Manual

Transmission
SAE (Extra Co-curicullar Activity)
10BEM0035 - Patel Kishan

SUBMITED TO
Prof Naiju C D
SMBS,
VIT University,
Vellore.

Introduction

A manual transmission, also known as a manual gearbox or standard transmission
(informally, a manual, 5 speed, or the number of forward gears said with the word
speed following i.e.: 4 speed with overdrive, 4 speed, 5 speed, 6 speed) is a type of
trans- mission used in motor vehicle applications. It generally uses a driver-
operated clutch, typically operated by a foot pedal (auto- mobile) or hand lever
(motorcycle), for regulating torque transfer from the internal combustion engine to
the transmission; and a gear stick, either operated by foot (as in a motorcycle) or
by hand (as on an automobile).

A conventional manual transmission is frequently the base equipment in a car;
other options include
Automated transmissions
Semi-automatic transmission
Continuously variable trans- mission (CVT).

Friction clutches

A clutch is a device used in engineering to engage smoothly two shafts in relative
motion, one of which may be stationary, and to release them quickly or slowly at
will. The purpose of fitting a clutch between the engine and gearbox of a motor
vehicle is to satisfy the following requirements:

1. To connect a running engine smoothly and gradually to the remainder of the
transmission system.
2. To permit gear changing when a vehicle is in motion.
3. To allow the engine to continue running when a vehicle is temporarily halted
in gear with the clutch pedal depressed to disengage.

A friction type of clutch is used in motor vehicles with manually operated
gearboxes. Its functioning depends upon sufficient friction being developed
between the contact surfaces of two or more members to transmit the desired
torque without their slipping relative to each other. Their ability to slip before full
engagement is, nevertheless, a decided advantage because it allows shock-free
connection to be made between engine and gearbox. Heat is necessarily generated
during any slipping of the clutch, but with fairly infrequent use there is usually
sufficient time for it to cool.

An important consideration in the design of clutches is that the driven member
connected to the gearbox should behave as little like a flywheel as possible. It
should therefore be of light- weight construction and thus possess the minimum of
inertia to ensure that it can be rapidly slowed down or speeded up, thereby
assisting changing into higher or lower gears respectively.

Types of Single-Plate Clutch

1. Multicoil spring clutch
2. Diaphragm spring clutch

Advantages of diaphragm over coil spring clutch

The overall advantages generally claimed in favour of the diaphragm spring clutch, as
opposed to the coil type, may be summarized as follows:
1 The higher load-carrying capacity of the diaphragm spring makes for a more
compact and lighter construction.
2 The clutch pedal effort can be reduced for the same torque- transmitting ability
of the clutch.
3 The torque-transmitting ability can be better maintained as the liners wear
thinner in service.
4 The torque-transmitting ability is also less affected by high engine speeds when
coil springs can bow and reduce their load.
5 The release mechanism to disengage the clutch can be simplified at source.
6 It readily lends itself to strap drive of the pressure plate for greater mechanical
efficiency and better retention of balance.
Types of Clutch Control Systems

1. Cable-operated control system

2. Hydraulically operated control system

3. Servo-assisted control system

4. Release Bearing

The need for a gearbox:

A gearbox is incorporated in the vehicle transmission system for the following
reasons:

To assist the engine to do its work.
To enable the vehicle to be reversed.
To provide a ready means of disconnecting the engine from the transmission
system.

The first reason merits closer examination. In the same sense that man is often
required to perform physical tasks beyond his unaided strength, so too can the
performance demanded of a motor vehicle exceed the turning effort available at the
engine crankshaft to drive the road wheels.

In practice the turning effort, or torque as the engineer prefers to call it, developed
by an engine generally rises to a maximum somewhere near the middle of its speed
range, following which it begins to decrease. This characteristic of the engine
would not unduly concern us if the vehicles were always driven at an appropriate
constant speed, but it does pose a problem when starting from rest, accelerating
from low speed and climbing a steep hill. In these circumstances, a heavier
workload is imposed upon the engine and this clearly demands a multiplication of
its torque, a function which is performed by the gearbox.

The gearbox therefore provides the means of altering in stages (hence the different
speeds) the relationship between engine speed and vehicle speed, since what is
gained in torque is always lost in speed, as will be made evident later. Its chief
purpose then is to ensure that within reasonable limits the engine can be allowed
to run efficiently and hence economically at a speed that produces sufficient torque
to drive the road wheels as the workload on the vehicle varies.
The engagement and disengagement of a gear in a simple or a compound gear train may
be arranged in two different ways:
1. sliding mesh
2. constant mesh

Sliding-mesh gears

With this method gear engagement is accomplished by sliding the appropriate gear
endwise along a splined shaft (in effect a series of keys formed integral with the
shaft and spaced evenly around it) until it meshes with its opposite number.

As can be imagined, the action of changing gears called for a considerable nicety in
timing on the part of the driver, since it was no easy matter to bring into mesh a
gear and a pinion revolving at different speeds. The inexperienced driver would
often produce most unpleasant grating noises from the gearbox as the ends of the
gear teeth momentarily ground together, which naturally damaged them. Sliding-
mesh gearboxes also referred to as crash gearboxes.

Constant-mesh gears
With this arrangement the gear is retained permanently in mesh but is free-running on
the shaft. Engagement is effected by locking the gear to its shaft through the medium of
a dog clutch sliding on splines.

Except usually for reverse gear, gear trains arranged on the constant-mesh principle have
long since formed the basis of most layshaft gearboxes, which in the case of all
passenger cars and many heavy vehicles incorporate the additional refinement of a
synchromesh mechanism to simplify the action of gear changing.
All forward speed gears are therefore retained permanently in mesh with their pinions,
although they are free to revolve independently of their shaft when disengaged. As
previously explained, there engagement is effected through sliding dog clutches
rotationally fixed to the gearshaft. This system naturally relieves the gears and pinions of
any abnormal wear which might otherwise result from endwise clashing of their teeth
during gear changing.

If, on the other hand, the pair of gears has teeth that are inclined to the axes of the
shafts, forming part of a helix, then we describe them as helical gears. These are
normally retained in constant-mesh engagement; it is possible to have a sliding-
mesh helical gear, but only by introducing the expensive complication of helical
splines to mount it. Since constant-mesh gear engagement is used exclusively for
the forward speeds of all car and many commercial vehicle gear- boxes, clearly
there is a choice of using either spur of helical gears.

The reasons for generally preferring helical gears are basically as follows:

1. For the same standard of accuracy they are quieter running.
2. For the same width they are capable of greater load- carrying capacity.

These advantages are realized with helical gears as long as there is sufficient face
width available to give a continuous helical action, as the load is transferred from
one group of teeth to another. In other words, there is no sudden transference of
load from one tooth to the next, as occurs in ordinary spur gearing. The load is
gradually put on a tooth and as gradually taken off, so that the stress in any one
tooth is maintained practically constant. In contrast, the stress in a straight tooth of
a spur gear fluctuates according to its relative position of engagement.

Constant-Mesh Gearboxes:
The primary shaft

This takes from its splined end the drive from the clutch- driven member or center
plate. Supported by a rolling bearing in the front end of the gearbox casing and a
spigot bearing in the engine flywheel, it carries the constant-mesh pinion for
driving the layshaft. The pinion is also equipped with dog clutch teeth providing
direct connection with the mainshaft dog clutch when fourth speed is engaged.

The layshaft

This carries the constant-mesh gear that takes its drive from the constant-mesh
pinion of the primary shaft. The layshaft therefore revolves whenever the clutch
center plate is revolving. It is provided with three pinions for transmitting drive to
the for- ward gears and another for reverse gear. These pinions, and the constant-
mesh gear previously mentioned, are all rotationally fixed to the layshaft, which is
usually supported in rolling bearings carried either on a separate through spindle
or directly in the front and rear end covers of the gearbox casing, the latter being
found in heavy-duty applications

The mainshaft

This takes its drive from either the layshaft or the primary shaft according to
whether an indirect gear (first, second or third speeds or reverse) or direct top
(fourth speed) is engaged. When driven, it conveys the drive to the propeller shaft
and thence to the rest of the transmission system. The mainshaft is provided with a
series of journal bearing surfaces upon which the indirect gears are free to revolve.
Adjacent splined portions are provided to secure rotationally the hubs of the
sliding dog clutches and also the propeller shaft flange coupling. Support for the
mainshaft is given by a rolling bearing in the rear end cover of the gearbox casing
and the spigot bearing in the constant-mesh pinion of the primary shaft. A tail shaft
bearing may also be found where a rear extension housing is used on the gearbox, so as
to reduce the length of the propeller shaft.

The indirect gears

These gears, with the exception usually of reverse gear, are free to revolve on the
mainshaft either with or, less commonly, without separate bearings. In the former
case caged needle rollers are now generally preferred to plain bushes, so as to
minimize friction and prevent tipping of the gears under load on a plain bearing
clearance, and also to make the lubrication arrangements less critical. The indirect
gears run permanently in mesh with their corresponding pinions on the layshaft
(Figure 14.11) and they are restrained against endwise movement by a suit- able
deployment of thrust collars on the mainshaft. One gear each serves for the first,
second and third speeds, all the gears being provided with dog clutch teeth to
enable them to be locked to the mainshaft by an adjacent sliding dog clutch.

The sliding dog clutches

A pair of these are permanently fixed, in the rotational sense, to the splined
portions of the mainshaft. Their hubs are provided with external teeth, which
engage with the internal teeth of the sliding sleeves, these in turn being able to
intercept the complementary dog clutch teeth of the indirect gears and the primary
shaft pinion. To facilitate engagement of the dog clutches, their teeth are relieved at
the ends by chamfering. The mainshaft reverse gear is combined with the sleeve of
the sliding dog clutch that engages first and sec- ond speeds.

The reverse gear

To enable the vehicle to be driven backwards, an idler gear must be introduced
between the non-meshing reverse pinion and gear carried respectively by the
layshaft and the first and second-speed sliding dog clutch on the mainshaft. When
the reverse idler gear is engaged, it thus causes the mainshaft to revolve in the
direction opposite to the primary shaft. The sliding-mesh principle is retained to

bring into mesh the reverse idler gear, except in more recent designs where they
are in constant mesh and synchronized

The gearbox casing

This provides a rigid support for the bearings of the various shafts and the gear
selector mechanism as well as an oil-tight enclosure for the gears. A typical
construction allows for endwise insertion of the gearshaft assemblies during build.
The casing may be produced from either cast iron or, more commonly now,
aluminum alloy to reduce weight and improve heat dissipation. Its surfaces may be
ribbed to increase both strength and rigidity and to minimize noise transmission.

Synchromesh Gearbox
synchromesh mechanism for the purpose of simplifying gear changing. The gear
engagement by sliding dog clutch is preceded by frictional contact between a pair
of conical surfaces that possess a high torque capacity for a relatively small size.
The latter thus serve to equalize or synchronize the rotational speeds of the
gearwheel and its sliding dog clutch, so that final engagement of their dog teeth can
be effected quietly. In the act of changing gear it therefore overcomes the rota-
tional inertia or, in other words, a reluctance to be either speeded up or slowed
down, of the clutch centre plate together with those particular elements of the gear
train that are permanently connected to it. Since the adoption of synchromesh also
encouraged the wider use of helical gearing, it may be said that at the time the
synchromesh gear killed two birds with one stone; it provided easier gear changing and
quieter running in the lower gears.
It is our purpose now to describe examples of these particularly ingenious synchromesh
devices, which may be classified as follows:
1. Conical dog
2. Constant load
3. Proportional load

4. Servo ring.

Conical dog synchromesh

It was introduced in the early 1960s by the Fuller Transmission Division of the
Eaton Manufacturing Company for application to heavy commercial vehicle
gearboxes. The reason for describing it first is because it represents the simplest
possible means of obtaining a synchronizing action in the constant-mesh gearbox.

With this form of synchromesh each gear to be engaged is locked to the mainshaft
by a dog clutch sliding on splines in the conventional manner, but the ends of the
dog teeth both in the gear and on the clutch are provided with matching chamfers
at an angle of 35. Before the dog teeth finally slide into engagement, their conical
end faces can therefore act in the manner of a small cone clutch, so that any
difference in relative speed between the gear and its dog clutch may be resolved by
frictional drag.

In other words, the conical dog teeth confer a synchronizing action to prevent their
own premature engagement, which otherwise would result in noisy gear changing
together with undesirable shock loading on the parts concerned.

Constant-load synchromesh

It is sometimes wrongly inferred that this now obsolete type of synchromesh was
the first to find application in the motorcar gearbox. This is possibly because its
action was much simpler, but albeit less foolproof, than that of the original
proportional load synchromesh introduced by General Motors and described later.
The so-called constant-load form of synchromesh was, in fact, a later development
by the Warner Gear Division of the American Borg-Warner Corporation.

This type of synchromesh differed from the previously described conical dog
system by physically separating the synchronizing and engaging functions of the
sliding dog clutch. For this purpose the latter was made telescopic with a splined
inner hub, each end of which was formed as an internal cone, and a splined outer
sleeve that served also as the internal dog teeth. A corresponding male cone and
external ring of dog teeth were carried by the gears to be engaged. The
synchronizer hub and sleeve assembly were spring loaded together by a series of
radially disposed detent springs and balls that located in a groove within the
sleeve.

In operation, the initial pressure exerted on the gear lever caused the selector fork
to move simultaneously the synchronizer sleeve and the hub along the mainshaft,
until the internal cone of the hub was brought into contact with its mating cone on
the gear. Hence, the frictional drag so created synchronized the rotational speed of
the gear with that of the mainshaft. Further pressure on the gear lever then
overcame the restraining action of the spring-loaded balls on the outer sleeve, the
resulting movement of which allowed its internal splines cum teeth to engage the
dog teeth on the gear wheel.

From the foregoing description it should be appreciated that the designation

constant load did not actually relate to the effort exerted by the driver on the gear
lever, but referred to the definite load that had to be placed on the friction cones in
order that sufficient synchronizing action could take place. The load in question
was therefore derived from the spring-loaded balls acting between the hub and
sleeve. A disadvantage of the constant-load synchronizer was that this load had to
be fairly high. Even for a light car it could result in a breakaway force of about 200
N being required to slide the sleeve over its hub before gear engagement could be
effected.

Furthermore, there was nothing to stop the inexperienced driver from clashing the
engaging dog teeth by exerting too much effort on the gear lever, especially during
a down-change. This difficulty was recognized in one early design of all-
synchromesh gearbox where only the third and top gears had constant-load
synchronizers, the more difficult to engage second and bottom gears being
provided with pro- portional load synchronizers.
It is perhaps of interest to recall that for sports cars the constant-load synchromesh
gearbox was once thought preferable to the virtually foolproof proportional load
type, quite possibly because their drivers were better practised in correctly timing
a gear change and had no need for synchro- mesh assistance anyway!

Following figure illustrates a combination of constant-load and proportional load
types of synchromesh.

Proportional load synchromesh

With the constant-load type of synchromesh it is possible for engagement of the
dog teeth to take place before synchronization is complete, as already explained.
This is virtually impossible with the proportional load type of synchromesh,
because while friction torque exists between the mating cones of the sliding dog
clutch and the gear wheel to be engaged, the sliding dog teeth are positively
prevented or baulked from engaging those on the gear wheel. For this purpose,
delay action inclined surfaces must be incorporated in series with the friction cones
and the sliding dog clutch to provide an inertia lock facility between them. The
inertia lock remains active until all friction torque between the mating cones
disappears, following which the sliding dog teeth are no longer restrained from
engaging those on the gear wheel and the gear change is completed.

Inertia lock synchromesh with radial blocking pins

Blocking pin synchronizers

The above illustration shows the blocking pins disposed radially between the
sliding dog clutch and a slotted outer sleeve that carries the friction cones. Spring-
loaded ball detents are fitted between the hub and sleeve. During gear selection the
whole assembly of hub and sleeve slides axially along the mainshaft splines until
the friction cones engage. If the synchromesh hub and gear are not rotating at the
same speed, the friction torque at the cones causes the slotted sleeve to turn
slightly relative to the hub, until the delay- action faces of the blocker pins register
in the V-shaped recesses of the slots. This effectively locks the sliding dog hub
against further endwise travel.

With continued pressure on the gear lever the hub blocker pins produce a
centralizing torque on the slotted sleeve, so that the dog clutch teeth may proceed
into engagement with those on the gear wheel. This can occur, however, only when
the centralizing torque exceeds the synchronizing torque at the friction cones or
in other words, when all slipping between them has ceased and there is no longer
any difference in rotational speeds of the synchromesh hub and the gear wheel to
be engaged. At this point the blocking pins are free to ride out of their recesses in
the slotted sleeve, so the spring-loaded ball detents can be overridden and the
sliding dog clutch moved into engagement to complete the gear change.

The synchronizer friction cones receive their support from axially disposed
blocking pins spaced around the inner hub comprising the sliding dog clutch. The
latter is provided with a relatively large-diameter central flanged portion, this
being drilled with a series of holes such that it can slide either way over the
blocking pins, as directed by the gear selector fork. A system of detent spring
loading is incorporated between the assembly comprising the blocking pins and
cones and the sliding dog clutch.

As so far described, such a device would simply provide a constant-load
synchromesh action. Therefore in order to introduce an inertia lock effect to avoid
premature engagement and clashing of the dog teeth, the blocking pins have a
central waisted portion with delay-action chamfers at each end. The corresponding
blocking pin clearance holes in the hub flange are similarly chamfered. During gear
selection the whole assembly of flanged hub, blocking pins and cones slides axially
along the mainshaft splines until the friction cones engage. If the synchromesh hub
and gear wheel are not rotating at the same speed, the friction torque at the cones
causes the assembly of blocking pins and cones to turn slightly relative to the hub,
until the waisted portions of the blocking pins come into contact with one side of
their chamfered holes in the hub flange. The sliding dog clutch is there- fore
effectively locked against further endwise movement. With continued pressure on
the gear lever, the chamfers on the blocking pins act against those of the hub flange
holes to produce a centralizing torque on the assembly of blocking pins and cones,
so that the hub dog teeth may proceed into engagement with those on the gear
wheel. As in the previous case, it is not until the friction torque at the cones falls to
zero that the centralizing torque can exceed the synchronizing torque. Then the
hub flange chamfers riding on those of the blocking pins move the latter aside and
allow the sliding dog clutch to override the detent spring loading and engage the
dog teeth of the gear.
This type of blocking pin, inertia lock synchronizer continues to find favor mainly
for heavy-duty applications, because it permits a construction with compact overall
dimensions and has the ability to operate for high mileages without attention. A
notable design in this field is that produced by Turner-Spicer and known as the
split pin synchronizer. The adjacent synchromesh cones are linked to each other by
three blocking pins in the usual manner, but these are supplemented by three split
pins that provide the detent spring loading. Each split pin is made in two halves
with a square center section into which two specially shaped springs are assembled
back to back. The particular advantage of this form of construction is that it
eliminates sliding friction on the detent springs themselves.