So is the oneway clutch between the engine and the planet gearset of the planetary? I cant find it, I did read somewhere that it had one.

 

With ICE off at 39 MPH, the generator is spinning ~6000 RPM.
When ICE is running at 1500 RPM, at 40 MPH, the generator is ~500 RPM.

During a FAS ( Engine Off, key to run, without a start ) at 43 MPH, the generator was spinning ~6700 RPM in a test I ran.

The RPM's of the Generator Motor go up in a linear fashion, when the ICE is off.

At 70 MPH with ICE off, the Generator would be at ~11,000 RPM.

P.S. Who's got a document or link to the max. permissible generator RPM's? If it's 12,000, then we probably have our answer why you can tow.
If the Max. Permissible is 7000 RPM, we still have a mystery.

P.P.S. The Traction Motor is permitted to 13,000 RPM at 102 MPH per the Ford Powertrain Control / Emissions Diagnostics Manual.
( For Gary, since he's gonna wonder, it specifically says 3900 RPM at 30 MPH and 7000 RPM at 55 MPH, so draw a graph Gary, and extend the lines to 102 MPH and you will get 13,000 RPM, since the TM must spin according to wheel speed. ) If the TM can spin 13,000, maybe the generator can too?

 

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/640...18&stemming=on

The engine 14 and generator 16 are interconnected by use of a conventional planetary gear set 20, including a carrier 22, a sun gear 24 and a ring gear 26, which is operatively coupled to drive line 28. System 12 further includes a conventional one-way clutch 30 which is operatively coupled to the output shaft 32 of engine 14, and a brake or clutch assembly 34 which is operatively coupled to generator 16. A conventional electrical energy storage device 36 (e.g., a battery or other electrical energy storage device) is operatively coupled to generator 16 and motor 18. Battery 36 receives and provides power from/to generator 16 and provides power to/from motor 18


http://www.freepatentsonline.com/679...34&stemming=on
This invention is a method and system to disconnect drive wheels from the powertrain of any electric powered vehicle. A vehicle controller monitors input from, for example, an inertia switch and electric motor generator conditions and can disconnect the output shaft from the drive wheels in predetermined vehicle conditions such as during a rear-end collision, or abnormal electric motor conditions such as over-torque, over-temperature, or over-current. The invention can be configured to monitor and respond to driver demand for four-wheel drive, two-wheel drive, and neutral tow. The disconnect device can comprise a disconnect actuator and joint attached to an axle disconnect. The axle disconnect can be electric or vacuum powered and positioned as a center disconnect or a wheel-end disconnect. The invention can be configured for conventional or limited slip axles.

GaryG

 

Here is a chart that shows Generator RPM relative to vehicle speed and Engine RPM. This holds true any time the vehicle has power. This holds true in any gear position, including Neutral.

Examples are for EV ( top line ) then going down in increments of 1000 ICE RPM.
Notice the "ideal" band is around 2000 RPM engine speed. (orange) -John

 

Now, I've been restarting the ICE for over 6 months now exceeding 60mph at times after Key-Off FAS. How does your calculations account for that?

GaryG

 

That tells me you are spinning your generator at ~9400 RPM when you key off at 60 MPH. It appears this has not disabled your vehicle.... yet.
So maybe there is not a speed limit for the generator?

 

As Gary shows... its entirely possible it has one.... but many patents are never used, sometimes they are just ideas that are come up with that are used to block competition from doing certain things or to gain access to license fees or patents. To me I'd still love to see it mentioned in a shop or technical manual for substantiated proof. I'm not saying it doesn't have one. I frankly have no way to know myself.

I will say, however, that it seems awfully nasty to have the motors spinning like mad when one is towing the vehicle. I mean at that point, isn't it true that the water pumps would not even be going because the vehicle is off. So how are these motors and bearings being cooled while they freewheel? Admittedly there is no electrical heat being created but at 70 MPH...they are spinning like mad.

 

Tim, it is in the Workshop Manual and I've pointed that out many times. When you look at the separate eCVT section in the manual, it states what all positions PRNDL do when each is selected. It is stated more than once throughout the manual. Here is what it says word for word:

Neutral

With the range selector in NEUTRAL:

* no power flows through the transmission.

* the output shaft is disengaged from the drive wheels.

end quote Page 307-01B-2

Before GreenFEH pointed out the patent on Wheel-End Center Axle Disconnect to me, I though the output shaft was the drive shaft of the engine. The One-Way Clutch could be what the manual is talking about, and the patent may be for future designs. The patent describes "Prior Art" being what GPSman1 describes with the electric motors, and until I locate the disconnect, this is what were dealing with. I have read where it says the traction motor engages the ring gear as if the engagement is physically located within the eCVT. Another consideration is the location of the Parking pawl within the eCVT. Any disengagement would have to be engaged passed the parking pawl in order to lock up the wheels also. If the engagement occurs with the traction motor locking up with the ring gear, the parking pawl could very well be on the intermediate shaft within the eCVT.

The first patent I quoted Hybrid electric vehicle with limited operation strategy is part of the design of the FEH and the Ford Engineer has been credited for this FEH patent in articles I've read. The drawings of eCVT in this patent are unique to the other many FEH patents I've read. Notice the additional gear sets pass the main planetary gear set which the ring gear is connected. This is the gear arrangement found in all FEH patents that I'VE confirmed through articles on the FEH. The patent Wheel-end and center axle disconnects for an electric or HEV uses the drawing of the FEH eCVT in that patent also, but I have no link to an article on the FEH.

There are other questions why the FEH can be towed all wheels down, and no other eCVT can. You can't start the other eCVT vehicles in neutral like the FEH can be. It all maybe linked to the unique One-Way Clutch design in the FEH, but when the owners manual states you can tow the FEH up to 75mph, a disconnect would make sense.

GaryG

 

I think we may eventually lead to the conclusion, there is a difference between towing "key off, power off" and coasting in Neutral "power on".
But you still can't dis-regard the fact the motors spin during a FAS.
Maybe you need to come to a dead stop before things can separate?

-John

 

Thanks for the first part... no problems there, I was just thinking that such a post from the workshop manual would prove your point better if you had one.... and yeah... The comments about all that metal flying around and no cooling ... I'd have to agree.. some sort of disconnect makes sense.