The German Automobile giant Volkswagen has given us a glimpse of their soon to be launched 10-speed DSG gearbox at the annual Vienna motor symposium in Austria, by their R&D chief, Hans-Jakob Neusser. The first time we heard of this was when Volkswagen chief, Proffessor Dr. Martin Winterkorn gave a talk in 2013 at the Vienna motor symposium telling us how they plan to implement it for both transverse and longitudinal engine applications. The presentation shows how manufacturers are keen on introducing the 10-speed DSG gearbox in a wide range of models. The new gearbox will compliment the already available 6-speed DSG and 7-speed units available on cars across the Volkswagen group of cars.
DSG for the Layman:
DSG – Direct Shift Gearbox- is basically an electronically controlled dual clutch, automated-manual gearbox with full or semi automatic controls. It consists of two separate manual gearboxes and clutches in the same housing unit working as one. The internal combustion engine drives two clutch packs. The outer clutch pack drives gears 1, 3, 5 (and 7 when fitted), and reverse while the inner clutch pack drives gears 2, 4, and 6. The outer clutch pack has a larger diameter compared to the inner clutch, and can therefore handle greater torque loadings. Instead of a standard large dry single-plate clutch, each clutch pack for the six-speed DSG is a collection of four small wet interleaved clutch plates (similar to a motorcycle wet multi-plate clutch). Because the alternate clutch pack’s gear-sets can be pre-selected (predictive shifts enabled via the ‘unused’ section of the gearbox), un-powered time while shifting is avoided because the transmission of torque is simply switched from one clutch-pack to the other.
Simply put, this use of two independent clutches gives us better shift times, for example, the DSG takes only about 8 milliseconds to upshift, whereas a sequential manual transmission takes 150 milliseconds in a Ferrari Enzo !
The advantages of DSG would be:
- Better fuel economy.
- Short shift time
- No loss of torque transmission from engine to driving wheels during shifts.
The Disadvantages of DSG are as follows:
- High maintenance
- Expensive to manufacture hence affecting the overall price of the vehicle
Volkswagen and DSG:
Volkswagen has been one of the pioneers when it comes to the DSG, they introduced it in the 2003 Golf MK4 R32. The first model manufactured by Volkswagen in 2003 had six forward and one reverse gears paired to engines producing a torque of 350 Nm. In 2010, the last update on the DSG from VW, they paired up the seven-speed transmission to an engine producing torque in the range of 500 Nm.
As announced the 10-speed DSG would replace the currently in use 6-speed DSG. Which according to Volkswagen would be a major step forward in the company’s future ideology of boosting the efficiency of future models by 15% in an expected time frame of 2020. The new transmission would be paired to engines producing torque upto 500 Nm.
Even though this is the second year in succession that we hear of the 10-speed DSG, VW is yet to announce when and which car the system will debut in. We’ll have to wait and watch, bookmark this page for more.
Source- Autocar India
