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The performance characteristics of a torque converter strongly depends on the blade geometry, which directly affects its torque ratio and input capacity factor. The present study developed a program that designs a blade system and analyzes its performance characteristics. Using the design and analysis program, TorconMaster®, several blade systems were newly generated and compared their performance characteristic with reference blade system. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the blade geometry on the performance of a torque converter. As analysis tools, one-dimensional performance analysis were used for sensitivity analysis, where a full three- dimensional flow computation was used for investigation of three-dimensional blade geometry on performance. The analytical and numerical results obtained a refined relationship between geometry and performance.

The internal flow of a torque converter strongly depends on the blade geometry, which directly affects its performance. Among the various parameters that influence the performance of a torque converter, blade angles have been the main focus of investigation as the major governing parameter. Recently, however, other parameters including bias and scroll angles have become new areas for research in order to achieve a better performance. The objective of this paper is to numerically investigate the effect of the scroll angle of impeller and turbine blades on the performance of a torque converter. In the present study, the internal flow field of an automotive torque converter was calculated using the 3-D Navier-Stokes flow code with a mixing plane. The results provide a physical understanding of the internal flow characteristics and the effect of the scroll angle on the general flow behavior.

The present study describes a computer-integrated design modification strategy for a torque converter using virtual modeling and flow analysis. As a preliminary analysis tool, the present study adopted one-dimensional performance analysis with a forced vortex method and a corrected blade angle with flow angle based on three-dimensional flow analysis. From the results of the performance analysis, first-stage optimized blade angles were determined with satisfying design requirements. A CAD program was developed for the virtual modeling of blade geometry with newly chosen blade angles and design path radii. As an accurate inspection tool, a computational fluid dynamics program adopting the mixing plane model was developed with flow and performance analyses for a virtually modeled torque converter, which involves a full three-dimensional flow calculation of a torque converter.