Efficiency-prediction and enhancements of automotive manual transmissions

Manual transmission efficiency has always been of great significance for the automotive industry, especially since the need for more efficient cars and lower emissions has been dominant among the automotive market. In this thesis a 6-speed manual transmission has been investigated as a case study with the target to identify the most power consuming components as well as the factors that mostly affect them. In addition, new technologies proposed in the relevant literature have been evaluated in order to discover those that could provide the highest increase on total transmission efficiency. To meet the above mentioned goal, a novel comprehensive system level model is developed and validated. The first stage of this research project was a thorough literature review that clarified the most power consuming components of manual transmissions and the conditions that apply during their operation. [Continues.]