It sort of looks like a bell, so you’ll often hear it referred to as a “bell casing.” The transmission casing is typically made of aluminum. Let’s take a look at the parts that allow this to happen in the case of the automatic transmission:Ī transmission casing houses all the parts of the transmission. So by now, you should have a basic understanding of a transmission’s purpose: it ensures that your engine spins at an optimal rate (neither too slow nor too fast), while simultaneously providing your wheels with the right amount of power to move and stop the car, no matter the situation. On an automatic transmission, brilliant engineering determines which gear is engaged without you having to do a dang thing except to press the gas or the brake pedals.
#AUTO TRANSMISSION MANUAL#
With a manual transmission, you control which gears are engaged by pressing the clutch and shifting the gears into place. If you don’t yet grasp the idea of gear ratios, I recommend you watch the video we included last time before you move on nothing else will make sense unless you understand this concept. By connecting different sized gears with one another, you can increase the amount of power that is delivered to the rest of the car without changing the speed of the engine’s rotational power all that much. We previously went into detail on how manual transmissions accomplish this through gear ratios. It sits between the engine and the rest of the drivetrain and sort of acts like a power switchboard for the car. The transmission ensures that your engine spins at an optimal rate (neither too slow nor too fast) while simultaneously providing your wheels with the right amount of power they need to move and stop the car, no matter the situation you find yourself in. What we need is some way to multiply the power produced by the engine when it’s needed (starting from a standstill, going up a hill, etc.), but also decrease the amount of power sent from the engine when it isn’t needed (going downhill, going really fast, slamming on the brakes). If it spins too low, you wouldn’t be able to get the car moving from a standstill if it spins too fast, the engine can self-destruct.
That’s what the car’s drivetrain - which the transmission is a part of - does.īut here’s the problem: an engine can only spin within a certain speed in order to operate efficiently. To move the car, we need to transfer that rotational power to the wheels.
(Seriously, I’m not exaggerating: once you understand how automatic transmissions work, you’ll be awed that people were able to come up with this thing without computers.) Review Time: The Purpose of a Transmissionīefore we get into the ins and outs of how an automatic transmission works, let’s do a quick review of why vehicles need a transmission - of any kind - in the first place.Īs discussed in our primer on how a car engine works, the engine of your vehicle creates rotational power. We’re about to walk you through one of the most amazing pieces of mechanical (and fluid) engineering in human history: the automatic transmission. Have you ever wondered how your car can shift into the appropriate gear without you having to do anything except for press on the gas pedal or brake? If you’ve been following Gearhead 101, you know how a car engine works, how the engine transfers the power it generates via the drivetrain, and how a manual transmission functions as sort of a power switchboard between the engine and the drivetrain.īut most people these days (at least if you live in the United States) drive cars with automatic transmissions.
#AUTO TRANSMISSION SERIES#
Welcome back to Gearhead 101 - a series on the basics of how cars work for the automotive neophytes out there.
0 kommentar(er)
