Ford To Begin Using Fuel-Efficient Dual Clutch 6-Speed in Small Cars Next Year
By John O'Dell January 20, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
After what seems like years of lagging the industry in adopting new technologies, Ford Motor Co. appears to be adapting to the 21st Century with gusto.
Ford says its dual-clutch, six-speed gearbox is smaller, lighter, more efficient and more fun than a standard four-speed automatic.
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The latest, to be announced Wednesday morning at the Automotive News World Congress meeting in Detroit, is a dual-clutch, six-speed transmission for Ford's small car lineup in North America, starting in 2010.
The transmission, called PowerShift, is essentially an automatic manual. It uses electronically activated dry clutches, the same type found in manuals, to seamlessly change gears, eliminating the power loss - and wasted fuel - that occurs as a standard automatic momentarily disengages gears while shifting up or down.
The PowerShift's clutches each operate a separate "bank" of gears - one carrying 1st, 3rd and 5th speeds , the other 2nd, 4th and 6th. The transmission's computer matches revolutions and manages the clutches to pre-select the next gear so that each change is instantaneous with no waste of engine power.
Big Mileage Boost
Ford says the technology can improve a vehicle's fuerl econonmy by up to 9 percent. It already is in use in the European Ford Focus (right), although with a "wet" clutch system to better handle the higher output of the European Focus' four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, and is beginning to be used by other mainstream automakers as well.
The fuel economy gain is several notches above the 4- to 7-percent fuel economy increases a standard six-speed automatic can realize when replacing a four-speed automatic.
"PowerShift represents a true competitive advantage for Ford and is one of the many technologies that will help our global small-car platforms set a new world standard for efficiency and drive quality," Barb Samardzich, Ford's vice president of global powertrain engineering, said in a statement.
Ford already has said that by 2013 about 90 percent of its transmissions will be advanced six-speed gearboxes, but for now the dual-clutch technology is being limited to the company's small cars said powertrain division spokesman Alan Hall.
Conventional six-speed automatics already are in use in the 2010 Ford Fusion and the '09 Ford Flex and Ford Escape.
Using the dual clutch transmissions with their improved efficiency will help Ford leverage a suite of technologies - including weight reduction, electrically assisted power steering, the recently announced turbocharged, direct-injection EcoBoost gas engines and a battery-electric car to be launched in 2010 - to improve overall fleet fuel economy by 30 percent by 2020.
Why Dry?
A dry clutch moves power and torque from the engine through manual transmission clutch facings while most automatic transmissions use clutch plates submerged in oil. As a result, the dry-clutch transmission doesn't need the oil pump and torque converter a submerged, or "wet" clutch, system uses.
That makes it smaller and lighter than a standard automatic, and that makes it ideal for small cars whose fuel economy is penalized by every extra pound.
The PowerShift transmission being readied for 2010 weighs nearly 30 pounds less than the four-speed automatic now used in the North American version of the Focus.
The dual dry-clutch transmission also has fewer parts and Ford said it is building its unit to be sealed for life, with no required maintenance.
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"fuerl econonmy" That's two in a row!
What I like to see out of automakers these days is effective weight reduction programs. Sounds like this is promising.
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