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Self-adjustable, continually variable power transmission system with real time flow, is offered by Greek inventor to industrial companies for license agreement or funding

Country of Origin: Greece
Reference Number: TOGR20200617001
Publication Date: 29 June 2020

Summary

A Greek inventor offers an innovative self-adjustable, continuously variable transmission system based on kinematics and hydraulic principles and not on usual friction designs. The system has numerous fields of application, from automotive to renewables. Two international patents protect the system. The inventor is looking for either industrial companies for license agreement or investors for funding.

Description

Gearboxes are devices that alter the torque and speed between a driving device like a motor and a load. The most advanced gearboxes are the CVTs (Continuously Variable Transmission) that offer theoretically infinite gear ratios. Therefore, transmission is close to the ideal needed for a certain application. The CVT was first introduced in a design presented in 1877 and was since developed mainly by European and Japanese companies. The principle behind all CVTs was the friction between the components of the gearbox. In 2012, a Greek engineer designed the first linear CVT gearbox based in a gyroscopic mechanism and hydraulic transmission, without the direct friction of the components. Actually, the system is not a gearbox as it has no gears but rather performs as a gearbox of infinite transfer ratios. 

The design is purely linear. To achieve this, the system is mechanically self-adjusted by using mechanical principles of kinematics and hydraulic means (oil) as a result of the mechanical interaction between centrifugal powers and the load (torque) at the output of the hydraulic motor that exist in the system.

The Greek engineer holds two patents for the proposed gearbox. The design examined by a renowned engineering department of the oldest university in Athens. The university examined the system theoretically and simulated the operation with positive results, available to interested parties. A thesis was published for this design. Analytical simulations showed that the gearbox could be operational from low RPM (Routes Per Minute), starting from few hundreds up to more than 10.000 RPM. From the same study, the system is expected to be able to transfer power of even more than 5 MW.

The Greek inventor is looking for industrial companies interested in a license agreement. The company should have interest in prototyping, testing and producing the system. Alternatively, the Greek inventor is open to investors with interest to fund the development of the system.

Advantages and Innovations

The design is very promising and the fields of application very wide. The system can be used in almost all applications where a gearbox is needed. Some indicative fields are automotive, marine, Renewable Energy Sources (RES), industrial applications, defense, railways etc. 

The proposed transmission system has clear advantages over the traditional gearboxes of variable transmission (CVTs). Since the designing principle for the transmission is not friction but hydraulic transfer of power and torque, the system operates in higher performance. Even a slight gain in the performance of gearboxes can make a big difference in global scale. Additionally, in applications like the RES (also in some industrial, maritime applications etc.) which require high values of torque & power, in low RPM the usual CVTs are not suitable at all since they can handle lower power & torque levels (up to almost 500 kW compared to the 5 MW of the proposed system) and in higher RPM. For these cases, the proposed solution is clearly ideal, able to handle large levels of power and torque, in lower RPM. These cases can benefit substantially from the proposed solution, opening a broad market opportunity for the producer of the system who is going to exploit it commercially.

Stage Of Development

Concept stage

Requested partner

The Greek inventor is looking for industrial companies that will exploit commercially the system. Such companies could be producers of engineering systems (like gearboxes, vehicles etc.) or engineering companies that wish to invest on the development of such a system. The industrial partner should be able to prototype, test and produce the system. The Greek inventor offers the system for license agreement. 



The inventor is also open to investors who are willing to fund the offered system. The investor could work with the owner’s team in order to exploit the development of the system and for defining the exit strategy.