JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564

A study on internal flow field of automotive torque converterFthree-

dimensional flow analysis around a stator cascade of automotive
torque converter by using PIV and CT techniques
Yasunori Kunisakia, Toshio Kobayashib, Tetsuo Sagab, Nobuyuki Taniguchib,
Shigeki Segawab, Kouji Kajitania, Takao Fukunagaa, Tomohiro Tasakaa
a
Research and Development, Engineering Headquarter, EXEDY Corporation, 1-1-1, Kidamotomiya, Neyagawa-shi, Osaka 572-8570, Japan
b
University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Received 5 April 2001; received in revised form 30 May 2001

Abstract

The internal flow field around the stator of an automotive torque converter is investigated experimentally in this study by using
particle image velocimetry (PIV). The objective of this investigation is to understand the flow field around the stator that plays an
important role in enhancing the characteristics of the torque converter performance. Computerized tomography (CT) technique was
applied to analyse the three-dimensional flow field using a series of two-dimensional PIV results obtained from two orthogonal
directions. The three-dimensional data obtained in this study is utilized to improve the performance of the torque converter through
the optimal design of the stator. The experimental results obtained in this way can be used to validate the accuracy of computational
fluid dynamics (CFD). r 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

1. Introduction taking into consideration the design of the torque

The automotive torque converter is one of the most
important component parts in the automotive transmis-
sion. The torque converter consists of three elements,
impeller, turbine and stator, as shown in Fig. 1. The
torque converter has several basic functions. The
function of creep starting and continuous speed varia-
tion provides smooth take-off and better acceleration
performance. The damping function reduces the engine
torque fluctuation, which improves noise and vibration
of the drive train. Since transmission efficiency of the oil-
driven torque converter is less than that of the
mechanical clutch system, the fuel consumption rate of
vehicles that have an automatic transmission system is
lower than those having a manual transmission.
Recently, the need for lower fuel consumption and
higher acceleration performances of vehicles has been
strongly emphasized from the point of energy conserva-
tion and environmental problems. It is well known that
the characteristics of the hydrodynamic performance of
the torque converter significantly affect the above
performances of vehicles. Further, the demand to reduce
the axial space of the power train is rapidly increasing by
converter, such as designing the shape of the torque
converter in elliptic shapes, enlarging space for the lock-
up clutch and the damper. To satisfy these demands, it is
necessary to optimise the design of the three-dimen-
sional shape of the blades and the flow passages of the
torque converter. In order to attain this goal of an
optimal design, it is necessary to understand the details
of the fluid behavior appearing in the flow passages,
such as the separation and the secondary flow.
With the assistance of the most advanced computers,
CFD analysis has been widely used to predict the flow
characteristics of torque converters [1–7]. However,
since the results obtained by CFD still have limits in
showing the actual flow phenomena of the torque
converter with high accuracy, the validation of the
results obtained by CFD is still strongly dependent on
the results obtained by actual experiments. Several
experimental analyses on the torque converter were
made to measure the velocity field of the inside flows of
the impeller turbine and the stator by laser Doppler
velocimetry (LDV) [8–12]. PIV was also used to measure
the flow field around the stator [13]. Design procedure of
the torque converter was also proposed by the use of

0389-4304/01/$ 20.00 r 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 3 8 9 - 4 3 0 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 3 2 - 1 JSAE20014511
560 Y. Kunisaki et al. / JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564

Fig. 1. Torque converter.

experimental results [14]. As a measurement tool in

experiments, LDV shows the highest accuracy among Fig. 2. Plexiglass torque converter for visualization.
other measurement techniques. However it requires a
large amount of time in measuring the whole flow field
and in understanding the flow structures of interests.
Since PIV is able to capture the whole velocity field over
the whole flow fields instantaneously and simulta-
neously, using the PIV technique has enlightened the
possibility of probing the whole flow properties of the
torque converter. Previous studies using PIV technique
were restricted to the two-dimensional results on the
flow around the stator.
In the present study, a three-dimensional analysis on
the flow around the stators is made using PIV and CT
techniques not only for the goal of constructing the
database which completely reveals the flow phenomena
in the torque converter but also providing some physical Fig. 3. Torque converter for measurement in containment box.
information to the validations of CFD codes.

2. Plexiglass torque converter and experimental

apparatus

The torque converter for visualization is shown in

Fig. 2. This is one of our products, a standard elliptic
type torque converter. Each part was machined by NC
machine on a block of colorless transparent Plexiglass
and they were assembled together. In order to minimize
the influence of refraction of the laser sheet scattering
and bending, an oil whose refractive index (index
reflection of oil: 1.4815 at 20.41C) is nearly the same
Fig. 4. Measurement region on stator.
as that of the Plexiglass (index of reflection: 1.49) was
used. In the experiment, the temperature of working oil
fluid is carefully controlled to 20.470.51C. To minimize
the effects of the reflection of the wall curvature, the and cruising. All measurements were made under
entire torque converter was submerged in a Plexiglass steady state conditions. The representative Reynolds
box filled with the same oil, as shown in Fig. 3. number was estimated at 7100 using the radius of the
The measurement region for the flow around the flow passages’ geometric mean, the mean flow velocity
stator is shown in Fig. 4. The input shaft rotating speed of the impeller outlet calculated from one-dimensional
is 400 rpm. The flow fields were measured in the cases of analysis and the kinetic viscosity (at 20.41C) of the
speed ratio 0.05, 0.3 and 0.8, in order to measure flow working fluid. The axial length of the stator in this case
properties under the conditions of stall, acceleration is 15 mm.
 Y. Kunisaki et al. / JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564 561

3. PIV method and system

3.1. PIV measurement principle

The benefits of PIV become greatest when it is applied

to the analysis of the flow phenomena of the fluid
machineries. It can measure the whole velocity field of
two-dimensional flow fields without disturbing the flow
itself and can reveal the global structures of complicated
and/or unsteady flow fields quantitatively [15]. In the
present study, the direct cross-correlation method [16]
that is most widely used in much PIV research
concerned in fluid mechanics was used for calculation Fig. 6. Schematic of experimental setup.
of velocity vector.
The flow field is seeded with fine tracers and is
visualized with a laser light sheet (LLS). The reflected
lights from the fine tracers appear in the form of gray
levels on the images captured by CCD camera. Two
consecutive images are captured to get the information
of the displacement of the same tracers’ group or
pattern. The small interrogation regions are defined in
the two consecutive images at the time T and T þ DT as
shown in Fig. 5. The terminal point of the first image’s
tracer group or pattern in the second image is decided
when the cross-correlation coefficient rðp; qÞ represented
by the Eq. (1) is a peak value:
rð p; qÞ ¼
R
ð f ðx; yÞ  fmean ðx; yÞÞðgðx; yÞ  gmean ðx; yÞÞ dv
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
R R :
ð f ðx; yÞ  fmean ðx; yÞÞ2 dv ðgðx; yÞ  gmean ðx; yÞÞ2 dv
ð1Þ Fig. 7. Schematic of experimental setup.

Here, f ðx; yÞ and gðx; yÞ imply the distribution of

the gray levels in the above interrogation region, and
fmean ðx; yÞ and gmean ðx; yÞ imply the mean value in the Fig. 7. It consists of a transparent torque converter for
same interrogation region. Eventually, the velocity at visualization, an input dynamometer used to drive the
point pðx; yÞ is calculated from the displacement between impeller of the torque converter and an eddy current
pðx; yÞ and qðx; yÞ: dynamometer used to absorb the turbine power.
Dual pulse Nd–YAG lasers were used to supply
3.2. PIV measurement system pulsed laser sheets to illuminate the flow fields. A cross-
correlation CCD array camera was used to capture the
A schematic of the experimental setup is shown in images. The dual pulse Nd–YAG lasers and the CCD
Fig. 6. The measurement equipment setup is shown in camera were controlled by a synchronizer control
system. The PIV images captured by the CCD camera
were digitized by an image processing board, then the
data were transferred to a workstation for image
processing and the results were displayed on a desk
top monitor. Tracers having the specific gravity, 0.9,
which is nearly same as that of oil, 0.8895, were used to
obtain better tracing ability. The resolution of the
images obtained in this experiment was 0.05 mm/pixel.
The thickness of the laser sheet was about 2 mm. The
time interval Dt between two consecutive images was
50 ns. The PIV images obtained were divided into
32  32 pixel interrogation regions. In this case, the
Fig. 5. Principal of particle image velocimetry (PIV). spatial resolution corresponded to 1.6  1.6 mm. The
562 Y. Kunisaki et al. / JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564
average number of tracer particles appearing in the
interrogation region was about 30.
A sub-pixel interpolation was made to get the last
velocity vectors and a statistical method was adopted to
eliminate the erroneous vectors.
3.3. Method of three-dimensional flow filed
reconstruction
In order to obtain the quantitative three-dimensional
time-averaged information of the flow field, two sets of
the two-dimensional planes’ data, which were obtained
from the orthogonal directions as shown in Fig. 8, were
used. In Fig. 8, X2Y plane was used to capture the
main flow and Y2Z plane was used to capture the
secondary flow.
Fig. 9 shows the scanning system of LLS for the two-
dimensional PIV measurement. The LLS was moved to
the radius direction (Y direction) to measure the X2Z
plane, and was moved to the main flow direction
(X direction) to measure the Y2Z plane. The whole
flow fields were measured stepwise by scanning the
whole measurement region with a laser light sheet. The
Fig. 8. Method of three-dimensional flow field measurement (two
orthogonal planes).
Fig. 9. Laser scanning for two measurement planes: (a) on X2Z
plane, (b) on Y2Z plane.
spatial movement of the object planes was made with
1 mm pitch by the use of a traverse system by which the
laser head was moved.
The distribution of time averaged velocity vectors was
obtained from the distribution of 200 instantaneous
velocity vectors of the flow field at each plane. Finally,
the CT technique was applied to reconstruct the three-
dimensional flow filed by using these two-dimensional
PIV data obtained from the two sets of the two-
dimensional planes at the two orthogonal directions.
4. Measurement results and consideration
4.1. Secondary flows around stator cascade
The profiles of the secondary flow vectors at
various speed ratios are shown in Fig. 10. These vector
fields were viewed from upstream. The results were
obtained in the plane of 3.0 mm downstream, at which
the flow characteristics were conspicuously different
from each other according to the changes of the speed
ratio.
It can be said that the velocity profiles of the
clockwise secondary flow near the core-pressure region
and the flow separation near the shell side of the suction
region are clearly generated in the case of the speed ratio
0.05. In the case of the speed ratio 0.3, it can also be said
that a circulation in the same direction as in the case of
the speed ratio 0.05 is conspicuously seen. However, no
Fig. 10. Profile of secondary flow velocity vectors at three speed ratios:
(a) speed ratio 0.05, (b) speed ratio 0.3, (c) speed ratio 0.8.
 Y. Kunisaki et al. / JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564
circulation can be found and the flow field from pressure
side to suction side becomes uniform at high value of the
speed ratio 0.8. The measurement results obtained at the
other upper stream planes that are not shown in this
paper also showed the same flow pattern qualitatively. It
was proved that the clockwise secondary flow circula-
tion generated in the stator mid-chord and other
vortices generated in the whole flow passages had
gradually disappeared corresponding with the increase
of the speed ratio.
4.2. Meridional velocity distribution around stator
The meridional velocity distributions at various speed
ratios are shown in Fig. 11. These vector fields are
viewed from upstream. The data were sampled at the
plane of 3.0 mm downstream of the tip of the stator at
which the flow characteristics were conspicuously
different according to the changes of the speed ratio.
From the time averaged velocity distributions, it can
be said that the reversing flow region is observed near
the pressure core region and it spreads over the pressure
region, and the local reversing flow exists near the shell-
suction side in the case of the speed ratio 0.05.
The reversing flow is also observed near the pressure-
core region in the case of 0.3. However, the flow patterns
were more uniform without any reversing flow at the
higher speed ratio 0.8. It can be inferred from the time
averaged velocity distribution that a high speed flowing
Fig. 11. Meridional flow velocity distribution at three speed ratios: (a)
speed ratio 0.05, (b) speed ratio 0.3, (c) speed ratio 0.8.
563
region near the core-suction side and a low speed
flowing region near the shell side appeared in the case of
the speed ratio 0.05. A high speed flowing region is seen
over the whole negative pressure region, suction side,
from the shell side to core side in the case of the speed
ratio 0.3. A fairly uniform flow, except for the boundary
layer, can be seen at the speed ratio 0.8.
4.3. Stream lines
The stream lines at various speed ratios are shown in
Fig. 12. Since the leading edge profile of the stator blade
plays an important role in obtaining an optimal design
of the shape of the stator, stream lines from the position
of 3.0 mm upstream of the leading edge to downstream
were visualized as shown in Fig. 12. The flow patterns of
the upstream near the starting points of the stream lines
are slightly inclined toward the shell side due to the tilted
flows coming from the turbine exit at each speed ratio. It
is estimated that the clockwise secondary flow of the
stator blades mentioned in the previous section is the
reason for this.
In the case of the speed ratio 0.05, it can be said that
the stream lines near the core side are elongated along
the stator blade profile and the stream lines near the
shell side are separated from the stator blade. It can be
said that the flow separation illustrated with the
secondary flow in Fig. 10 and the low speed region at
the shell-suction side, as shown in Fig. 11, are strongly
dependent on the above flow patterns. The same
tendency could also be found at the speed ratio 0.3.
The flow field was uniform and smooth in the case of the
speed ratio 0.8. The inlet flowing angle of the stator in
the case of the speed ratio 0.8 becomes the reverse in the
cases of the speed ratios 0.05 and 0.3.
5. Conclusions
In this study, the three-dimensional flow character-
istics around the stator of the torque converter were
Fig. 12. Stream lines at three speed ratios: (a) speed ratio 0.05, (b)
speed ratio 0.3, (c) speed ratio 0.8.
564 Y. Kunisaki et al. / JSAE Review 22 (2001) 559–564
quantitatively analyzed by an experimental analysis
using the PIV technique. The CT technique was
successfully applied to reconstruct the three-dimensional
flow field using the two sets of two-dimensional PIV
data at the orthogonal series of planes, and the three-
dimensional flow behavior of the whole flow field
around the stator of the torque converter was quantita-
tively depicted. It was verified that this kind of analysis
technique is very useful to understand the three-
dimensional flow behavior to improve the hydrody-
namic performance of the converters. The following are
the summaries of the results obtained in this study:
(1) The generation of the clockwise secondary flow in
the stator mid-chord is due to the inlet flow
condition which can not be constructed so easily
by the most widely used computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) software (standard k2e model).
(2) At the plane (Y2Z) of 3.0 mm downstream from
the leading edge of the stator blade, the reversing
flow could be found near the pressure-core and the
shell-suction region in the case of the low speed
ratio 0.05. The reversing flow was also observed
near the pressure-core region in the case of the speed
ratio 0.3. However the reversing flow could not be
observed in the case of the high speed ratio 0.8.
(3) The three-dimensional separation vortex could be
found near the core-suction region at the low speed
ratios 0.05 and 0.3, but the separation flow was not
seen in the case of the high speed ratio 0.8. It is
considered that this separation is due to the inclined
flows coming into the shell side from the turbine
exit.
(4) In the cases of the low speed ratios, the stream lines
near the core side were uniform and smooth along
the stator blade profile and the stream lines near the
shell side were separated from the stator blade. In
the case of the high speed ratio 0.8, the flow field
was uniform and smooth along the stator blade
profile in all the passage near both the shell and the
core sides.
(5) However, there was small flow diffraction near the
core side while the diffraction became larger near
the shell side in the cases of the low speed ratios 0.05
and 0.3. It is estimated that this phenomenon has a
strong influence in generating the separation flow
and the reversing flow that were seen in the cases of
the low speed ratios 0.05 and 0.3.
The three-dimensional data obtained in this study are
useful not only for the improvement of the performance
of the torque converter but also for the validation of the
accuracy of the CFD code.
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