VARIABLE DISPLACEMENT OIL PUMP IMPROVES TRACKED VEHICLE TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY

Variable displacement pumps have been used in automotive transmissions for decades. L3T had high confidence that a Variable Displacement Oil (VDO) pump would increase overall transmission efficiency. An off-the-shelf (OTS) or OTS modified pump in this pressure and flow range was not found. Therefore, a VDO pump is being developed with the known risk of replacing a highly reliable pump with a new better performing pump of unknown reliability. In this document the development of this VDO pump is discussed.

Initial testing of the VDO pump demonstrated an average 25HP savings in pumping losses throughout the transmission operating ranges. At this point, durability testing has not been performed.