Military Vehicle (Ground Platform) Transmission

Overview

The main aim of this course is to give an outline of the requirements for, and principles of operation of the transmission systems used in military vehicles. Some of the salient design features of these transmissions are also discussed. Specifically, land vehicle platforms are covered in greatest detail since military land vehicles, especially tracked vehicles, have specialized transmission systems which are not found in commercial vehicles. All land vehicle systems require multi-speed transmissions to span the operational extremes of hill climbing and cross-country driving on the one hand and high speed road use on the other. Secondly, land vehicle transmissions need to distribute the drive to at least two road wheels or tracks.

In this course, transmission systems found in both wheeled and tracked military vehicle drivelines are covered in greater detail. In both cases, the evolution of drivelines to meet the exacting demands placed on current systems are described. Military wheeled vehicles, with the exception of staff cars and some load-carriers, require much better off-road mobility than most other vehicles. They generally have provision for all-wheel drive, with the aim of providing traction at each wheel station to achieve maximum mobility on slippery surfaces.

Tracked vehicles, by their very nature, have good traction, low ground pressure and hence good cross-country mobility. However, they are difficult to steer; most tracklayers are steered by imposing a difference in speed on the two tracks. This is called skid steering, and requires a complex transmission system to provide the finesse of steering control required for fast track layers.

The course will also cover the design aspects of various key military driveline components which include hydrokinetic couplings, Friction clutches, shafts, bearings, gears and stepless transmission. The course will also use tutorial examples with existing military driveline data or representative military component data to reinforce the theory covered in lectures. This course would be beneficial to both the experienced engineers working in military vehicle drivelines as well as fresh engineers who are new to the area.