bwm@ccieng2.UUCP (02/10/84)
>From the general discussion, it would appear that people are thinking that
CVTs are simply a substitute for automatic transmissions: not so!
Your 'gas pedal' will become a linkage to the CVT, and the engine would
run at CONSTANT speed, providing much better emmisions control, and
gas milage!!
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...[rlgvax, ritcv]!ccieng5!ccieng2!bwmnorskog@fortune.UUCP (Lance Norskog) (02/15/84)
I wouldn't want a car like that!
It would be thus: two analog controls, one for the gas, and one for the
CVT. The one for the CVT would say, "connect at this RPM", so that
at any speed you could have maximum power, maximum mileage, or anything
in between. Your maximum power comes somewhere between 3-6000 RPM
depending on the engine, but max mileage is the lowest gearing possible
without lugging; just make sure you can also gear up the engine fan :-)
Lance C. Norskog
Fortune Systems, 101 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA
{cbosgd,hpda,harpo,sri-unix,amd70,decvax!ihnp4,allegra}!fortune!norskognorskog@fortune.UUCP (Lance Norskog) (02/21/84)
I am not sure that belt-driven designs are suitable for high acceleration, but give me a turbo-charged four cylinder engine with a transmission like the one described above and I should be able to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds while still getting 40 MPG on the highway. Rick Dow inhp4!hpfcla!rmd Yeah, you'd have a car where both the transmission and the engine fall apart at 40,000 miles :-)
rsp@opus.UUCP (02/22/84)
I've read several opinions now about how people would like CVT's to behave. Here's one more... I very much like the idea of a manual transmission. No computer I've ever met could accurately infer exactly what I wanted to do. If those kind of computers did exist alot of us would be out of jobs! But manual transmissions only allow me a *limited* selection of gear ratios. I think we can agree that 5 speeds provide more flexibility than 4 speeds. What I'd like to see is a *manual* CVT! Something akin to the pitch control of a propeller driven aircraft. Instead of 4 or 5 gear positions, the "gear" selector of my manual CVT would move smoothly from "low" to "high". I don't really care whether it uses a manual clutch or some sort of fluid clutch (remember the old Renault *magnetic* clutches?!). Perhaps the CVT "computer" could have a "manual" setting as well as various "automatic" modes (economy, power, etc.).... Let's hear it for FREEDOM OF CHOICE!!! Russ Panneton NBI, Inc. Boulder CO