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HONDA completed research and development of the Metal V-Belt for CVTs in-house for the purpose of reducing the minimum pitch radius. The newly developed belt is essential to the compactness of a CVT and increases the speed ratio range. Increase of ring stress caused by reducing the minimum pitch radius is treated by improvement of element shape, optimizing clearance between elements and between element and ring and improving materials.(1) In this paper, the optimization of clearance between elements, heat treatment of elements and optimization of ring material are described in detail. Optimum total clearance between elements for a virgin belt is defined by test results during operation using a specially engraved gap sensor and a telemeter system. Tolerance and conditions of heat treatment for elements are optimized concerning fatigue strength of the element nose.

Pulley thrust control, changes in the trajectory of the belt as it winds around the pulleys, and the amount of friction transmission were focused on in order to reduce transmission loss and increase the transmission efficiency of CVT. In the case of pulley thrust control, making use of the linear relationship between the rotary speed fluctuation transfer characteristic and the torque transmission capacity between the pulleys and the belt, it was possible to reduce the excess safety factor of the torque transmission volume. Due to pulley tilt, the trajectory of the belt displays deviations with the theoretical geometrical winding radius. The structure of the pulleys was modified in order to reduce this deviation and increase transmission efficiency. Optimization of the additives in the CVT fluid increased the coefficient of friction, decreasing pulley thrust and increasing transmission efficiency.