Automotive Innovation (2019) 2:231–239

https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-019-00071-3

Systematic Synthesis of Dedicated Hybrid Transmission

Lin Li1   · Haijun Chen1 · Ferit Küçükay1

Received: 18 February 2019 / Accepted: 16 August 2019 / Published online: 28 August 2019
© China Society of Automotive Engineers (China SAE) 2019

Abstract
The great diversity of dedicated hybrid transmissions (DHTs) requires a method to identify solutions among all potential
concepts involved in each structure. Therefore, a DHT synthesis tool is developed on the basis of general transmission
synthesis. In the first synthesis step, transmission structures are generated with only conventional functions such as driving
with only the internal combustion engine. Electric machines are then installed in the transmissions to achieve further hybrid
functions, including boosting, eCVT and electric driving modes. The number of generated transmission concepts increases
exponentially with each synthesis step. Various evaluations are carried out successively to identify the most suitable DHT
concepts among the many possible solutions. The generated DHT concepts are evaluated in terms of structural feasibility,
driving modes, drivability and load factors on transmission components. An example of DHT synthesis involving planetary
gear sets is explained in detail. The best five DHT structures are identified out of more than 120 billion solutions.

Keywords  Dedicated hybrid transmission · Transmission design · Synthesis · Structural evaluation

Abbreviations existing systems such as dual clutch transmission (DCT)

DHT Dedicated hybrid transmission and automatic transmission (AT), the manufacturer can real-
SOC State of charge ize hybrid functions by adding an electric machine (EM)
ICE Internal combustion engine between the combustion engine and transmission. The sec-
EM Electric machine ond category uses dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT)
PHEV Plugin hybrid electric vehicle [2]. This transmission type, as the name suggests, is built
ED Electric driving particularly for the hybrid drivetrain. One or two EMs are
eCVT Electric continuous variable transmission integrated into the transmission. The biggest advantage of
PGS Planetary gear set DHT over the add-on hybrid is more hybrid functions.
The major automobile manufacturers have already built
or are now developing their own DHTs [3, 4]. Every manu-
1 Introduction facturer follows its own philosophy of what the DHT should
look like. The reasons are various, from in-house techno-
Hybridization or electrification of the drivetrain is essential logical capabilities and packaging issues to product cost and
because of increasing pressure on the automotive industry customer preferences.
regarding emission and fuel economy. The hybrid vehicle The result is a great diversity of DHTs on the market [5].
market share has increased greatly in recent years. Car Every DHT structure has its advantages and disadvantages
manufacturers have adjusted their strategies to find the right [6]. It is the task of the original equipment manufacturer to
hybrid drivetrain solutions. conceive all feasible solutions and decide which structure
The hybrid drivetrains on the market today can be divided is the most suitable for its vehicles on the basis of in-house
into two categories: add-on and dedicated hybrids [1]. The capabilities.
former originate from the conventional drivetrain. Using There is no “universal solution.” The DHT should fit all
the requirements and constraints mentioned above and still
provide the best solutions for the manufacturer. For this pur-
* Lin Li pose, a DHT synthesis method has been developed that con-
lilin.obasic@gmail.com
siders all possible DHT structures and systematically selects
1
Institute of Automotive Engineering, Technische Universität the most suitable solutions.
Braunschweig, Brunswick 38106, Germany

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232 L. Li et al.

This paper will explain the DHT synthesis method and Table 1  Vehicle parameters for Vehicle parameters (PHEV)
provide an example. equipment with DHT
m kg 1400
madd kg 500
2 Transmission Synthesis Tools r m 0.308
cD · A m2 0.59
The DHT synthesis is built on transmission synthesis, which fR0 – 8 × 10-3
generates spur gear transmission such as DCT and plane- λe – 1.03
tary gear sets (PGSs) such as AT. Transmission synthesis FFric N 45
has helped identify various transmission concepts such as Pengine,max kW 75
7-speed DCT with winding gears for front transversal instal- vmax km/h 200
lation and 12-speed AT for longitudinal installation. Figure 1
shows the two transmissions.
With the development of hybridization, transmission syn- continuous variable transmission (eCVT). The eCVT mode
thesis has extended to synthesizing and analyzing diverse should be highly efficient both in the city and on the highway.
hybrid transmission concepts, including DHT [7]. The functional requirements of the target DHT are:
All possible solutions are considered and generated dur-
ing synthesis. It is therefore essential to evaluate the very • ZICE ≥ 3, where ZICE is the number of gears in ICE-solo
many generated transmission concepts to identify the best mode. Additionally, it should be possible to boost with
one with low effort. an EM in ICE-solo mode.
Generated DHT concepts are evaluated on two levels. • ZED ≥ 1, where ZED is the number of gears in electric
One is the vehicle level, where hybrid functions and further driving mode.
characteristics realized by the concept are identified. The • ZeCVT ≥ 2, where ZeCVT is the number of gears in eCVT
other is the component level, where the load on the trans- mode. Additionally, input power-split and compound
mission components is taken into account. All criteria make power-split [8] should be possible.
sure that only feasible concepts are chosen in the final result.
In the following example, a customer has long experience 3.1 Baseline and Synthesis of Extended Structure
with AT production and therefore PGSs. A DHT using this
structure will be generated. To satisfy the above requirements, a transmission structure
consisting of only two PGSs is chosen as the “baseline
structure” of the synthesis. No further constraints are set for
3 DHT Structural Synthesis the synthesis. This constraint is imposed to reduce artificial
influence in the early phase of synthesis, which could limit
A target vehicle as plugin hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) potential transmission concepts. It is important to let the
with the parameters in Table 1 is to be equipped with DHT. synthesis program search for and find all possible transmis-
In this target vehicle, the following functions will be pos- sion structures on its own. Only this way can all solutions
sible: pure electric driving, conventional driving and electric can be covered.
Using this baseline structure, the synthesis tool auto-
matically builds the internal structure of the transmission.
Considering that each PGS has a kinematic degree of free-
dom (DoF) of 2, a baseline structure with two PGSs has
DoF = 4. To fully determine the state of movement of the
transmission, various constraints such as the engine pro-
pulsion and shift elements between PGSs can be built into
the system. The state of movement is explicitly determined
when DoF = 0.
Several steps are carried out in the synthesis. Firstly, cou-
pling elements are installed between the gear sets as well as
between the gear sets and the transmission housing. Each
coupling represents a single kinematic constraint of the sys-
tem and therefore reduces the DoF by 1. The DoF of the
system after this step can be determined via
Fig. 1  Transmission synthesis

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Systematic Synthesis of Dedicated Hybrid Transmission 233

second PGSs. By solving the equation system, the gear ratio

DoF = 2 ⋅ NPGS − Nprop − Ncoupling (1) of extended structure c can be obtained:
where NPGS is the number of PGSs, Nprop is the number of
nC1
transmission propulsion inputs and Ncoupling is the number of ic) = = 1 − i0,2 (3)
couplings between gear sets. nC2
Because DoF = 4 for the baseline structure, four constrains Accordingly, the gear ratios of extended structures d and e
are built into the system to achieve DoF = 0. The result is an can also be obtained with kinematic equations. The results
“extended structure” with a single gear ratio. are:
Many extended structures are found because of the numer-
ous mathematical combinations of constraints. Each extended nC1 − i0,1 ⋅ (1 − i0,2 )
structure has a gear ratio. Figure 2 shows some examples of id) = = (4)
nC2 1 − i0,1
these structures. In total, 8976 extended structures are found
using the baseline structure. and
Taking extended structure c in Fig. 2 as an example, the
input is the first planetary carrier C1, and the output is the nC1
ie) = =1 (5)
second planetary carrier C2. The following kinematic equa- nC2
tions can then be set up: According to the coupling in the extended structure, the gear
ratios range from 0.86 to 3.88. The most frequent gear ratio
⎧ nS1 − i0,1 ⋅ nR1 − (1 − i0,1 ) ⋅ nC1 = 0
⎪ n − i ⋅ n − (1 − i ) ⋅ n = 0 is 1.00, where the PGS is blocked and acts as a direct gear.
⎪ S2 0,2 R2 0,2 C2 Figure 3 shows all the synthesized gear ratios.
⎨ nS1 = nS2 = nR1 (2)
⎪ nR2 = 0
⎪n = n 3.2 Synthesis of Multi‑speed Transmission
⎩ C1 input

To build a transmission with ZICE = 3, three extended struc-

tures should be chosen and combined each time. Shift ele-
where nS, nR and nC are the speeds of the sun gear, ring
ments will be formed during the combination. As an exam-
gear and planet carrier, respectively, and i0 is the stationary
ple, the transmission concept in Fig. 4 is synthesized by
ratio of the PGS. The indices 1 and 2 denote the first and
combining extended structures c, d and e in Fig. 2.
When three extended structures are combined, the syn-
thesized transmission concept inherits the three gear ratios.
The stationary ratios i0,1 = 1.87 and i0,2 = 2.077 are selected
in this study. As result, the ratios of the three gears are
i1 = 3.077, i2 = 2.005 and i3 = 1.0. Different transmission gear
ratios can be achieved by varying i0,1 and i0,2.

103

2
10
frequency [-]

101

100
0 1 2 3 4 5
gear ratio [-]

Fig. 2  Examples of generated extended structures each with a single

gear ratio Fig. 3  Frequency of realized gear ratios of extended structures

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234 L. Li et al.

Fig. 4  Synthesized transmission concept with three extended struc-

tures

Three shift elements are formed in the transmission con-

cept in Fig. 4: one brake and two clutches. Three gears are
realized by activating two of the three shift elements each
time. These gears correspond to the three chosen extended
structures.
Various 3-speed transmission concepts are synthesized
by selecting and combining three extended structures at a
time. Theoretically, more than 120 billion concepts can be
synthesized out of the 8976 extended structures.
The transmission concepts synthesized so far provide
conventional driving function (driving with the engine
alone) with the required gear number. The electric driv-
ing and hybrid functions are yet to be realized.

Fig. 5  Synthesized transmission concepts with two EMs

3.3 Integrating Electric Machines in Transmission

In the next synthesis step, two EMs are built into the trans- the concepts that pass this evaluation are kept for further
mission. Theoretically, an EM can be coupled with any analysis.
shaft of the gear set. Different electric and hybrid func- Figure 6 shows the summary of the synthesis. The num-
tions can be achieved depending on the position of each ber of concepts at the end of each step is shown on the
EM. In some cases, however, the installed EMs bring no right.
additional function to the transmission.
Very many DHT transmission concepts are synthesized
by installing the two EMs. Figure 5 shows some synthe-
Baseline structure
sized DHT transmissions with EMs based on the transmis- 1
Two planetary gear sets
sion concept in Fig. 4. The mechanical structures of the
three DHT transmissions are identical; only the couplings Extended structures
8,976
of the EMs are different. Install couplings between gear sets
The synthesis tool adds an additional brake at the trans-
mission input shaft in Fig. 5. With this brake, pure electric 3-speed transmission concepts
Combination of extended structures and > 120 billion
driving with two EMs can be achieved. forming shift elements
At the end of the synthesis, 10,030 DHT concepts are
generated. Each concept has a unique transmission internal DHT transmission concepts
> 120 billion
structure built on the two PGSs. All generated concepts are Install two electric machines
described mathematically.
As the last step, the synthesis tool goes through all the Concept pre-selection
10.030
generated DHT transmission concepts and investigates the kinematic and kinetic feasibility check

kinematic and kinetic feasibilities of the concept. Only

Fig. 6  Process of DHT transmission synthesis

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Systematic Synthesis of Dedicated Hybrid Transmission 235

4 Transmission Evaluation

Evaluations considering various criteria are carried out to

identify the most suitable transmission concepts for the
customer.

4.1 Planarity Investigation
Fig. 8  Planar and non-planar graphs

The internal structure of every DHT concept is character-

ized by the shift elements and the couplings between gear that the transmission concept is not planar and therefore can-
sets. However, the couplings and shift elements interfere not be built.
with each other in some concepts; therefore, those concepts Figure 9 shows the automatically generated graph of the
cannot be physically built. Figure 7 shows such an example. transmission concept in Fig. 7. Nodes 1 to 6 represent the
The DHT structure in Fig. 7 has two PGSs and an EM. two PGSs. Nodes 7 to 9 represent the EM, transmission
The sun gear S in each PGS is coupled with the ring gear input and output, respectively. Edges 5 to 9 and 4 to 7 cross
R of the other PGS. The engine is coupled with the first each other. This concept is not planar and therefore cannot
planetary gear carrier P. The EM is coupled with the second be physically built.
sun gear S. However, owing to the transmission output shaft Every generated DHT concept is evaluated this way to
on the second planetary gear carrier, the coupling between determine whether the structure can be physically built.
the EM and sun gear would have to cut through the output
shaft, which is not physically realizable (this is marked by an 4.2 Shift Elements Investigation
exclamation mark in Fig. 7). Rearranging the existing shafts
would not make it possible to couple the EM and the sun For the transmission concepts generated so far, all possible
gear either. This transmission can therefore not be physically solutions that meet the customer requirements have been
built and exists only theoretically. found. This also means that every concept in the result pro-
To mathematically detect whether a transmission concept vides the required driving modes and has the required num-
can be built, graph theory is used to investigate the planar- ber of gears in each mode.
ity [9] of the transmission. Figure 8 shows two graphs with However, many of the synthesized DHTs have a very high
four nodes. Each possible pair of nodes is coupled with one number of shift elements. These concepts require a larger
edge, which can be straight or curved. No intersection of installation space but provide the same functions as the other
edges occurs in a planar graph such as in panel b. A graph concepts. These DHT concepts are therefore excluded from
is not planar when there is at least one intersection of edges the results. The corresponding criterion below sets the maxi-
such as in panel a. mum number of shift elements in a DHT to 4:
This graph theory is used to investigate the structure of Nshift,max ≤ 4 (6)
the transmission concepts. Each transmission structure is
therefore converted into a two-dimensional graph in which This criterion is selected as an example that meets the
the gears, shafts and transmission housing are positioned customer requirements. Corresponding criteria should be
accordingly. An intersection of edges in the graph indicates selected for other cases.
By applying the shift element restriction, the number of
useful transmissions is cut down to 2801.

EM

R R !

P P

S S

PGS1 PGS2

Fig. 7  DHT structure that cannot be built Fig. 9  Generated graph of the transmission concept in Fig. 7

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236 L. Li et al.

4.3 Driving Mode Evaluation In each driving mode, the operation points of the ICE and
EM are iterated, causing full iteration of the transmission
Hybrid operation of the engine and EMs opens many new output speed and torque. This highly depends on the trans-
possibilities for powertrain operation. The combination of mission structure. All reachable driving forces and vehicle
torque and speed from the engine and EMs is made possible speeds can be determined this way. These two terms define
by the PGSs in the transmission. This gives the vehicle many the operational area of the corresponding driving mode.
more operational areas than when it is only driven by the Figure 11 shows the simulation results for the operational
engine or EMs. areas of a DHT at a high state of charge (SOC), where the
Although all remaining 2801 DHT concepts can provide battery charge enables the EMs to use full torque and power.
the required number of driving modes, the drivability of In this situation, ICE-solo, electric driving (ED in Fig. 11)
each concept differs. Two concepts with the identical num- and eCVT modes are available. Comparing the demand map
ber of driving modes can still have very different operational (dotted line) and the operational areas shows that this DHT
areas. cannot cover the entire demand map. In this driving situ-
The demand map of a vehicle is a plot of driving force vs. ation, the vehicle drives at low speed and a high traction
vehicle speed (Fig. 10) and represents all possible operation force is demanded, and the drivetrain cannot provide the
areas [10, 11]. The demand map is limited by the maxi- required torque (red area). The corresponding operation is
mum vehicle gradeability and maximum vehicle speed. All therefore not possible. However, much of the demand map is
possible driving scenarios in real customer operation occur still covered. A DHT concept like this is kept in the synthesis
between these two extreme situations. The term “operational for further analysis.
area” denotes the area of the demand map where the vehicle
can be driven. Given the same engine and EMs, different
DHTs enable different operational areas. The difference in
operational areas is due to the structural differences in the
DHTs.
To be applicable to the vehicle, the operational areas of
the transmission must cover most of the vehicle demand
map. This means the drivetrain provides high driving force
at launching and enough torque at high and middle speeds.
The demand map corresponds to all possible driving situ-
ations customers encounter in the real world. Therefore,
the target is for the operational area to cover 100% of the
demand map.
A simulation model is now built to determine the opera-
tional areas of each concept. The vehicle is represented by
all driving resistances. The ICE and EM are modeled with Fig. 11  Operational areas of a DHT at a high SOC with all available
characteristic maps determined via measurements on vehi- modes, including ICE, ED and eCVT
cles in series production.

Fig. 12  Operational areas of a DHT at a low SOC with all available

Fig. 10  Vehicle demand map modes, including ICE and eCVT

13
Systematic Synthesis of Dedicated Hybrid Transmission 237

Figure 12 shows the simulation results for a low SOC. The ( )

vehicle cannot drive electrically anymore because the battery i0,2 MEM2
fM,R2,FG3 = ( )⋅ +1 (12)
charge is very low. Electric driving mode is not available. i0,2 − 1 MICE
Additionally, the power of the EMs is limited, which affects
the operational area in eCVT mode. The operational area is
now much smaller than for a high SOC. The demand map i0,1 ⋅ i0,2 ⋅ nICE
fM,R2,eCVT1 = ( ) (13)
coverage is therefore lower. 1 − i0,1 ⋅ nICE − nEM1
For this study, the minimum required demand map cover-
age is set to 90% for a high SOC. For a low SOC, the minimum
required coverage is set to 70%. i0,1 ⋅ i0,2 ⋅ nICE
fM,R2,eCVT2 = ( ) ( ) (14)
After this restriction, the number of useful transmissions 1 − i0,1 ⋅ nICE + i0,1 ⋅ i0,2 − 1 nEM1
is cut down to 235.
( )
M
4.4 Structural Evaluation fM,R2,ED1 = − i0,2 ⋅ i0,1 ⋅ EM1 + 1 (15)
MEM2
The structural differences will be analyzed to further identify
the best DHT concepts among the results. ( )
i0,2 M
Internal transmission loads are affected essentially by fn,R2,ED2 = ⋅ i0,1 ⋅ EM1 + 1 (16)
i0,1 ⋅ i0,2 − 1 MEM2
the way in which the PGSs and shift elements are coupled
with each other. At the same input speed and input torque, a where MICE, MEM1 and MEM2 represent the torque outputs
small structural difference can lead to huge load differences. of the engine and electric machines EM1 and EM2, respec-
A higher load leads to larger component sizes to ensure the tively; nICE, nEM1 and nEM2 represent their corresponding
components are strong enough. In this case, the result is larger speeds; i0,1 and i0,2 are the stationary gear ratios of the two
transmission packaging. A DHT concept like this is therefore PGSs; FG1 to FG3 are the three fix gears with the engine as
avoided. the main driving source, and ED1 and ED2 are the two gears
As indicators of the component load, the torque factor in pure electric driving mode.
fM,comp, speed factor fn,comp and power factor fP,comp are ana- According to Eqs. 10–12, the torque factor in the fix gears
lyzed for each component. The corresponding equations are affects the boost by the EM2 via the term MEM2/MICE. The
fM,comp = Mcomp ∕Minput (7) torque factor is also affected by the transmission structure, as
reflected in the equation coefficients i0,1 and i0,2. In this con-
fn,comp = ncomp ∕ ninput (8) cept, EM2 can boost the engine torque by up to a factor of
2. Therefore, the torque factor reaches its maximum around
fP,comp = Pcomp ∕Pinput (9) fM,R = 6. A similar situation arises for the pure electric driv-
The terms Mcomp, ncomp and Pcomp stand for the torque, speed ing mode (Eqs. 15 and 16).
and power of the component, respectively. The component In eCVT mode (Eqs. 13 and 14), the torque factor is also
can be a gear or shaft. The quantities Minput, ninput and Pinput affected by the speeds of the engine and EM1. The torque
are the transmission input torque, speed and power, respec- factor can reach a high level depending on the speeds. For
tively. In the driving modes, where the engine is running, the this reason, all possible operation points in eCVT mode are
transmission input is the engine. In other driving modes, the calculated. The maximum torque factor is fM,R = 9.6, which
transmission input is the EM. represents a high amplification of the transmission input
The factors fM,comp, fn,comp and fP,comp cover the loads on the torque. The load on the ring gear is therefore high. This
gears and shafts and show how much the input torque, speed evaluation is carried out for all the components of every
and power are amplified by the transmission structure. Taking generated concept. The highest torque factor is 44.0.
the ring gear of PGS2 in concept a of Fig. 5 as an example, the Series DHT products [3, 12, 13] on the market are also
torque factors for every driving mode are expressed as evaluated analytically. Their torque factors stay below 8.0.
( ) On the basis of these evaluations, the maximum allowed
MEM2
fM,R2,FG1 = − i0,2 ⋅ +1 (10) torque factor is defined as fM,comp,max = 10.0 to restrict the
MICE results to useful concepts. However, this limit is intention-
ally set a little higher than that of the best products on the
( )
i0,1 ⋅ i0,2 MEM2 market to also keep the average concepts.
fM,R2,FG2 = −( )⋅ +1 (11) Similar factors are derived for the shift elements to indi-
i0,1 − 1 MICE
cate two aspects: the torque transferred in the shift element

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238 L. Li et al.

Table 2  Maximum allowed Factor Maximum

factor values
fM,comp 10.0
fn,comp 7.5
fP,comp 5.0
fM,shift 5.0
fΔn,shift 2.5

when it is closed (fM,shift) and the rotational speed differences

when it is open (fΔn,shift). Both aspects are essential for the
shift element layout. The corresponding equations are Fig. 13  Structure of an identified DHT

fM,shift = Mshift ∕Minput (17)

fΔn,shift = Δnshift ∕ninput (18)

Using these factors, the extreme torque and speed in each
DHT concept are identified for internal components includ-
ing shafts, gears and shift elements. The restrictions in
Table 2 are set for these factors in this study.
These restrictions are automatically imposed by the DHT
synthesis tool. This evaluation cuts down the number of use-
ful transmissions from 10,030 to 5, where manual analysis
is possible.

4.5 Further Evaluations

The remaining DHT concepts are now analyzed manually to

Fig. 14  Operational areas of the three gears in ICE-solo mode. Boost
further evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. These
modes are shown in light yellow
aspects include mechanics in eCVT mode [14–17] and simu-
lated fuel economy [18].

5 Result and Example DHT Concept

Several of the best transmissions are identified as suitable for

the vehicle of the customer. These transmissions have met
all customer requirements. They also show excellent fuel
economy and controllability as well as further advantages.
Figure 13 shows one of the final DHTs identified by the
synthesis. The engine is coupled with the first planetary gear
carrier. EM1 is connected with the first sun gear, and EM2
is connected with the first ring gear. Two clutches and two
brakes are installed in the transmission. The second plan-
etary carrier serves as the transmission output. Fig. 15  Operational areas of the two gears in eCVT mode
This transmission is actually not the most suitable one,
which was delivered to the customer. That structure cannot
6 Conclusion
be shown here because of confidentiality.
Figures 14, 15, 16 show the simulated operational areas
A systematic method of DHT synthesis has been introduced
of the identified DHT at a high SOC. The demand map is
on the basis of an existing transmission synthesis. All pos-
100% covered, ensuring that the drivetrain can fulfill the
sible DHT solutions can be identified for given customer
driver demand in all driving situations.

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Systematic Synthesis of Dedicated Hybrid Transmission 239

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