More Wolfram Widgets!

"Eric Siedlecki" (esiedlecki) 08/21/2013 at 13:00 • Filed to: Mathlopnik, WolframAlpha, Formula, Widget

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As seen in my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! post, Wolfram Alpha has an awesome widget creation UI. This time I dug a little deeper, though.

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I've made a pair of widgets that sort of work hand in hand. The first calculates the speed of a vehicle after you input the tire size, gear ratio, differential (final drive) ratio and engine speed. Check it out !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

The second one is geared more towards people who do not have a tachometer (myself). It will calculates the engine speed in RPM when given the tire size, gear ratio, differential ratio and vehicle speed. Check that one out !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

These ones seem to be working a bit better than my first one. Hopefully they work for you, and are as fun for you as they've been for me (and hopefully Gawker lets me embed these soon!).

Greenmobile Supremo Commando, BRZ Extrordinare > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 10:02

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Wolfram alpha has saved my ass many times in my Engineering courses, didn't know it could do all this stuff too. Nifty.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 10:14

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Reverse? Where we're going we don't need reverse!

Actually, BttF references aside, that's a very weird setup on there. Internal clutch on that reverse idler and constant mesh? Who needs a synchro-ed constant mesh reverse? The twin-layshaft setup does make for a nice compact package, though.

PelicanHazard > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 11:12

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Very interesting. So according to this widget, the mechanical top speed of my Dart is...189.5 mph. If only. Curse you aerodynamics!

Bakkster, touring car driver > Greenmobile Supremo Commando, BRZ Extrordinare 08/21/2013 at 13:12

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I'm just sad it didn't exist until after I had graduated.

Great for those 'what if' questions, though.

desertdog5051 > PelicanHazard 08/21/2013 at 13:21

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It must be in a vacuum. :)

desertdog5051 > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 13:22

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Pretty girlfriend Eric. Is she an engineering student as well?

Eric Siedlecki > desertdog5051 08/21/2013 at 13:28

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Thanks! She's an environmental studies student. And as of last week, she's my fiancee!

I'm actually not an engineering student. I just enjoy the odd math problem. I dropped out of community college while studying computer science (I can't stand school), but was lucky enough to grab a job working at Intel as an IT technician.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 13:30

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I neglected to mention that there are apparently two pinion/final drive ratios. Clean way to get a close 5th/6th ratio and drive them off the same input, but would make tweaking things confusing.

Eric Siedlecki > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/21/2013 at 13:33

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Haha, I have no idea what this comes out of. I just grabbed a transmission from the depths of the internet using the almighty Google Image Search.

desertdog5051 > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 13:36

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Congrats. What Intel plant?

Eric Siedlecki > desertdog5051 08/21/2013 at 13:40

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I'm working in Hillsboro, OR, mostly at the Ronler Acres campus.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 13:45

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It's a six-speed out of a FWD, if I'm not mistaken. The concentric input shafts look like something similar to some DCTs, but usually DCT is to allow quick shifts between adjacent gears, and this looks like ratios 1-3 are on one input shaft and 4-6 on another, which would make no sense. Now, a KERS or hybrid system on the other input would sort of make sense, though ratio-matching everything through would be weird. I guess it may be just be for a clutch setup intended to engage differently in low gears than high.

Old-school transmissions often didn't have more than one countershaft/layshaft, and would drive back to the main shaft so the drive ratio was simpler when it was engaged (i.e. no losses through secondary gearing, the main shaft just locked and was spinning a disconnected layshaft). This has two layshafts and a separated output shaft mainly for reasons of packaging.

Eric Siedlecki > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/21/2013 at 13:52

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You got me interested. I decided to see what this transmission belongs to. Turns out it's a Ford PowerShift transmission. It's of course a DCT, but the shafts are 1-3-5 & 2-4-6.

I don't know a whole lot about transmission. I'm glad people like you are around who can explain these mysterious things to me.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 14:05

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Knowing this stuff now:
The gear down at the far end is 1st. It is also opposed by the reverse spur (which, being on a slip of some kind makes more sense as a DCT concession). The closest gear is 2nd. The next nearest from the end should be third, with I believe the lower of the *paired* ones being fourth. The next nearest from the far end after that (bottom, opposite one step up from third) should be fifth, and the upper of the ones on the same input would be sixth.

Ready to hear something crazy? Other than the fact it would eff up the DCT input-matching, there's not actually any reason this box isn't an eight speed. The third/fifth gears have empty spaces opposite that could be doubled up like fourth/sixth, though that would leave one set of inputs with 5 gears and another with 3. The "cure" would be doubling up where first is (moving that dog clutch), and having a 9-speed...

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 08/21/2013 at 14:44

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Maybe more compact packaging that way? You don't have to make room in the case to move the reverse idler in and out of meshing, just disengage the clutch to get reverse.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 08/21/2013 at 14:47

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That fact that it's a DCT makes things make a bit more sense.

Greenmobile Supremo Commando, BRZ Extrordinare > PelicanHazard 08/21/2013 at 15:38

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The mechanical top speed on my Camry is 207.3mph, and it has a CD of only 0.27...


/becauseracecar

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Eric Siedlecki 08/21/2013 at 15:49

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Is the end result an Arna?

Eric Siedlecki > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 08/21/2013 at 16:57

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Good guess, but no. That'd be my 1987 Nissan Sentra. Similar in many ways to the Arna, when you think about it.

The wheels and tires are larger than stock on my car.