Ikona Gear Announces Frictionless CVT Clutch and Differential

23 October 2006

Ikona Gear International, a developer of compact, lightweight, gearing systems, announced it has developed a frictionless continuously variable transmission clutch (CVT Clutch) initially for use in the automotive industry. In addition, the company has developed a frictionless CVT Differential.

Both technologies offer potential energy savings in automotive and industrial applications relative to existing clutch, torque converter, and differential applications. The company has filed two new provisional patents for the CVT Clutch technology and the frictionless CVT Differential.

The Ikona CVT Clutch, enabled by the company’s patented gearing system, can replace the friction-based clutch system in manual transmissions and also, when applied with hybrid-enabled vehicles, can replace the torque converter normally attached to an automatic transmission.

The Ikona CVT Differential is a frictionless, limited slip/locking differential which recuperates energy normally lost to heat in traditional limited slip units. A conventional differential allows different rotation speeds of the driving wheels; therefore if one wheel loses adhesion when it hits an icy patch, it will start to race and the torque will decrease to zero. The Ikona differential maintains some torque applied to the non-slipping wheel, and if the slipping wheel does not rotate too quickly, the non-slipping wheel continues to rotate in the forward direction and the vehicle motion is maintained. Ultimately the new differential can be applied to steering systems with electronic controls.

We have presented the new technologies to our business and technology partners and have already received significant interest. The automotive industry’s current focus is on efficiency, economy and the environment, and we are confident our new technologies will assist them in addressing these important issues as they will provide significant energy savings and added value when used in hybrid-enabled vehicles.

—Ikona CEO and President Laith Nosh;

Ikona’s core technology is a gear design that has achieved a difference of one tooth between the internal and external gear. As a result, the Ikona gear is capable of much higher gear ratios, much higher meshing and gear contact ratios, than competing involute technology.