Periodicals; 629.049
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-3194

Abstract

Understanding the heating behaviour of automotive transmissions in an important step in prototype development, it plays a significant role in achieving appropriate tolerances at the design phase and strongly influences the system's durability in the long term. Furthermore, lubricant viscosity is strongly dependent on operating temperature, understanding this behaviour will provide insight into how transmission efficiency is affected during vehicle warm-up. In this paper, an experimental and simulation based study has been conducted to investigate the thermal behaviour of a two-speed dual clutch transmission (DCT) that has been developed for electric vehicle applications. This is achieved through the modelling of the power losses in the system that is then integrated with a compact thermal model of the transmission. Transient heating simulations for the transmission are conducted at constant speeds and compared with experimental studies, showing a strong correlation between results. Simulations are then utilised to investigate the load and speed dependencies of the transmission's thermal behaviour.