Hydrodynamic converter

A hydrodynamic converter, comprising:

• a torus shaped working chamber for holding a working fluid, the chamber surrounding an axis of the converter, the chamber having the form of a ring channel with quadrants when the chamber is viewed in axial section;
• a rotatable input shaft, an impeller rotationally fixed to rotate with the input shaft, and the impeller being shaped to partially define the working chamber;
• the impeller having an array of impeller blades;
• a rotatable output shaft rotatable independently of the input shaft;
• a turbine wheel rotationally fixed to rotate with the output shaft, and the turbine wheel also being shaped to partially define the working chamber together with the impeller;
• the turbine wheel having an array of turbine blades;
• the quadrants of the ring channel of the working chamber include a first rising quadrant near the input shaft, a second rising quadrant away from the input shaft, a first falling quadrant away from the output shaft and a second falling quadrant near the output shaft;
• with respect to a flow of working fluid, which flow is caused by the blades in the working chamber, the impeller blades are in the first rising quadrant and the turbine blades are in the second falling quadrant;
• a ring of adjustable guide vanes in the working chamber;
• the converter being configured to have a lambda value of less than 0.0005.