Constantinesco Torque Converter in Lego

Описание: CVT means Continuously Variable Transmission. Unlike a standard transmission, which has several fixed ratios to choose between, a CVT has pretty much infinite ratios. This means smoother acceleration, better power delivery, and less loss of power due to shifting and clutching than a normal trans.

CVTs are nothing new. Dodge has a CVT (   • Dodge CVT Animation  ) that's belt driven and uses variable pulleys. NuVinci has a bike hub (   • NuVinci Hub  ) that uses swivelling balls and some kind of grippy fluid. Simkinetics (   • Automatic Bicycle Transmission (IVT)  ) has a pretty interesting design as well, which looks quite similar to this design except that it uses cams (?) instead of pendulums.

I like this design because it's relatively robust. It doesn't need special fluids, it doesn't rely on friction, and even in Lego it works pretty well. There may be a better design out there (the Simkinetics hub looks promising), but this system seems like a good place for me to start tinkering.

To see the Wikipedia write-up on what I'm trying to replicate, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant...) or here to read about the inventor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C... or here http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cat... for the pics I worked from.

I built this from two Lego Mindstorms kits (1.5 and 2.0), one Ultimate Accessory pack, a few bits from some monkey kit thing, and a few other bits and pieces I had laying around. Your mileage may vary depending on what parts you have at your disposal. None of the parts were modified, and the only non-Lego part is the string.

Questions/comments welcome.