There is, of course, the rumor that the 2010 Prius will get a larger engine. Perhaps it will look like this:
I guess that with the resulting forward weight bias that there'd be much less chance of the Traction Control kicking in at awkward moments. Better thow in a strut tower brace to help control understeer.
Well, you can see why cars are so inefficient. It's a cool contraption, but I wonder what the losses are via this thing from engine to transmission. And then there are loads of other such devices, no doubt, each one incurring some sort of efficiency penalty.
In trying to visualize that torque converter working, I think you can see that when it's not "working," i.e. actually converting torque, it's not really losing much power because the whole thing, liquid and all, just spins as a unit. When it is converting, internal parts/fluid are spinning at different speeds. Isn't there still something like this in the Prius engine (aside from the PSD doing torque conversion electronically)?
Honestly, I don't know (so I should probably keep my yap shut and wait for someone who does know to answer). However, since I can't seem to keep myself from sharing my thoughts on the matter, I'd have to say that I can't think of why the Prius would have something like this. What purpose would it serve? Perhaps it does, but I'd be surprised.
There are losses. Spinning all that fluid isn't free. That's why high efficiency automatic transmissions lock out the torque converter at high speed. As for your question, no, the Prius does not have anything like a torque converter, nor would there be any reason to have one. No clutches, no shifter bands, no torque converter, no shifting gears. The only thing the Prius has is a fixed ratio planetary gear set and a torsional damper between the ICE and gears. The torsional damper absorbs shock when the engine starts. All of what would be done with gearing and a torque converter is done by the PSD by varying the ratio of power that goes directly through the mechanical path and that which goes through the electrical path. Tom
The biggest loss must be in converting the chemical energy in the petrol into mechanical energy in the pistons. Doesn't that one step account for something like 66% of the losses? I seem to remember reading somewhere that the theoretical max efficiency of an ICE is 33%. Is that close or am I full of shite?
