Multitronic is a stepless transmission launched by AUDI AG in late 1999, jointly developed and manufactured by LuK . The capitalization used is multitronic (spelled by Audi with a lower-case leading 'm') and is a registered trademark of AUDI AG.
138-510: It is based on the principles of a continuously variable transmission (CVT) popularised by DAF , but differs from other CVTs by using an unconventional type of steel chain consisting of parallel flat chain segments. Unlike the conventional CVT push belt, the Multitronic chain uses tension to transfer forces. Multitronic is a term originally coined in the original series of Star Trek (see season two, episode 24: The Ultimate Computer). It offers
276-399: A V-belt which runs between two variable-diameter pulleys. The pulleys consist of two cone-shaped halves that move together and apart. The V-belt runs between these two halves, so the effective diameter of the pulley is dependent on the distance between the two halves of the pulley. The V-shaped cross-section of the belt causes it to ride higher on one pulley and lower on the other; therefore,
414-516: A centrifugal clutch , to assist when idling or manually reversing the scooter. The 1974 Rokon RT340 TCR Automatic off-road motorcycle was fitted with a snowmobile CVT. The first ATV equipped with a CVT was the Polaris Trail Boss in 1985. Combine harvesters used variable belt drives as early as the 1950s. Many small tractors and self-propelled mowers for home and garden use simple rubber belt CVTs. Hydrostatic CVTs are more common on
552-538: A CVT), but in practice, there are many similarities in operation, and a ratcheting CVT is able to produce a zero-output speed from any given input speed (as per an Infinitely Variable Transmission). The drive ratio is adjusted by changing linkage geometry within the oscillating elements so that the summed maximum linkage speed is adjusted, even when the average linkage speed remains constant. Ratcheting CVTs can transfer substantial torque because their static friction actually increases relative to torque throughput, so slippage
690-842: A German naturalist, Peter Simon Pallas , as a valley that once connected the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and subsequently was proposed as a natural boundary between continents. By the mid-19th century, there were three main conventions, one following the Don, the Volga–Don Canal and the Volga, the other following the Kuma–Manych Depression to the Caspian and then the Ural River, and the third abandoning
828-631: A Semitic term for west , this being either Akkadian erebu meaning 'to go down, set' (said of the sun) or Phoenician 'ereb 'evening, west', which is at the origin of Arabic maghreb and Hebrew ma'arav . Martin Litchfield West stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor", while Beekes considers a connection to Semitic languages improbable. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to
966-791: A boundary along the Terek and Kuban rivers, so southwards from the Kuma and the Manych, but still with the Caucasus entirely in Asia. However, most geographers in the Soviet Union favoured the boundary along the Caucasus crest, and this became the common convention in the later 20th century, although the Kuma–Manych boundary remained in use in some 20th-century maps. Some view the separation of Eurasia into Asia and Europe as
1104-448: A chain. Each element of the chain must have conical sides that fit the pulley when the belt is running on the outermost radius. As the chain moves into the pulleys the contact area gets smaller. As the contact area is proportional to the number of elements, chain belts require many very small elements. A belt-driven design offers approximately 88% efficiency, which, while lower than that of a manual transmission , can be offset by enabling
1242-567: A common currency, the euro , and participate in the European single market and a customs union . A large bloc of countries, the Schengen Area , have also abolished internal border and immigration controls. Regular popular elections take place every five years within the EU; they are considered to be the second-largest democratic elections in the world after India's . The EU is the third-largest economy in
1380-491: A hydrostatic CVT in the form of a variable-displacement axial piston pump with a variable-angle swashplate . A cone CVT varies the drive ratio by moving a wheel or belt along the axis of one or more conical rollers. The simplest type of cone CVT, the single-cone version, uses a wheel that moves along the slope of the cone, creating variation between the narrow and wide diameters of the cone. Some cone CVT designs use two rollers. In 1903, William Evans and Paul Knauf applied for
1518-432: A hydrostatic CVT include: Disadvantages of a hydrostatic CVT include: Uses of hydrostatic CVTs include forage harvesters , combine harvesters , small wheeled/tracked/skid-steer loaders , crawler tractors , and road rollers . One agricultural example, produced by AGCO , splits power between hydrostatic and mechanical transfer to the output shaft via a planetary gear in the forward direction of travel (in reverse,
SECTION 10
#17328552570091656-414: A hydrostatic CVT, the effective "gear ratio" between the engine and the driving wheel(s) is the result of a difference between the pump's displacement—expressed as cubic inches or cubic centimeters per revolution—and the motor's displacement. In a closed system, that is, a system in which all of the pump's output is delivered to the motor(s), this ratio is given by the equation GR = Dm ÷ Dp , where Dp
1794-406: A large land mass completely or almost completely surrounded by water at its borders. Prior to the adoption of the current convention that includes mountain divides, the border between Europe and Asia had been redefined several times since its first conception in classical antiquity , but always as a series of rivers, seas and straits that were believed to extend an unknown distance east and north from
1932-501: A limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. The flexibility of a CVT with suitable control may allow the engine to operate at a constant angular velocity while the vehicle moves at varying speeds. CVTs are used in cars, tractors, side-by-sides , motor scooters, snowmobiles , bicycles, and earthmoving equipment . The most common type of CVT uses two pulleys connected by a belt or chain ; however, several other designs have also been used at times. The most common type of CVT uses
2070-448: A millimeter thick. The conical pulleys have radial grooves. A groove on one side of the pulley is met with a ridge on the other side and so the sliding plates are pushed back and forth to conform to the pattern, effectively forming teeth of the correct pitch when squeezed between the pulleys. Due to the interlocking surfaces, this type of drive can transmit significant torque and so has been widely used in industrial applications. However,
2208-526: A multi-plate clutch, not a torque converter , to prevent idle creep . Use of CVTs then spread in the following years to models including the 1998 Nissan Cube , 1999 Rover 25 and 1999 Audi A6 . The 1999 Nissan Cedric (Y34) used a toroidal CVT—unlike the pulley-based designs used by other manufacturers—marketed as the Nissan Extroid , which incorporated a torque converter. Nissan then switched from toroidal to pulley-based CVTs in 2003. The version of
2346-417: A number of driver-selectable fixed ratios, selectable from either the gear-lever in a sequential style, or via (optional) steering wheel-mounted fingertip paddle-shift controls. Early versions offered six ratios; in 2004, this was increased to seven, while new Audi models now have Multitronic transmission with eight ratios. Some Audi A6 variants that feature the Multitronic transmission are now equipped with
2484-408: A patent on a continuously variable transmission using two parallel conical rollers pointing in opposite directions and connected by belts that could be slid along the cones to vary the transmission ratio. The Evans Variable Speed Countershaft, produced in the 1920s, is simpler—the two rollers are arranged with a small constant-width gap between them, and the position of a leather cord that runs between
2622-730: A precise eastern boundary of Europe arises in the Early Modern period, as the eastern extension of Muscovy began to include North Asia . Throughout the Middle Ages and into the 18th century, the traditional division of the landmass of Eurasia into two continents, Europe and Asia, followed Ptolemy, with the boundary following the Turkish Straits , the Black Sea , the Kerch Strait , the Sea of Azov and
2760-465: A pulley-based CVT. In some toroidal systems, the direction of thrust can be reversed within the CVT, removing the need for an external device to provide a reverse gear. A ratcheting CVT uses a series of one-way clutches or ratchets that rectify and sum only "forward" motion. The on-off characteristics of a typical ratchet means that many of these designs are not continuous in operation (i.e. technically not
2898-701: A residue of Eurocentrism : "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country. [...]." During the 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene , numerous cold phases called glacials ( Quaternary ice age ), or significant advances of continental ice sheets, in Europe and North America, occurred at intervals of approximately 40,000 to 100,000 years. The long glacial periods were separated by more temperate and shorter interglacials which lasted about 10,000–15,000 years. The last cold episode of
SECTION 20
#17328552570093036-661: A result, the Reconquista took the greater part of eight hundred years, in which period a long list of Alfonsos, Sanchos, Ordoños, Ramiros, Fernandos, and Bermudos would be fighting their Christian rivals as much as the Muslim invaders. During the Dark Ages, the Western Roman Empire fell under the control of various tribes. The Germanic and Slav tribes established their domains over Western and Eastern Europe, respectively. Eventually
3174-414: A ring of steel pole pieces between them to create a planetary gearset using magnets. It is claimed to produce a 3 to 5 percent reduction in fuel consumption compared to a mechanical system. Some CVTs can also function as an infinitely variable transmission (IVT) which offers an infinite range of low gears (e.g. moving a vehicle forward at an infinitely slow speed). Some IVTs prevent back driving (where
3312-410: A series of discs and rollers. The discs can be pictured as two almost-conical parts arranged point-to-point, with the sides dished such that the two parts could fit into the central hole of a torus . One disc is the input, and the other is the output. Between the discs are rollers, which vary the ratio and transfer power from one side to the other. When the rollers' axes are perpendicular to the axis of
3450-457: A specific level of driver involvement with the vehicles. Many small vehicles—such as snowmobiles , golf carts , and motor scooters —use CVTs, typically of the pulley variety. CVTs in these vehicles often use a rubber belt with a non-stretching fixed circumference manufactured using various highly durable and flexible materials, due to the mechanical simplicity and ease of use outweighing their comparative inefficiency. Some motor scooters include
3588-535: A spring-loaded driven pulley often use belt tension to effect the conforming adjustments in the driven pulley. The V-belt needs to be very stiff in the pulley's axial direction to make only short radial movements while sliding in and out of the pulleys. The radial thickness of the belt is a compromise between the maximum gear ratio and torque. Steel-reinforced V-belts are sufficient for low-mass, low-torque applications like utility vehicles and snowmobiles, but higher-mass and -torque applications such as automobiles require
3726-467: A stepless automatic transmission in which the ratio between the input shaft and output shaft can be varied continuously within a given range, providing virtually an infinite number of possible ratios . The Multitronic system uses a link-plate chain drive, an oil-cooled multi-plate clutch (initially of six parts, later of seven to enable it to cope better with the high torque outputs of larger turbodiesel engines), and complex electronics, to overcome
3864-705: Is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere . It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa . Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by
4002-401: Is also evidence that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe around 54,000 years ago, some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. The earliest sites in Europe dated 48,000 years ago are Riparo Mochi (Italy), Geissenklösterle (Germany) and Isturitz (France). The European Neolithic period—marked by the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock, increased numbers of settlements and
4140-481: Is closest to Anatolia (or Asia Minor), but is considered part of Europe politically and it is a member state of the EU. Malta was considered an island of North-western Africa for centuries, but now it is considered to be part of Europe as well. "Europe", as used specifically in British English , may also refer to Continental Europe exclusively. The term "continent" usually implies the physical geography of
4278-556: Is generally considered a transcontinental country divided entirely by water, while Russia and Kazakhstan are only partly divided by waterways. France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are also transcontinental (or more properly, intercontinental, when oceans or large seas are involved) in that their main land areas are in Europe while pockets of their territories are located on other continents separated from Europe by large bodies of water. Spain, for example, has territories south of
multitronic - Misplaced Pages Continue
4416-433: Is impossible in properly designed systems. Efficiency is generally high because most of the dynamic friction is caused by very slight transitional clutch speed changes. The drawback to ratcheting CVTs is the vibration caused by the successive transition in speed required to accelerate the element, which must supplant the previously operating and decelerating power-transmitting element. The design principle dates back to before
4554-779: Is now modified to withstand 400 newton-metres (295 lbf⋅ft) torque. In 2014 Audi announced to discontinue Multitronic and replace it with S tronic , effectively making the Audi A5 8T the last model it was sold with. There have been numerous reports from owners around the world that the multitronic transmission is prone to electronic glitches and mechanical issues emerged in the TCUs commonly cause by overheat oil leakage to TCU especially for models (01J & 0AN) using clutch pack with six plates built before or around 2006. Later model ( 0AW with VL381f TCU) have been considered more reliable. Typical symptoms include flashing gear selector (PRNDS indicator) on
4692-533: Is sometimes considered to mark the end of antiquity; alternatively antiquity is considered to end with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE; the closure of the pagan Platonic Academy of Athens in 529 CE; or the rise of Islam in the early 7th century CE. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe. During
4830-422: Is somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent compared to any clear-cut definition of the term "continent". The current division of Eurasia into two continents now reflects East-West cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border between Europe and Asia does not follow any state boundaries and now only follows a few bodies of water. Turkey
4968-471: Is the largest and most populous , spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 745 million (about 10% of the world population ) in 2021; the third-largest after Asia and Africa. The European climate is affected by warm Atlantic currents, such as the Gulf Stream , which produce a temperate climate , tempering winters and summers, on much of
5106-400: Is the pump's effective displacement, Dm is the motor's displacement, and GR is the "gear ratio." In a hydrostatic CVT, the effective "gear ratio" is varied by varying effective displacement of the pump, which will vary the volume of oil delivered to the motor(s) at a given engine speed (RPM). There are several ways in which this may be accomplished, one being to divert some of
5244-809: The Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century. From that time, the term designated the sphere of influence of the Western Church , as opposed to both the Eastern Orthodox churches and to the Islamic world . A cultural definition of Europe as the lands of Latin Christendom coalesced in the 8th century, signifying the new cultural condominium created through the confluence of Germanic traditions and Christian-Latin culture, defined partly in contrast with Byzantium and Islam , and limited to northern Iberia ,
5382-509: The Don (ancient Tanais ). But maps produced during the 16th to 18th centuries tended to differ in how to continue the boundary beyond the Don bend at Kalach-na-Donu (where it is closest to the Volga, now joined with it by the Volga–Don Canal ), into territory not described in any detail by the ancient geographers. Around 1715, Herman Moll produced a map showing the northern part of the Ob River and
5520-557: The European population at the time. The plague had a devastating effect on Europe's social structure; it induced people to live for the moment as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in The Decameron (1353). It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic Church and led to increased persecution of Jews , beggars and lepers . The plague is thought to have returned every generation with varying virulence and mortalities until
5658-508: The Greeks and Phoenicians gave rise to early Mediterranean cities. Early Iron Age Italy and Greece from around the 8th century BCE gradually gave rise to historical Classical antiquity, whose beginning is sometimes dated to 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games . Ancient Greece was the founding culture of Western civilisation. Western democratic and rationalist culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece. The Greek city-state,
multitronic - Misplaced Pages Continue
5796-612: The Inquisition against heretics. In the Iberian Peninsula , the Reconquista concluded with the fall of Granada in 1492 , ending over seven centuries of Islamic rule in the south-western peninsula. In the east, a resurgent Byzantine Empire recaptured Crete and Cyprus from the Muslims, and reconquered the Balkans. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the 9th to
5934-764: The Iron Curtain , with NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East . This divide ended with the Revolutions of 1989 , the fall of the Berlin Wall , and the dissolution of the Soviet Union , which allowed European integration to advance significantly. European integration is being advanced institutionally since 1948 with the founding of the Council of Europe , and significantly through
6072-706: The Irtysh River , a major tributary of the Ob, as components of a series of partly-joined waterways taking the boundary between Europe and Asia from the Turkish Straits, and the Don River all the way to the Arctic Ocean. In 1721, he produced a more up to date map that was easier to read. However, his proposal to adhere to major rivers as the line of demarcation was never taken up by other geographers who were beginning to move away from
6210-473: The Mediterranean Sea —namely, Ceuta and Melilla —which are parts of Africa and share a border with Morocco. According to the current convention, Georgia and Azerbaijan are transcontinental countries where waterways have been completely replaced by mountains as the divide between continents. The first recorded usage of Eurṓpē as a geographic term is in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo , in reference to
6348-680: The Megalithic Temples of Malta and Stonehenge , were constructed throughout Western and Southern Europe. The modern native populations of Europe largely descend from three distinct lineages: Mesolithic hunter-gatherers , descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic Epigravettian culture; Neolithic Early European Farmers who migrated from Anatolia during the Neolithic Revolution 9,000 years ago; and Yamnaya Steppe herders who expanded into Europe from
6486-588: The Neandertal valley in Germany ) appeared in Europe 150,000 years ago (115,000 years ago it is found already in the territory of present-day Poland ) and disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago, with their final refuge being the Iberian Peninsula. The Neanderthals were supplanted by modern humans ( Cro-Magnons ), who seem to have appeared in Europe around 43,000 to 40,000 years ago. However, there
6624-635: The Pechenegs and the Cuman-Kipchaks , caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, and temporarily halted the expansion of the Rus' state to the south and east. Like many other parts of Eurasia , these territories were overrun by the Mongols . The invaders, who became known as Tatars , were mostly Turkic-speaking peoples under Mongol suzerainty. They established
6762-672: The Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia in the context of Indo-European migrations 5,000 years ago. The European Bronze Age began c. 3200 BCE in Greece with the Minoan civilisation on Crete , the first advanced civilisation in Europe. The Minoans were followed by the Myceneans , who collapsed suddenly around 1200 BCE, ushering the European Iron Age . Iron Age colonisation by
6900-609: The Serbian Principality (later Kingdom and Empire ), and the Duchy of Croatia (later Kingdom of Croatia ). To the east, Kievan Rus' expanded from its capital in Kiev to become the largest state in Europe by the 10th century. In 988, Vladimir the Great adopted Orthodox Christianity as the religion of state. Further east, Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in the 10th century, but
7038-533: The decline of the Roman Empire , Europe entered a long period of change arising from what historians call the " Age of Migrations ". There were numerous invasions and migrations amongst the Ostrogoths , Visigoths , Goths , Vandals , Huns , Franks , Angles , Saxons , Slavs , Avars , Bulgars , Vikings , Pechenegs , Cumans , and Magyars . Renaissance thinkers such as Petrarch would later refer to this as
SECTION 50
#17328552570097176-619: The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Christian consolidation of Europe in the wake of the Migration Period marked the European post-classical Middle Ages . The Italian Renaissance spread in the continent a new humanist interest in art and science which led to the modern era . Since the Age of Discovery , led by Spain and Portugal , Europe played a predominant role in global affairs with multiple explorations and conquests around
7314-635: The last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago. Earth is currently in an interglacial period of the Quaternary, called the Holocene . Homo erectus georgicus , which lived roughly 1.8 million years ago in Georgia , is the earliest hominin to have been discovered in Europe. Other hominin remains, dating back roughly 1 million years, have been discovered in Atapuerca , Spain . Neanderthal man (named after
7452-517: The polis , was the fundamental political unit of classical Greece. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens . The Greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by European philosophers and idealists. Greece also generated many cultural contributions: in philosophy , humanism and rationalism under Aristotle , Socrates and Plato ; in history with Herodotus and Thucydides ; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with
7590-457: The watershed of the Ural Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian Sea , the Greater Caucasus , the Black Sea , and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait . Europe covers about 10.18 million km (3.93 million sq mi), or 2% of Earth's surface (6.8% of land area), making it the second-smallest continent (using the seven-continent model ). Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states , of which Russia
7728-402: The "Dark Ages". Isolated monastic communities were the only places to safeguard and compile written knowledge accumulated previously; apart from this, very few written records survive. Much literature, philosophy, mathematics, and other thinking from the classical period disappeared from Western Europe, though they were preserved in the east, in the Byzantine Empire. While the Roman empire in
7866-461: The 12th centuries, with a population of approximately 400,000. The Empire was weakened following the defeat at Manzikert , and was weakened considerably by the sack of Constantinople in 1204 , during the Fourth Crusade . Although it would recover Constantinople in 1261, Byzantium fell in 1453 when Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Empire . In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as
8004-401: The 12th to the 15th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Moscow grew from a small principality under Mongol rule to the largest state in Europe, overthrowing the Mongols in 1480, and eventually becoming the Tsardom of Russia . The state was consolidated under Ivan III the Great and Ivan the Terrible , steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries. The Great Famine of 1315–1317
8142-444: The 18th century. During this period, more than 100 plague epidemics swept across Europe. The Renaissance was a period of cultural change originating in Florence , and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The rise of a new humanism was accompanied by the recovery of forgotten classical Greek and Arabic knowledge from monastic libraries, often translated from Arabic into Latin . The Renaissance spread across Europe between
8280-502: The 1930s, with the original design intended to convert rotary motion to oscillating motion and back to rotary motion using roller clutches. This design remains in production as of 2017, for use with low-speed electric motors. An example prototyped as a bicycle transmission was patented in 1994. The operating principle for a ratcheting CVT design, using a Scotch yoke mechanism to convert rotary motion to oscillating motion and non-circular gears to achieve uniform input to output ratio,
8418-410: The 1950s. CVTs with flywheels are used as a speed governor between an engine (e.g. a wind turbine) and the electric generator . When the engine is producing sufficient power, the generator is connected directly to the CVT which serves to regulate the engine's speed. When the power output is too low, the generator is disconnected, and the energy is stored in the flywheel. It is only when the speed of
SECTION 60
#17328552570098556-400: The 50 years of peace that followed are known as Golden Age of Athens , the seminal period of ancient Greece that laid many of the foundations of Western civilisation. Greece was followed by Rome , which left its mark on law , politics , language , engineering , architecture , government , and many more key aspects in western civilisation. By 200 BCE, Rome had conquered Italy and over
8694-421: The British Isles, France, Christianised western Germany, the Alpine regions and northern and central Italy. The concept is one of the lasting legacies of the Carolingian Renaissance : Europa often figures in the letters of Charlemagne's court scholar, Alcuin . The transition of Europe to being a cultural term as well as a geographic one led to the borders of Europe being affected by cultural considerations in
8832-457: The CVT available in the Rex kei car . Subaru has also supplied its CVTs to other manufacturers (e.g., the 1992 Nissan Micra and Fiat Uno and Panda ). Also in 1987, second-generation Ford Fiesta and first-generation Fiat Uno were introduced with steel-belted CVTs, which are called CTX and Unomatic in Ford and Fiat, respectively. The 1996 sixth-generation Honda Civic introduced a pulley-based Honda Multi Matic (HMM) CVT which included
8970-401: The CVT used with the VQ35DE engine in the fourth-generation Nissan Altima is claimed to be capable of transmitting higher torque loads than other belt CVTs. The 2019 Toyota Corolla (E210) is available with a CVT assisted by a physical "launch gear" alongside the CVT pulley. At speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph), the launch gear is used to increase acceleration and reduce stress on
9108-597: The CVT. Above this speed, the transmission switches over to the CVT. Marketing terms for CVTs include "Lineartronic" ( Subaru ), "Xtronic" ( Jatco , Nissan , Renault ), INVECS-III ( Mitsubishi ), Multitronic ( Volkswagen , Audi ), "Autotronic" ( Mercedes-Benz ) and "IVT" ( Hyundai , Kia ). In the United States, Formula 500 open-wheel racing cars have used CVTs since the early 1970s. CVTs were prohibited from Formula One in 1994 (along with several other electronic systems and driving aids) due to concerns over escalating research and development costs and maintaining
9246-448: The Don altogether, following the Greater Caucasus watershed to the Caspian. The question was still treated as a "controversy" in geographical literature of the 1860s, with Douglas Freshfield advocating the Caucasus crest boundary as the "best possible", citing support from various "modern geographers". In Russia and the Soviet Union , the boundary along the Kuma–Manych Depression was the most commonly used as early as 1906. In 1958,
9384-427: The Early Middle Ages, and soon spread throughout Europe. A struggle for influence between the nobility and the monarchy in England led to the writing of Magna Carta and the establishment of a parliament . The primary source of culture in this period came from the Roman Catholic Church . Through monasteries and cathedral schools , the Church was responsible for education in much of Europe. The Papacy reached
9522-452: The East, especially relating to areas under Byzantine, Ottoman, and Russian influence. Such questions were affected by the positive connotations associated with the term Europe by its users. Such cultural considerations were not applied to the Americas, despite their conquest and settlement by European states. Instead, the concept of "Western civilization" emerged as a way of grouping together Europe and these colonies. The question of defining
9660-421: The Frankish tribes were united under Clovis I . Charlemagne , a Frankish king of the Carolingian dynasty who had conquered most of Western Europe, was anointed " Holy Roman Emperor " by the Pope in 800. This led in 962 to the founding of the Holy Roman Empire , which eventually became centred in the German principalities of central Europe. East Central Europe saw the creation of the first Slavic states and
9798-404: The Great 's efforts to make Russia more European, ignored the whole boundary question with his claim that neither Russia, Scandinavia, northern Germany, nor Poland were fully part of Europe. Since then, many modern analytical geographers like Halford Mackinder have declared that they see little validity in the Ural Mountains as a boundary between continents. The mapmakers continued to differ on
9936-634: The Levant and North Africa and making inroads into Asia Minor . In the mid-7th century, following the Muslim conquest of Persia , Islam penetrated into the Caucasus region. Over the next centuries Muslim forces took Cyprus , Malta , Crete , Sicily , and parts of southern Italy . Between 711 and 720, most of the lands of the Visigothic Kingdom of Iberia were brought under Muslim rule—save for small areas in
10074-571: The Mediterranean Sea without the inclusion of any mountain ranges. Cartographer Herman Moll suggested in 1715 Europe was bounded by a series of partly-joined waterways directed towards the Turkish straits, and the Irtysh River draining into the upper part of the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean . In contrast, the present eastern boundary of Europe partially adheres to the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, which
10212-584: The Reeves CVT was also used by several other manufacturers. The 1911 Zenith Gradua 6HP motorcycle used a pulley-based Gradua CVT. A year later, the Rudge-Whitworth Multigear was released with a similar but improved CVT. Other early cars to use a CVT were the 1913–1923 David small three-wheeled cyclecars built in Spain, the 1923 Clyno built in the U.K., and the 1926 Constantinesco Saloon built in
10350-762: The Soviet Geographical Society formally recommended that the boundary between the Europe and Asia be drawn in textbooks from Baydaratskaya Bay , on the Kara Sea , along the eastern foot of Ural Mountains, then following the Ural River until the Mugodzhar Hills , and then the Emba River ; and Kuma–Manych Depression, thus placing the Caucasus entirely in Asia and the Urals entirely in Europe. The Flora Europaea adopted
10488-500: The Tanais (the modern Don River) as the boundary. The Roman Empire did not attach a strong identity to the concept of continental divisions. However, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the culture that developed in its place , linked to Latin and the Catholic church, began to associate itself with the concept of "Europe". The term "Europe" is first used for a cultural sphere in
10626-623: The U.K. The first mass-production car to use a CVT was the 1958 DAF 600 from the Netherlands . Its Variomatic transmission was used in several vehicles built by DAF and Volvo until the 1980s. In 1987, the ECVT , the first electronically controlled steel-belted CVT, was introduced as an optional transmission on the Subaru Justy , Production was limited to 500 units per month due to Van Doorne's limited production output. In June of that year, supplies increased to 3,000 per month, leading Subaru to make
10764-486: The adoption of Christianity ( c. 1000 CE) . The powerful West Slavic state of Great Moravia spread its territory all the way south to the Balkans, reaching its largest territorial extent under Svatopluk I and causing a series of armed conflicts with East Francia . Further south, the first South Slavic states emerged in the late 7th and 8th century and adopted Christianity : the First Bulgarian Empire ,
10902-625: The basis of many modern legal systems, funded the construction of the Hagia Sophia and brought the Christian church under state control. From the 7th century onwards, as the Byzantines and neighbouring Sasanid Persians were severely weakened due to the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars , the Muslim Arabs began to make inroads into historically Roman territory, taking
11040-498: The belt is wrapped around a pulley, the sides of the elements form a conical surface. In the stack of bands, each band corresponds to a slightly different drive ratio, and thus the bands slide over each other and need sufficient lubrication . An additional film of lubricant is applied to the pulleys. The film needs to be thick enough to prevent direct contact between the pulley and the chain, but thin enough to not waste power as each chain element enters it. Some CVTs transfer power to
11178-556: The boundary between the lower Don and Samara well into the 19th century. The 1745 atlas published by the Russian Academy of Sciences has the boundary follow the Don beyond Kalach as far as Serafimovich before cutting north towards Arkhangelsk , while other 18th- to 19th-century mapmakers such as John Cary followed Strahlenberg's prescription. To the south, the Kuma–Manych Depression was identified c. 1773 by
11316-569: The continent The prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century. Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water to the north, west and south; Europe's limits to the east and north-east are usually taken to be the Ural Mountains , the Ural River , and the Caspian Sea ; to the south-east, the Caucasus Mountains , the Black Sea , and
11454-561: The continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu ( 歐洲 / 欧洲 ), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name Ōuluóbā zhōu ( 歐羅巴洲 ) ( zhōu means "continent"); a similar Chinese-derived term Ōshū ( 欧州 ) is also sometimes used in Japanese such as in the Japanese name of the European Union, Ōshū Rengō ( 欧州連合 ) , despite the katakana Yōroppa ( ヨーロッパ ) being more commonly used. In some Turkic languages,
11592-424: The continent. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable producing more continental climates . European culture consists of a range of national and regional cultures, which form the central roots of the wider Western civilisation , and together commonly reference ancient Greece and ancient Rome , particularly through their Christian successors , as crucial and shared roots. Beginning with
11730-621: The continents as the lands given by Noah to his three sons; Europe was defined as stretching from the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar , separating it from Northwest Africa , to the Don, separating it from Asia. The convention received by the Middle Ages and surviving into modern usage is that of the Roman era used by Roman-era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo , and Ptolemy , who took
11868-508: The contribution of power from the electric motor and the internal combustion engine. These differ from standard CVTs in that they are powered by an electric motor in addition to the engine, often using planetary gears to combine their outputs instead of a belt used in traditional CVTs. A notable example is the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive . Friction-disk transmissions were used in several vehicles and small locomotives built in
12006-462: The dashboard, hesitation and/or shudder during acceleration, inability to select reverse gear and others. Although Audi recommends a transmission fluid change at 55,000 and 115,000 kilometres (or 35,000 and 75,000 miles), there are cases where transmission failures have still occurred even with recommended fluid changes. In the USA a Class Action was won to give Audi owners a new transmission if it failed in
12144-565: The development of major commercial routes along the coast of the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas . The growing wealth and independence acquired by some coastal cities gave the Maritime Republics a leading role in the European scene. The Middle Ages on the mainland were dominated by the two upper echelons of the social structure: the nobility and the clergy. Feudalism developed in France in
12282-415: The discs, the effective diameter is the same for the input discs and the output discs, resulting in a 1:1 drive ratio. For other ratios, the rollers are rotated along the surfaces of the discs so that they are in contact with the discs at points with different diameters, resulting in a drive ratio of something other than 1:1. An advantage of a toroidal CVT is the ability to withstand higher torque loads than
12420-455: The early 20th century, including the Lambert and Metz automobiles. Used today in snow blowers , these transmissions consist of an output disk that is moved across the surface of the input disk upon which it rolls. When the output disk is adjusted to a position equal to its own radius, the resulting drive ratio is 1:1. The drive ratio can be set to infinity (i.e. a stationary output disk) by moving
12558-690: The end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe and eventually the wider world. Both world wars began and were fought to a great extent in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence and competed over dominance in Europe and globally. The resulting Cold War divided Europe along
12696-458: The engine to run at its most efficient RPM regardless of the vehicle's speed. When power is more important than economy, the ratio of the CVT can be changed to allow the engine to turn at the RPM at which it produces the greatest power. In a chain-based CVT, numerous chain elements are arranged along multiple steel bands layered over one another, each of which is thin enough to easily bend . When part of
12834-570: The epic poems of Homer ; in drama with Sophocles and Euripides ; in medicine with Hippocrates and Galen ; and in science with Pythagoras , Euclid , and Archimedes . In the course of the 5th century BCE, several of the Greek city states would ultimately check the Achaemenid Persian advance in Europe through the Greco-Persian Wars , considered a pivotal moment in world history, as
12972-574: The fingertip controls on steering wheel as standard. These controls can also switch to semi-automatic mode when one of the paddles is activated; however, they revert to fully automatic after a predetermined period of time of inactivity. Multitronic offers performance and economy similar to, and in some cases better than, the equivalent five-speed manual gearboxes, and superior to the traditional automatic transmission . Particular performance advantages are noticed with 'in-gear' seamless acceleration times over equivalent manual transmission cars. Multitronic
13110-424: The first 10 years. In 2001, Audi promoted the Multitronic transmission with television commercials throughout Europe , featuring an impersonator of musician and actor Elvis Presley . A prototypical dashboard figure - later named " Wackel-Elvis " ("Wobble Elvis" or "Wobbly Elvis") - appeared in the commercials to demonstrate the smooth ride in an Audi equipped with the Multitronic transmission. The dashboard figure
13248-423: The first such vehicles to be fitted with a hydrostatic CVT. The design used a variable-displacement swash-plate pump and fixed-displacement gear-type hydraulic motor combined into a single compact package. Reverse ratios were achieved by reversing the flow of the pump through over-centering of the swashplate. Acceleration was limited and smoothed through the use of pressure accumulator and relief valves located between
13386-480: The flywheel is sufficient that the kinetic energy is converted into electricity, intermittently, at the speed required by the generator. Some drill presses and milling machines contain a simple belt-drive CVT system to control the speed of the chuck , including the Jet models J-A5816 and J-A5818. In this system, the effective diameter of only the output shaft pulleys is continuously variable. The input pulley connected to
13524-567: The following two centuries it conquered Greece , Hispania ( Spain and Portugal ), the North African coast, much of the Middle East , Gaul ( France and Belgium ), and Britannia ( England and Wales ). Expanding from their base in central Italy beginning in the third century BCE, the Romans gradually expanded to eventually rule the entire Mediterranean basin and Western Europe by the turn of
13662-493: The forward-reverse shuttle times are reduced. The speed and power output of the CVT is used to control the travel speed and sometimes steering of the equipment. In the latter case, the required speed differential to steer the equipment can be supplied by independent CVTs, allowing the steering to be accomplished without several drawbacks associated with other skid steer methods (such as braking losses or loss of tractive effort). The 1965 Wheel Horse 875 and 1075 garden tractors were
13800-407: The gear ratio is adjusted by moving the two sheaves of one pulley closer together and the two sheaves of the other pulley farther apart. As the distance between the pulleys and the length of the belt does not change, both pulleys must be adjusted (one bigger, the other smaller) simultaneously to maintain the proper amount of tension on the belt. Simple CVTs combining a centrifugal drive pulley with
13938-624: The height of its power during the High Middle Ages. An East-West Schism in 1054 split the former Roman Empire religiously, with the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Catholic Church in the former Western Roman Empire. In 1095 Pope Urban II called for a crusade against Muslims occupying Jerusalem and the Holy Land . In Europe itself, the Church organised
14076-499: The idea of water boundaries as the only legitimate divides between Europe and Asia. Four years later, in 1725, Philip Johan von Strahlenberg was the first to depart from the classical Don boundary. He drew a new line along the Volga , following the Volga north until the Samara Bend , along Obshchy Syrt (the drainage divide between the Volga and Ural Rivers ), then north and east along
14214-610: The larger units. In mowing or harvesting operations, the CVT allows the forward speed of the equipment to be adjusted independently of the engine speed; this allows the operator to slow or accelerate as needed to accommodate variations in the thickness of the crop. Hydrostatic CVTs are used in small- to medium-sized agricultural and earthmoving equipment. Since the engines in these machines are typically run at constant power output (to provide hydraulic power or to power machinery), losses in mechanical efficiency are offset by enhanced operational efficiency. For example, in earthmoving equipment,
14352-589: The latter waterway to its source in the Ural Mountains . At this point he proposed that mountain ranges could be included as boundaries between continents as alternatives to nearby waterways. Accordingly, he drew the new boundary north along Ural Mountains rather than the nearby and parallel running Ob and Irtysh rivers. This was endorsed by the Russian Empire and introduced the convention that would eventually become commonly accepted. However, this did not come without criticism. Voltaire , writing in 1760 about Peter
14490-501: The maximum speed is significantly lower than other pulley-based CVTs. The sliding plates will slowly wear over years of usage. Therefore the plates are made longer than is needed, allowing for more wear before the chain must be refurbished or replaced. Constant lubrication is required and so the housing is usually partially filled with oil. Toroidal CVTs, as used on the Nissan Cedric (Y34) , and those built by CVTCORP, consist of
14628-567: The millennium. The Roman Republic ended in 27 BCE, when Augustus proclaimed the Roman Empire . The two centuries that followed are known as the pax romana , a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity and political stability in most of Europe. The empire continued to expand under emperors such as Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius , who spent time on the Empire's northern border fighting Germanic , Pictish and Scottish tribes. Christianity
14766-402: The motor is usually fixed in diameter (or sometimes with discrete steps to allow a selection of speed ranges). The operator adjusts the speed of the drill by using a hand wheel that controls the width of the gap between the pulley halves. A tensioner pulley is implemented in the belt transmission to take up or release the slack in the belt as the speed is altered. Europe Europe
14904-408: The motor to turn more rapidly. Another method is to employ a variable displacement pump . When the pump is configured for low displacement, it produces a low volume of oil flow, causing the hydraulic motor(s) to turn more slowly. As the pump's displacement is increased, a greater volume of oil flow is produced for any given engine RPM, causing the motor(s) to turn faster. Advantages of
15042-687: The northwest ( Asturias ) and largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees . This territory, under the Arabic name Al-Andalus , became part of the expanding Umayyad Caliphate . The unsuccessful second siege of Constantinople (717) weakened the Umayyad dynasty and reduced their prestige. The Umayyads were then defeated by the Frankish leader Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732, which ended their northward advance. In
15180-479: The originally Persian name Frangistan ("land of the Franks ") is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa . Clickable map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly used continental boundaries Key: blue : states which straddle the border between Europe and Asia ; green : countries not geographically in Europe, but closely associated with
15318-459: The output disk to the center of the input disk. The output direction can also be reversed by moving the output disk past the center of the input disk. The transmission on early Plymouth locomotives worked this way, while on tractors using friction disks, the range of reverse speeds was typically limited. Still in development, the magnetic CVT transmits torque using a non-contact magnetic coupling. The design uses two rings of permanent magnets with
15456-509: The output pulley via tension in the belt (a "pulling" force), while others use compression of the chain elements (where the input pulley "pushes" the belt, which in turn pushes the output pulley). Positively Infinitely Variable (PIV) chain drives are distinct in that the chain positively interlocks with the conical pulleys. This is achieved by having a stack of many small rectangular plates in each chain link that can slide independently from side-to-side. The plates may be quite thin, around
15594-486: The output shaft can freely rotate, like an automotive transmission in neutral) due to providing high back-driving torque. Other IVTs, such as ratcheting types, allow the output shaft to freely rotate. The types of CVTs which are able to function as IVTs include epicyclic, friction-disk, and ratcheting CVTs. In 1879, Milton Reeves invented a CVT (then called a variable-speed transmission ) for use in sawmilling. In 1896, Reeves began fitting this transmission to his cars, and
15732-444: The poetry devoted to it. An alternative view is that of Robert Beekes , who has argued in favour of a pre-Indo-European origin for the name, explaining that a derivation from eurus would yield a different toponym than Europa. Beekes has located toponyms related to that of Europa in the territory of ancient Greece, and localities such as that of Europos in ancient Macedonia . There have been attempts to connect Eurṓpē to
15870-581: The power transfer is fully hydrostatic). This arrangement reduces the load on the hydrostatic portion of the transmission when in the forward direction by transmitting a significant portion of the torque through more efficient fixed gears. A variant called the Integrated Hydrostatic Transaxle (IHT) uses a single housing for both hydraulic elements and gear-reducing elements and is used in some mini-tractors and ride-on lawn mowers . The 2008–2010 Honda DN-01 cruiser motorcycle used
16008-461: The pump and motor, to prevent the sudden changes in speed possible with direct hydraulic coupling. Subsequent versions included fixed swash plate motors and ball pumps. The 1996 Fendt Vario 926 was the first heavy-duty tractor to be equipped with a IVT transmission. It is not the same thing as a hydrostatic CVT. Over 100,000 tractors have been produced with this transmission. CVTs have been used in aircraft electrical power generation systems since
16146-412: The pump's output back to the reservoir through an adjustable valve. With such an arrangement, as more oil is diverted by opening the valve, the effective displacement of the pump is reduced and less oil is delivered to the motor, causing it to turn more slowly. Conversely, closing the valve will reduce the volume of oil being diverted, increasing the effective displacement of the pump and causing
16284-473: The realisation of the European Union (EU), which represents today the majority of Europe. The European Union is a supranational political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation and is based on a system of European treaties . The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. A majority of its members have adopted
16422-503: The remote regions of north-western Iberia and the middle Pyrenees the power of the Muslims in the south was scarcely felt. It was here that the foundations of the Christian kingdoms of Asturias , Leon , and Galicia were laid and from where the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula would start. However, no coordinated attempt would be made to drive the Moors out. The Christian kingdoms were mainly focused on their own internal power struggles. As
16560-652: The rollers determines the transmission ratio. In an epicyclic CVT (also called a planetary CVT), the gear ratio is shifted by tilting the axes of spherical rollers to provide different contact radii, which in turn drive input and output discs. This is similar in principle to toroidal CVTs. Production versions include the NuVinci CVT . Several hybrid electric vehicles —such as the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and Ford Escape Hybrid —use electric variable transmissions (EVTs, sometimes eCVT) to control
16698-525: The state of the Golden Horde with headquarters in Crimea, which later adopted Islam as a religion, and ruled over modern-day southern and central Russia for more than three centuries. After the collapse of Mongol dominions, the first Romanian states (principalities) emerged in the 14th century: Moldavia and Walachia . Previously, these territories were under the successive control of Pechenegs and Cumans. From
16836-420: The traditional shortcomings of CVTs, and allow a CVT transmission to be paired with a more powerful engine. The transmission is monitored and regulated by Audi 's "Dynamic Regulating Programme" (DRP), which tracks the driver's inputs (from how the driver applies the throttle pedal), driving conditions, and engine load - to compute the optimal gear ratio for fuel efficiency or maximum performance, as mandated by
16974-429: The user. The transmission can select pre-programmed underdrive to increase performance, or overdrive to improve economy. From 2004, Multitronic transmissions offered manual selection of a 'sport mode' to pre-select the performance mapping. The electronic system also includes sensors to detect whether the vehicle is traveling downhill, and provides additional engine braking in such circumstances. Multitronic also offers
17112-407: The waterways connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea . Islands are generally grouped with the nearest continental landmass, hence Iceland is considered to be part of Europe, while the nearby island of Greenland is usually assigned to North America , although politically belonging to Denmark. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions based on sociopolitical and cultural differences. Cyprus
17250-551: The west and the north, transmitting newly acquired skills in producing copper artifacts. In Western Europe the Neolithic period was characterised not by large agricultural settlements but by field monuments, such as causewayed enclosures , burial mounds and megalithic tombs . The Corded Ware cultural horizon flourished at the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic . During this period giant megalithic monuments, such as
17388-523: The west continued to decline, Roman traditions and the Roman state remained strong in the predominantly Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire , also known as the Byzantine Empire . During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Emperor Justinian I presided over Constantinople's first golden age: he established a legal code that forms
17526-506: The western shore of the Aegean Sea . As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BCE by Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni River on the territory of Georgia ) in the Caucasus, a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. Herodotus mentioned that
17664-712: The widespread use of pottery—began around 7000 BCE in Greece and the Balkans , probably influenced by earlier farming practices in Anatolia and the Near East . It spread from the Balkans along the valleys of the Danube and the Rhine ( Linear Pottery culture ), and along the Mediterranean coast ( Cardial culture ). Between 4500 and 3000 BCE, these central European neolithic cultures developed further to
17802-609: The world had been divided by unknown persons into three parts—Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa)—with the Nile and the Phasis forming their boundaries—though he also states that some considered the River Don , rather than the Phasis, as the boundary between Europe and Asia. Europe's eastern frontier was defined in the 1st century by geographer Strabo at the River Don. The Book of Jubilees described
17940-410: The world. The place name Evros was first used by the ancient Greeks to refer to their northernmost province, which bears the same name today. The principal river there – Evros (today's Maritsa ) – flows through the fertile valleys of Thrace , which itself was also called Europe, before the term meant the continent. In classical Greek mythology , Europa ( Ancient Greek : Εὐρώπη , Eurṓpē )
18078-673: The world. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers colonised at various times the Americas , almost all of Africa and Oceania , and the majority of Asia. The Age of Enlightenment , the French Revolution , and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally, politically, and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution , which began in Great Britain at
18216-422: Was legalised by Constantine I in 313 CE after three centuries of imperial persecution . Constantine also permanently moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul ) which was renamed Constantinople in his honour in 330 CE. Christianity became the sole official religion of the empire in 380 CE, and in 391–392 CE the emperor Theodosius outlawed pagan religions. This
18354-454: Was a Phoenician princess. One view is that her name derives from the Ancient Greek elements εὐρύς ( eurús ) 'wide, broad', and ὤψ ( ōps , gen. ὠπός , ōpós ) 'eye, face, countenance', hence their composite Eurṓpē would mean 'wide-gazing' or 'broad of aspect'. Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and
18492-597: Was eventually absorbed into Russia several centuries later. The period between the year 1000 and 1250 is known as the High Middle Ages , followed by the Late Middle Ages until c. 1500. During the High Middle Ages the population of Europe experienced significant growth, culminating in the Renaissance of the 12th century . Economic growth, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, made possible
18630-401: Was offered on front wheel drive -only versions of the Audi A4 , Audi A5 , Audi A6 , and the SEAT Exeo with the 2.0 TSI gasoline engine. It is not compatible with the quattro four-wheel drive system, nor transverse engine installations such as in the Audi A3 . At first, the (model 01J) torque limit was 310 newton-metres (229 lbf⋅ft ), but the later model 0AW transmission
18768-457: Was originally intended for use in the commercials only, but after they aired the demand for Wackel-Elvis grew among fans and the figure was mass-produced in China and marketed by Audi in their factory outlet store. Continuously variable transmission A continuously variable transmission ( CVT ) is an automated transmission that can change through a continuous range of gear ratios . This contrasts with other transmissions that provide
18906-461: Was patented in 2014. A hydrostatic CVT uses an engine-driven, positive-displacement pump to deliver oil under pressure to one or more hydraulic motors , the latter creating the torque that is applied to the vehicle's driving wheel(s). The name "hydrostatic CVT," which misuses the term " hydrostatic ," differentiates this type of transmission from one that incorporates a hydrodynamic torque multiplier ("torque converter") into its design. In
19044-495: Was the first crisis that would strike Europe in the late Middle Ages. The period between 1348 and 1420 witnessed the heaviest loss. The population of France was reduced by half. Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines, and France suffered the effects of 75 or more in the same period. Europe was devastated in the mid-14th century by the Black Death , one of the most deadly pandemics in human history which killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe alone—a third of
#8991