Experimental investigation on the efficiency of the pulley-drive CVT

Because of their outstanding advantages over other transmissions, rubber V-belt pulley drive CVTs have been extensively used in low-power vehicles, such as scooters and snowmobiles. A rubber V-belt CVT installed on a snowmobile is used here to research transmission efficiency. The power loss of CVTs, including torque loss and speed loss, is studied based on an analysis of the transmission mechanism of CVTs. Experiments on CVT efficiency are conducted on a specific CVT test bench, on which the values of torque, speed, and displacement, etc., are measured. Results show that the variation trend of the efficiency is close to the operating conditions of CVTs and optimal structural parameters are given that can serve as a beneficial references for designing and tuning CVTs.