Development of New Plug-in Hybrid Transaxle for Compact-Class Vehicles Dual motor drive system

摘要

Recently, developing plug-in hybrid vehicles is very active among many automobile manufacturers to respond to demand for the green vehicle. To contribute to the protection of the environment more, a plug-in hybrid system which can keep EV driving mode and does not consume fuel due to engine running as possible even in need of a high driving force for a powerful acceleration is required. Therefore, Toyota Motor Corporation has targeted the development of new transaxle to achieve it. For the reason above, a new system called "Dual Motor Drive System" for plug-in hybrid vehicle and a new transaxle for this system have been developed. This system enables vehicle to run in EV driving mode with two motors. In this development, performance improvement has been achieved without increasing in size by changing parts of P610, which is installed in the 4th generation Prius, as minimum as possible. In particular, a generator which used to only idle in EV driving mode is used as a motor to generate the driving force by adding an one-way clutch between an engine and a planetary gear. Moreover, the new planetary gear has been developed and a part of lubrication system has been modified. The new Toyota plug-in hybrid vehicle(PHV) has achieved a powerful electric drive by getting the maximum potential of the Toyota Hybrid System(THS). This paper will explain “Dual motor Drive System” and a structure of the transaxle.