Hyundai gets Indian patent for six-speed ATS powertrain

Chennai, March 28: Korean car major Hyundai Motor Company has been granted an Indian patent for its invention regarding a six-speed powertrain comprising an automatic transmission system (ATS).

The company, which is the second largest car maker in India, had filed the patent application in 2005, claiming the invention with six forward speeds and one reverse speed realises a multi-stage gearshift mechanism of an automatic transmission system of a vehicle.

Naveen Mathur, deputy controller of patents and designs, Delhi, although initially had raised some objections, granted the patent after being satisfied with responses the company provided with regard to the points raised by the patent office. The patent office's initial objections were that the claims lack inventive step as they could be obvious to a person skilled in the art when taught by the documents in the public domain. Hyundai has already received patent for this 'invention' in Korea and the United States.

According to a patent document filed by Hyundai, the present invention relates to a sixspeed powertrain of an automatic transmission of a vehicle installed in an automatic transmission and triggers six forward speeds and one reverse speed. For a manual transmission, too many speeds cause a driver the inconvenience of excessive manual shifting. However, for an automatic transmission, a transmission control unit automatically executes shifting by controlling the operation of the powertrain, and therefore, more speeds usually implies more merits, it submitted.

The multi-stage gearshift mechanism of an automatic transmission includes a plurality of planetary gear sets. A powertrain having such a plurality of planetary gears sets varies the torque in multistages and outputs it to an output shaft when receiving a converted engine torque from a torque converter. The more speeds the powertrain of an automatic transmission has, the better the power perfor mance and fuel consumption are. Therefore, it is desirable for powertrains to have as many speeds as possible, the company said.

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), the wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) currently has car models across segments – such as Eon, i10, Grand i10, Elite i20, Xcent, Ver na, Elantra, Santa Fe and Creta. HMIL’s fully integrated stateof-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai with a capacity of 6.5 lakh units per annum and boasts of advanced production, quality and testing capabilities.

The Indian ar m exports to around 85 countries across Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Australia and the Asia Pacific. The company had registered the domestic sales of 40,716 units in February 2016.