3-MODE FRONT WHEEL DRIVE AND REAR WHEEL DRIVE CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE PLANETARY TRANSMISSION

摘要

A front wheel drive or rear wheel drive continuously variable transmission having an input shaft, an output shaft, a continuously variable tilting ball planetary variator, a complex planetary arrangement having first, second, third, and fourth rotating elements, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. The complex planetary arrangement has a simple single pinion gearset and a compound double pinion gearset, having fixedly connected planetary carriers and fixedly connected ring gears, creating a joint planetary gear carrier and joint ring gear. The outer planetary gears engage the ring gear which drives the output shaft. Selective torque transmitting devices include clutches and braking clutches. Alternative variations of the continuously variable transmission configurations utilize two simple planetary gearset assemblies instead of a complex planetary arrangement with and without variations of torque transmitting device configurations.