SCALABILITY AND MODULARITY FOR CROSS DRIVE TRANSMISSIONS ACROSS A FAMILY OF ADVANCED COMBAT VEHICLE WEIGHT CLASSES

L-3 Combat Propulsion Systems (L-3CPS) and Kinetics Drive Solutions (Kinetics) have teamed together to present this paper that discusses infinitely variable transmission technologies with high gear ratio & efficient steering systems for cross-drive transmissions across a family of combat vehicles. Traditionally, cross-drive transmissions for tracked vehicles are very rigid systems, which are tailored for a specific application or vehicle weight class. This becomes a problem throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle, as vehicle weights continue to grow when armor and other systems are added to protect and support the war-fighter. Increased weight leads to degraded vehicle mobility performance. To regain the vehicle mobility performance more power is needed at the vehicle sprockets. Traditionally this is accomplished by increasing the engine power of the propulsion system, which requires an increased transmission size for higher input and output torques, resulting in increased losses and decreased power to sprocket. This traditional approach incurs significant hardware and potential design costs when there is a need to upgrade a tracked vehicle’s power pack.

L-3CPS and Kinetics believe there is a better way. A Hydro-Mechanical Infinitely Variable Transmission (HMIVT) closely integrated with electronic generator(s) and motor(s) that is packaged in a modular architecture that has the ability to adapt to a number of vehicle classes and weights is proposed. To address the challenge a systems engineering approach will yield a propulsion system having better power density (sprocket power / propulsion system volume) than traditional propulsion systems. A high efficiency HMIVT core will be used as the basis for the scalable and the modular configuration, allowing the engine to operate within its most efficient operating band while having the ability to adapt to changing vehicle weights and applications.

The paper will discuss a building block concept for both current and future vehicle power classes from 750hp thru 1500hp. Benefits to this approach include; Open Architecture, Improved acceleration, Dynamic Braking, Scalability, Redundancy, Drive by Wire, Upgradability, and Future Growth/Optimization.