Increasing Bearing Lifetime of Planetary Gear Sets in Automatic Transmission

Continuously increasing engine performance means that automatic transmission components must constantly be improved in order to ensure high quality levels for volume production parts even for higher load and speed levels.

This presentation will introduce measures to increase the speed of a planetary gear bearing in DaimlerChrysler's W5A580 automatic transmission. By using cutting-edge sensor engineering and telemetrically measured data transmission, we have been able to demonstrate experimentally that there is a 20% potential with regard to the transmission input speed.

For several years now, transmission designers at DaimlerChrysler and bearing specialists at INA have been working closely together with the aim to perfect bearing design. In addition to high-quality components, interaction in the system is important for the efficiency and life of the overall system consisting of gear sets, shafts and bearing supports.