Automatic manual transmission and method for the same

Automatic manual transmission (T1) consisting of a double-clutch gearbox which is divided into two sub-transmissions and includes two clutches (C1, C2), one clutch (C1) transmits the power of an engine to a first sub-transmission through a first input shaft (11) and the other clutch (C2) transmits the power of the engine to a second sub-transmission through a second input shaft (12), wherein:

• said first sub-transmission is configured for establishing the even-numbered forward gears, 2nd, 4th and 6th, and the reverse gear by means of a first plurality of pairs of gear wheels (42/52, 44/54, 46/56, 40/50) which forms a first a power transmission path to transmit the power of the engine from said first input shaft (11) to one output shaft (16) and in which each pair of gear wheels defines a respective gear and comprises a drive gear wheel fixedly mounted on said first input shaft (11) and a driven gear wheel that permanently meshes with the drive gear wheel;
• said second sub-transmission is configured for establishing the odd-numbered forward gears, 1st, 3rd, and 5th;
• by means of a second plurality of pairs of gear wheels (41/51, 43/53, 45/55) which forms a second power transmission path to transmit the power of the engine from said second input shaft (12) to said output shaft (16) and in which each pair of gear wheels defines a respective gear and comprises a drive gear wheel fixedly mounted on said second input shaft (12) and a driven gear wheel that permanently meshes with the drive gear wheel;
• said first sub-transmission includes a first set of intermediate shafts which are coaxially and rotatably mounted to said output shaft (16) and kinematically interposed between said first input shaft (11) and said output shaft (16);
• said second sub-transmission includes a second set of intermediate shafts which are coaxially and rotatably mounted to said output shaft (16) and kinematically interposed between said second input shaft (12) and said output shaft (16);
• said first set of intermediate shafts comprises a first (71) and a second (72) intermediate shaft, and said second set of intermediate shafts comprises a third intermediate shaft (73);
• each driven gear wheel of said first and second pluralities of pairs of gear wheels of said first and second sub-transmissions is idly mounted to said output shaft (16) or to an intermediate shaft of said first and second sets of intermediate shafts;
• said first sub-transmission comprises a first set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices (K1, K2) each of which is mounted to an intermediate shaft of said first set of intermediate shafts and coupled to the driven gear wheels of two adjacent pairs of gear wheels, of said first plurality of pairs of gear wheels of said first sub-transmission, which define two non-consecutive even-numbered forward gears separated by either a single intermediate even-numbered gear or an even-numbered gear and the reverse gear;
• said second sub-transmission comprises a second set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices (K3) each of which is mounted to an intermediate shaft of said second set of intermediate shafts and coupled to the driven gear wheels of two adjacent pairs of gear wheels, of said second plurality of pairs of gear wheels of said second sub-transmission, which define two non-consecutive odd-numbered forward gears separated by a single intermediate odd-numbered gear,
• and wherein the automatic manual transmission is characterized in that:
• said first plurality of pairs of gear wheels (42/52, 44/54, 46/56, 40/50) and said first set of intermediate shafts (71, 72) are only part of said first power transmission path of said first sub-transmission;
• said second plurality of pairs of gear wheels (41/51, 43/53, 45/55) and said second set of intermediate shafts (73) are only part of said second power transmission path of said second sub-transmission;
• said first set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices comprises a first coupling device (K1), which is mounted to said first intermediate shaft (71) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said first intermediate shaft (71) with the driven gear wheel (52) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 2nd gear and with the driven gear wheel (56) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 6th gear, and a second coupling device (K2) which is mounted to said second intermediate shaft (72) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said second intermediate shaft (72) with the driven gear wheel (54) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 4th gear and with the driven gear wheel (50) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the reverse gear;
• said second set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices comprises a third coupling device (K3) which is mounted to said third intermediate shaft (73) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said third intermediate shaft (73) with the driven gear wheel (51) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 1st gear and with the driven gear wheel (55) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 5th gear;
• said first sub-transmission is connected and disconnected to and from the output of the transmission solely by means of a first double-sided synchronizer (S1) which is mounted to said output shaft (16) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said output shaft (16) with said first (71) and with said second (72) intermediate shaft;
• said second sub-transmission is connected and disconnected to and from the output of the transmission solely by means of a second double-sided synchronizer (S2) which is mounted to said output shaft (16) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said output shaft (16) with said third intermediate shaft (73) and with the driven gear wheel (53) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 3rd gear.

Automatic manual transmission (T3) consisting of a double-clutch gearbox which is divided into two sub-transmissions and includes two clutches (C1, C2), one clutch (C1) transmits the power of an engine to a first sub-transmission through a first input shaft (11) and the other clutch (C2) transmits the power of the engine to a second sub-transmission through a second input shaft (12), wherein:

• said first sub-transmission is configured for establishing the even-numbered forward gears, 2nd, 4th and 6th, and the reverse gear by means of a first plurality of pairs of gear wheels (92/52, 92/54, 96/56, 90/50) which forms a first a power transmission path to transmit the power of the engine from said first input shaft (11) to a first (18) and to a second (19) output shaft and in which each pair of gear wheels defines a respective gear and comprises a drive gear wheel fixedly mounted on said first input shaft (11) and a driven gear wheel that permanently meshes with the drive gear wheel;
• said second sub-transmission is configured for establishing the odd-numbered forward gears, 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th, by means of a second plurality of pairs of gear wheels (91/51, 91/53, 95/55, 95/57) which forms a second power transmission path to transmit the power of the engine from said second input shaft (12) to said first (18) and second (19) output shafts and in which each pair of gear wheels defines a respective gear and comprises a drive gear wheel fixedly mounted on said second input shaft (12) and a driven gear wheel that permanently meshes with the drive gear wheel;
• said first sub-transmission includes a first set of intermediate shafts which comprises a first intermediate shaft (71), which is coaxially and rotatably mounted to said first output shaft (18) and kinematically interposed between said first input shaft (11) and said first output shaft (18), and a second intermediate shaft (72) which is coaxially and rotatably mounted to said second output shaft (19) and kinematically interposed between said first input shaft (11) and said second output shaft (19);
• said second sub-transmission includes a second set of intermediate shafts which comprises a third intermediate shaft (73), which is coaxially and rotatably mounted to said first output shaft (18) and kinematically interposed between said second input shaft (12) and said first output shaft (18), and a fourth (74) intermediate shaft which is coaxially and rotatably mounted to said second output shaft (19) and kinematically interposed between said second input shaft (12) and said second output shaft (19);
• each driven gear wheel of said first and second pluralities of pairs of gear wheels of said first and second sub-transmissions is idly mounted to the first (18) or to the second (19) output shaft or to an intermediate shaft of said first and second sets of intermediate shafts;
• said first sub-transmission includes a first set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices (K1, K2) each of which is mounted to an intermediate shaft of said first set of intermediate shafts and coupled to the driven gear wheels of two adjacent pairs of gear wheels, of said first plurality of pairs of gear wheels of said first sub-transmission, which define two non-consecutive even-numbered forward gears separated by either a single intermediate even-numbered gear or an even-numbered gear and the reverse gear;
• said second sub-transmission includes a second set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices (K3, K4) each of which is mounted to an intermediate shaft of said second set of intermediate shafts and coupled to the driven gear wheels of two adjacent pairs of gear wheels, of said second plurality of pairs of gear wheels of said second sub-transmission, which define two non-consecutive odd-numbered forward gears separated by a single intermediate odd-numbered gear,
• and wherein the automatic manual transmission is characterized in that:
• said first plurality of pairs of gear wheels (92/52, 92/54, 96/56, 90/50) and said first set of intermediate shafts (71, 72) are only part of said first power transmission path of said first sub-transmission;
• said second plurality of pairs of gear wheels (91/51, 91/53, 95/55, 95/57) and said second set of intermediate shafts (73, 74) are only part of said second power transmission path of said second sub-transmission;
• said first set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices comprises a first coupling device (10), which is mounted to said first intermediate shaft (71) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said first intermediate shaft (71) with the driven gear wheel (52) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 2nd gear and with the driven gear wheel (56) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 6th gear, and a second coupling device (K2) which is mounted to said second intermediate shaft (72) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said second intermediate shaft (72) with the driven gear wheel (54) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 4th gear and with the driven gear wheel (50) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the reverse gear;
• said second set of selectively engageable torque-transmitting coupling devices comprises a third coupling device (K3), which is mounted to said third intermediate shaft (73) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said third intermediate shaft (73) with the driven gear wheel (51) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 1st gear and with the driven gear wheel (55) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 5th gear, and a fourth coupling device (K4) which is mounted to said fourth intermediate shaft (74) and adapted to be actuated for selectively and alternately connecting said fourth intermediate shaft (74) with the driven gear wheel (53) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 3rd gear and with the driven gear wheel (57) of the pair of gear wheels which defines the 7th gear;
• said first sub-transmission is connected and disconnected to and from the output of the transmission solely by means of a first synchronizer device (S1) consisting of a first one-sided synchronizer (S1a), which is mounted to said first output shaft (18) and adapted to be actuated for mechanically coupling said first output shaft (18) with said first intermediate shaft (71), and of a second one-sided synchronizer (S1b) which is mounted to said second output shaft (19) and adapted to be actuated for mechanically coupling said second output shaft (19) with said second intermediate shaft (72);
• said second sub-transmission is connected and disconnected to and from the output of the transmission solely by means of a second synchronizer device (S2) consisting of a third one-sided synchronizer (S2a), which is mounted to said first output shaft (18) and adapted to be actuated for mechanically coupling said first output shaft (18) with said third intermediate shaft (73), and of a fourth one-sided synchronizer (S2b) which is mounted to said second output shaft (19) and adapted to be actuated for mechanically coupling said second output shaft (19) with said fourth intermediate shaft (74).