February 16, 2009
Transmission? We don' need no stinkin' transmission!
While automakers and gearheads have long debated the pros and cons of frontwheel drive versus rearwheel drive -- no transmission hump for fwd, massive straight-line acceleration in rwd -- I've long wondered why we remain tethered to the massive, heavy, engine-gearbox-transmission paradigm.
My submarine operated using a diesel-electric generator set for propulsion. Rather than having a complex mass of reduction gears transmitting power from the three enormous locomotive engines to the shaft and the screw, the wizards at the Naval Design Bureau had the engines turn massive direct-current generators, the electricity routed through a control panel in the maneuvering room, aft of the engine room, where electricians mates directed the power to the huge direct-current motor wound around the sub's shaft.
Why not do the same thing with a car? Use the engine to turn an electric generator, ditch the transmission completely, and install electric motors on each axle -- or in each wheel.
Well, the boffins at Michelin have apparently been thinking the same thing.
According to Engadget:
Michelin's Active Wheel Technology ... puts two electric wheels inside the hub -- one for motive power, one for active suspension -- a design that negates the need for gearboxes, drive shafts, and conventional suspension assemblies. The design has previously been tested in the Venturi Volage concept car....
Given the computing power already in modern cars, it'd be no great feat to have an onboard 'puter control each wheel, monitoring speed and adjusting the power output as needed to maintain speed and stability -- while losing hundreds of pounds of metal gears and greasy fluids.
The other beneficiary of this technology will be the designers, who will have greater freedom to maximize the interior space, now that the drivetrain has essentially become invisible to the occupants.
Given that this is a French engineering project, the combination of electric motors and computer-controlled suspensions mean their tanks and other military vehicles -- sure to be the first recipients of the technology -- can retreat quickly and quietly from the MLR (main line of resistance, i.e., the front).
Posted by Mike Lief at February 16, 2009 11:02 PM
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Comments
Yeah, I never understood why the French put the heaviest armor on the front of their tanks. Seems to run counter to their actual history.
Posted by: The Little Coach at February 17, 2009 03:56 PM