All inertial continuous/infinite variable transmissions (CVT-IVT) need of a rectifier. This is due to the fact that this type of CVT-IVTs should transform, in some way, the ratcheting motion into a unique direction of rotation in order to be transmitted to the kinematic chain of the vehicle transmission system. The choice of the rectifying system and the characteristics of the components heavily depend on the motion to be rectified and on the oscillating mechanism generator.
The current rectifier systems included in inertial CVT-IVTs use freewheels to transform the oscillating movement. The use of freewheels has serious limitations for tourism and industrial vehicle applications, regarding the upper bounds of conforming to two working situations: i) high torque at low speed, and ii) high speed at a relatively low torque.
The operation of this type of rectifier involves periods in which the outer track and inner track of the freewheels rotate in opposite directions, with the result that the relative velocity between tracks is twice the speed of the output shaft of the rectifier. This makes it difficult to find freewheels on the market that can withstand the rotational speeds to allow their application in the transmission system of a vehicle.
Several rectifying system designs are proposed and, finally, analytical and numerical studies are tackled to identify the most applicable designs.