Dimensional and three dimensional CFD simulation of an EV gearbox

Efficient transmissions systems are key to producing competitive motor vehicles that have a smaller environmental impact. Gears are the main components in vehicle transmissions and although they are already highly efficient, there is still room for improvement. In the last years indeed, the world is witnessing to a radical change in the development of the power, especially for what concerns industrial applications and, as a subsystem of these, the automotive one. The requests to reduce CO2 emissions due to the global warming, in part attributable to the usage of fossil fuels, are the main reasons for this improvement. Lower CO2 means reduction of consumptions and decreasing of environmental problems, and these aspects can be achieved working on the losses and pointing out alternative and green energy sources. Both these considerations lead to two challenging points that are at the base of contemporary industrial strategies: †¢ to search for other sources of energy capable of helping and/or replacing fossil fuels; †¢ to try to increase the efficiency of all the elements inside every mechanism. The purpose of this internship was to develop the simulation part of the thesis in the R&D department whit powertrain team of the TOYOTA EUROPE company. Activities of the internship: †¢ study of the previous work about the different kinds of losses that occur in a gearbox; †¢ introduction to the 1D simulation software, development and simulation of the model; †¢ introduction to the 3D simulation software, assembly and simulation of the model; †¢ analysis of the results and final conclusion.