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Developing an energy-efficient powertrain system is a solution for environment-friendly vehicles. Furthermore, it also enhances the performance of vehicles. In powertrain system, transmission plays an important role in terms of vehicle dynamic performance and energy consumption. Therefore, a lot of researches have been conducted on modelling power losses inside the transmission. Basically, the power losses in transmission consist of bearing losses, drag torque losses on gear blank that is immersed in the oil and gear mesh losses due to the sliding frictional force on gear flank. According to some experiments in the latest literatures, power losses of synchronizers cannot be neglected, when its shift sleeve is in neutral position. Principally, power losses of synchronizers in neutral position mainly come from load independent drag torque.

As the transmission design directly impacts drive unite operation and power flow to the driveline, the transmission power loss is a critical target in the drivetrain development. The demand of more precise and more efficient power loss prediction has therefore increased significantly, which highlights the need of new methodologies in order to optimize the power loss model for vehicle transmissions. The possible power losses that exist in the power flow path, are gear mesh losses, gear churning losses, gear windage losses, bearing losses, synchronizer losses and sealing losses. Thanks to the decades of research, analytical models are available for the prediction of these component losses, which could deliver power loss distributions and overall efficiency maps of complex transmissions. The aim of this paper is to introduce a methodology to improve the accuracy of a chosen power loss model on a system level.

Besides optimal engine systems, high-efficiency vehicle transmissions are generally also required to improve fuel economy in automotive applications. For the energy loss analysis in transmissions, most research focused on the major mechanical components, such as gears, bearings and seals, while the other mechanical losses, like synchronizer losses, were usually not considered. With increasing number of synchronizers in modern transmissions, a recent study indicates that the power loss analysis of synchronizers should also be developed and appended for a more accurate investigation on overall power losses in transmissions. The function of synchronizer is to equalize the different rotational speeds of shafts and gear wheels by frictional torques, for which the synchronizer must be cooled and lubricated in order to enhance the service life. With the supplement of lubricants, fluid friction is generated due to the differential speed, when the synchronizer is in neutral position.