The variety of transmissions available in the market today has grown exponentially in the last 15 years, all while increasing in complexity. The result is certainly that we are actually coping with a varied quantity of transmission types including manual, typical automatic, automated manual, dual clutch, continuously variable, split power and pure EV.
Until extremely recently, Driveline gearboxes automotive vehicle manufacturers largely had two types of transmitting to select from: planetary automatic with torque converter or conventional manual. Today, however, the volume of choices available demonstrates the changes seen across the industry.

That is also illustrated by the many different types of vehicles now being produced for the market. And not just conventional vehicles, but also all electrical and hybrid automobiles, with each type needing different driveline architectures.

The traditional development process involved designing a transmission in isolation from the engine and the rest of the powertrain and vehicle. Nevertheless, that is changing, with the limitations and complications of this method becoming more widely recognized, and the continuous drive among manufacturers and designers to deliver optimal efficiency at decreased weight and cost.

New powertrains feature close integration of components like the prime mover, recovery systems and the gearbox, and in addition rely on highly sophisticated control systems. This is to make sure that the very best degree of efficiency and efficiency is delivered at all times. Manufacturers are under improved pressure to create powertrains that are completely new, different from and much better than the last version-a proposition that’s made more technical by the need to integrate brand components, differentiate within the marketplace and do everything on a shorter timescale. Engineering groups are on deadline, and the development process needs to be better and fast-paced than previously.
Until now, the utilization of computer-aided engineering (CAE) has been the most typical way to build up drivelines. This process involves elements and subsystems designed in isolation by silos within the organization that lean toward confirmed component-level analysis tools. While these are highly advanced tools that enable users to extract very reliable and accurate data, they remain presenting data that is collected without concern of the complete system.

While this can produce components that all work very well individually, putting them collectively without prior thought of the entire system can create designs that don’t work, resulting in issues in the driveline that are difficult and expensive to correct.