How Manual Transmissions Work by Marshall Brain If you drive a stick-shift car， then you may have several questions floating in your How does the funny "H" pattern that I am moving this shift knob through have any relation to the gears inside the transmission? What is moving inside the transmission when I move the shifter? When I mess up and hear that horrible grinding sound， what is actually grinding? What would happen if I were to accidentally shift into reverse while I am speeding down the freeway? Would the entire transmission explode? In this article， we'll answer all of these questions and more as we explore the interior of a manual Cars need transmissions because of the physics of the gasoline First， any engine has a redline -- a maximum rpm value above which the engine cannot go without Second， if you have read How Horsepower Works， then you know that engines have narrow rpm ranges where horsepower and torque are at their For example， an engine might produce its maximum horsepower at 5，500 The transmission allows the gear ratio between the engine and the drive wheels to change as the car speeds up and slows You shift gears so the engine can stay below the redline and near the rpm band of its best Photo courtesy DaimlerChrysler Mercedes-Benz Actros， manual See more transmission Ideally， the transmission would be so flexible in its ratios that the engine could always run at its single， best-performance rpm That is the idea behind the continuously variable transmission (CVT) A CVT has a nearly infinite range of gear In the past， CVTs could not compete with four-speed and five-speed transmissions in terms of cost， size and reliability， so you didn't see them in production These days， improvements in design have made CVTs more The Toyota Prius is a hybrid car that uses a CVT The transmission is connected to the engine through the The input shaft of the transmission therefore turns at the same rpm as the engine
Electronic brakeforce distribution or EBD or EBFD is an automobile brake technology that automatically varies the amount of force applied to each of a vehicle's brakes， based on road conditions， speed， loading， Always coupled with anti-lock braking systems， EBD can apply more or less braking pressure to each wheel in order to maximize stopping power whilst maintaining vehicular [1][2] Typically， the front end carries the most weight and EBD distributes less braking pressure to the rear brakes so the rear brakes do not lock up and cause a [3]How ABS worksUnder heavy braking， vehicle wheels may lock- The anti-lock braking system (ABS) monitors wheel speeds and releases pressure on individual wheel brake lines， rapidly pulsing individual brakes to prevent lock- During heavy braking， preventing wheel lock-up helps the driver maintain steering Modern ABS has four individual brake lines for each wheel， enabling different braking pressure on different road For example， less braking pressure is needed to lock a wheel on ice than a wheel which on bare If the left wheels are on asphalt and the right wheels are on ice， during an emergency stop， ABS detects the right wheels about to lock and reduces braking force on the right wheels， helping to avoid lock-up and loss of vehicle How EBD worksAs per SAE technical paper #920646 - Buschmann et "The job of the EBD as a subsystem of the ABS system is to control the effective adhesion utilization by the rear The pressure of the rear wheels is approximated to the ideal brake force distribution in a partial braking To do so， the conventional brake design is modified in the direction of rear axle overbraking， and the components of the ABS are EBD reduces the strain on the hydraulic brake force proportioning valve in the EBD optimizes the brake design with regard to: adhesion utilization; driving stability; wear; temperature stress; and pedal "EBD may work in conjunction with ABS and Electronic Stability Control ("ESC") to minimize yaw accelerations during ESC compares steering wheel angle to vehicle turning rate using a yaw rate "Yaw" is the vehicle's rotation around its vertical center of gravity (turning left or right) If the yaw sensor detects more/less yaw than the steering wheel angle should create， the car is understeering or oversteering and ESC activates one of the front or rear brakes to rotate the car back into its intended For example， if a car is making a left turn and begins to understeer (the car plows forward to the outside of the turn) ESC activates the left rear brake， which will help turn the car The sensors are so sensitive， and the actuation is so quick that the system may correct direction before the driver ABS helps prevent wheel lock-up and EBD helps apply appropriate brake force to make ESC work
