Oerlikon Segment Drive Systems, with its brands Oerlikon Graziano and Oerlikon Fairfield, develops complete drive systems, gearing solutions and transmission components, with a product portfolio providing transmissions for high performance cars, solutions for all-wheel-drive vehicles and agricultural tractors, as well as Torque Hub planetary drive for industrial machinery and off-highway mobile equipment. In this interview, Matthew Beecham spoke to Paolo Mantelli, Head of Performance Automotive, Oerlikon Drive Systems about some of its latest innovations and technology partnerships with Continental and Vocis.
At what stage of development is your 4-Speed Electric Drive transmission?
We have built a Mercedes Vito demonstrator that has been evaluated by most of the major OEMs in Europe. We have continued to improve the transmission during this programme and are now in discussion with a number of potential customers, covering a wide range of applications. Because the technology is scalable, we can apply it to most vehicles, including small city cars, commercial vehicles or high performance hybrid sports cars.
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We understand that Oerlikon Graziano is working with Continental to produce integrated motor and transmission systems for hybrids and EVs. What are the key aims for this development?
We have agreed a strategic co-operation between our companies to develop integrated transmissions specifically for hybrid and EV applications. We will focus on lighter, more compact arrangements by reducing parts count and improving efficiency as a result of developing the motor and transmission in combination. It will be possible to generate many alternatives from the basic architecture, to suit each particular vehicle application.
Oerlikon Graziano is gearing up to establish its third factory in Gujarat, India. Could you tell us a little more about this plant and your ambitions for growth in the country?
Oerlikon Drive Systems, comprising ourselves and our sister company Oerlikon Fairfield, has over 2,000 employees in India at the two existing plants. We recently ‘broke ground’ on our third site, demonstrating our commitment to continued growth in India. The new factory will produce mainly transmission assemblies and shifting solutions like synchronisers, supporting increased demand from both the Indian domestic market and overseas. We are delighted with the quality from our Indian plants which last year, for example, supplied 100,000 transaxles for golf and utility vehicles with zero defects.
You have recently developed a gearbox for the Lamborghini Aventador. What was your brief? And in what ways did Vocis contribute to its development?
We actually supply the entire driveline for the Aventador, including the transmission, the rear differential and the part-time 4WD system using a Haldex coupling. The customer brief for the new transmission included very tight packaging requirements, very high input torque and speed and a demanding project timescale but, most important of all, a high level of emotional involvement for the driver. This translated into an engineering target to achieve the fastest shift speed of any manual transmission – 50msec in ‘Corsa’ mode. We achieved this by devising a technology which actuates each shift fork individually, allowing us to overlap the shifts, and by integrating the high pressure (60 Bar) hydraulic channels into the casings.
Vocis contributed the software, control system and some of the hydraulics expertise. Simultaneous engineering of the mechanical architecture and the software allowed the team to take best advantage of the inherent dynamic behaviour of the system to eliminate the usual compromises. Without this approach, even actuating each shift fork individually, it would have been difficult to reach the target shift times.
How will the move towards hybrid powertrains affect transmission choice?
We see new possibilities, especially for the combination of high performance and low emissions. We have developed our OG-ECO concept in which an automated manual transmission (AMT) is complemented by an e-motor connected to both input and output sides by a dual stage reduction. This provides torque infill during shifts to give DCT-like performance up to very high speeds and can also provide full electric drive, all within the package space of an equivalent DCT. A high performance car using this system can run in electric mode to satisfy city regulations for low emissions, then recharge its batteries when running at higher speeds on the highway. We already have one OEM customer trialling this technology but the application is confidential for the time being.
ow do you see the global transmission market evolving in terms of manual, automatics, etc? And what do you see happening in those emerging markets?
The remainder of this interview is available on just-auto’s QUBE research service
