
Stress on the engine also becomes an issue when running at higher RPMs for longer periods of time.īy using specific gears that work in conjunction with each other, a vehicle gradually gains speed as it goes up through the higher gears.

If the highest gear was second, then the vehicle would take forever getting up to speed at the lower RPMs, gradually building higher and higher RPMs as the vehicle gained speed. This means lower RPMs for lower gears, and thus a lower speed. If a vehicle only had one or two gears, getting up to higher rates of speed would be a problem because the engine only turns at a specific RPM depending on the gear. Depending on the make and model, this includes rear-, front-, and all-wheel-drive vehicles. The torque converter in the transmission does this by transferring this power to the driveshaft via the planetary gearset and clutch plates, which then let the drive wheels in a vehicle to turn, providing forward movement, with different gear ratios needed for different speeds. The transmission connects to the engine at the bell housing where the torque converter converts the torque from the engine into motive power, and in some cases even amplifies that power. The principle behind the automatic transmission relies on the use of sensors to determine the appropriate gear ratio to use, dependent in large part on the desired speed of the vehicle. The Principle Behind an Automatic Transmission

How important is a transmission to the vehicle’s operation? Without a transmission, vehicles only have one gear, take forever to reach higher rates of speed, and quickly wear out the engine due to the constant high RPMs produced. As the engine achieves higher degrees of torque (torque is the rotational power of the engine), the gears in the transmission allow the engine to take full advantage of the torque produced while maintaining an appropriate speed.
#Automatic transmission manual#
An automatic transmission allows a vehicle engine to operate within a narrow speed range, just like a manual transmission does.
