you need to consider changing your line of thinking about this. First, horsepower, not torque is the starting issue.
A 5 horsepower lawnmower engine can violently launch a full size vehicle for a dozen feet before it runs out of 'horsepower'. The horsepower required at the instant of start is the same for a bicycle and a locomotive, ZERO. This is true because horespower is force multiplied by speed. So, however large the force, the multiplier at start is zero and therefore the start horsepower is zero. So a normal engine at idle connected to the reflected inertial flywheel equivelent of the car will likely hang at idle by
means of an idle servo capable of full throttle and do so to 5-10 mph for a very hard start.
The conventional prime mover and load of the car driven through a manual transmission has another fundamental flaw.
This is the law of maximum power transfer. This law may be more familiar in terms of stereo amplifier impedance and the resistance of loudspeakers. If you have an 8 ohm amplifier and you connect 4 ohm speakers, the power drop inside the amplifier internal impedance is greater that 50%.
If you use 16 ohm speakers, they wont draw full power. Hence, using 8 ohm speakers results in maximum power transfer, or 50% output. The other 50% is lost inside the amplifier. The anology for an engine which must accelerate to accelerate the car is exactly the same. The rolling radius(squared)of the tires times the mass number of the car
(weight divided by 32.16, the acceleration due to gravity),
about 100 slugs (english units) for a 3216 pound car is
100 slug-feet squared. A typical engine is 1-2 slug-ft2.
Inertias reflect by the gear ratio squared just like impedances reflect through magnetic transmormers by the transformer ratio squared. The 100 slug-ft2 reduces to
100/16 at the driveshaft for a 4:1 rear ratio, or 6.25 slug-ft2. Going through a 2,2:1 first gear further reduces the 'reflected load flywheel inertia' to 1.29. If the engine inertia (everything, pistons, crank, valves, fan, belts, waterpump, all of it) is about equal to that, then 50% of the developed output engine power (not counting the internal power loss which also consumes a lot of gasoline)
goes to the transmission to accelerate the reflected inertia load and from that 50 % comes all of the conventional manual or automatic inefficiency, and what you finally have left now accelerates the car at a rate that pleases most people. The third thing to consider is that the engine is lugged down at startup whether manual or automatic and does not develop the max hp until halfway to 60. Does any of this really sound efficient ? I don't think so.
Now consider the Hydristor as an IVT which has a combination of two internal Hydristors at about 98+ and about 97 combined. The back unit is at max displacement
(about 75 cubic inches for the Ford Expedition). The front unit initially is a circle at zero (makes a nice hill holder at a light). When you step on the pedel, you do not open the engine throttle. That is fully controlled by a dedicated full range servo. Your redel position calls for a specific hydraulic pressure in the Hydristor case and the front unit control pistons begin to move in. Almost immediately, the case pressure jumps to the accelerator pedel number and the drive torque jumps to a torque linear with regard to the pressure. The Expedition converter will make as much as 4,000 foot-pounds into the drive shaft in the maximum example. The idling engine feeds into an overall ratio of perhaps 10,000:1 or higher and the drive shaft, rear and front spring windup, axle twist and tire windup. At this time, the engine doesn't even begin to see a noticeable load. As the hard acceleration begins, the Hydristor ratio rapidly sweeps all numbers and keeps lowering the ratio number. The Expedition will run out of 1 G acceleration with an idling engine at about 5 Mph. Now if
we pre-rev the engine to redline above the power peak Rpm,
and accelerate hard, the rate of 1 G can be maintained in the Expedition to about 38 Mph in 1.7 seconds. The engine Rpm will then be 'dragged down' to about 5600 Rpm (max hp)
and the acceleration will drop off to about .5 G at 60.
The Expedition will make it to 60 in 5 seconds flat because of the Hydristor.
The engine wastes about 80 Hp at 70 Mph. I think the Rpm is about 2150. By cutting the speed to 600 at highway cruise, about 70 hp can be saved, or not wasted. This 7,000 pound vehicle gets about 16 Mpg now. The rolling horsepower is about 30 at 70 Mph. The greater efficiency of the Hydristor coupled with the substantial low speed operation
power savings should boost the mileage to 40+ Mpg on the highway. Ford asked me to boost the operating pressure to 5,000 psi so pressure accumulators can store decel energy for re-use. This will further boost city mileage and overall
average. The engine revolutions per mile will really drop so the engine will now last a half million miles. emissions will also be quartered. The noise will go down in the vehicle. maintenance and tune-ups will stretch out. And three to five Hydristor units will fit every vehicle using adapters. The Hydristor is so efficient that no cooling is required with external cooling lines.
As a result of exchanges with interested persons, I am planning some further innovations. One would be a Hydristor clutch which would behave like a clutch, but the accessability of all engine power would provide substantial power increases during acceleration. The heat lost in a clutch would be gone. You could go through 5 speeds and get to highway speed, and engage the Hydristor overdrive function by clicking a button. You could also dial in the overdrive ratio you want by the feel of the car. Now, when your stick shift hating spouse gets in to drive the car, they would flip the 'automatic' button, put the tranny in 5th gear and away they go, automatically. A 'his' and 'hers' if you will.
Well, I am tired and I am going to quit for now. This has only scratched the surface of the Hydristor technology. More to come. Questions? Call me at 607-7275709
regards Tom Kasmer
