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It's all we did, we'd just call it a fluid coupling. We'd also lose lots of energy because of all that churning loss. But we don't do that and we don't call it that. The reason we call it a torque converter is because that other little contraption we mentioned, the stator. The stator sits between the impeller and the turbine, and that minimizes the churning loss.

You know what else it does? It converts torque. The stator actually increases torque output by redirecting the fluid. The stator blades have aggressively sharp angles. You see how aggressive and sharp those angles are on the blades of the stator? You can think of the liquid being sent out of the impeller like it's water coming out a garden hose hitting the turbine.

But when the stator's in there and spinning, it acts like your thumb being placed over part of the end of that garden hose. Now, the liquid being sent off the impeller is shooting off those sharp angled blades, and the stator can only move in one direction. It's actually now making the turbine spin faster than the impeller.

Got any idea what that's doing? It's increasing torque! It's a torque converter! It's all about using viscous force, which was also my nickname in high school. The stator's also got this nifty one-way clutch, so when you're at a dead stop and the engine's turning the impeller, it's not moving.

It only gets going when the liquid hits it, and when the impeller and turbine are going around the same speed, it's now moving too, creating less resistance to liquid because less torque is needed. Now let's look at the torque converter clutch. This is basically a lockup clutch. It's the equivalent of popping it into fifth in a five-speed manual.

It fits around the turbine inside the torque converter housing. Remember those two fans that I can afford? (somber music) The one with power blew the one without the power, but we lost some power in the process. That happens because the impeller drives fluid to drive the turbine. You're always gonna lose a bit of energy to that fluid.

But at a certain point, the fluid pressure builds up enough and the speed of the impeller and turbine are close enough, and that causes this clutch to lock the turbine into place making it a part of the torque converter housing along with the impeller.

Now you're at cruising speed, and these springs help to dampen that shift, just like the springs we saw on the clutch plate in a traditional clutch. Christian Koenigsegg said he approached torque converter manufacturers and nobody was interested in producing what he wanted at a low volume, and some of them couldn't even understand what he was trying to do.

So he built his own hydraulic coupling to the extreme! It's got crazy fins all over it. It's super lightweight, made entirely out of machined aluminum. It can be opened or closed or locked up completely. It's not needed for the vehicle to function, but it is necessary to attain that mind-blowing acceleration.

The Regera's basically in seventh gear all the time. When you're at a dead stop and you start to accelerate, the electric motors are driving the rear wheels directly. Then, between 20 and 30 miles an hour, the combustion engine takes over. The hydraulic coupling steps in, and it begins that torque converter effect.

While the torque converter's increasing the torque from the combustion engine, thanks to the turbine, the electric motor of the crank shaft well, that's increasing torque as well, and that allows the Koenigsegg Regera to go from zero to 250 in 20 goldarn seconds. Koenigsegg says, if you just had the combustion engine on this car, it'd go zero to 60 in seven seconds. Just leaving the rear wheel electric motors, you'd go zero to 60 in four.

But the combination with the torque converter is what allows it to go from zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds, or as much as the wheel grip allows. He reinvented the hybrid electric and reimagined the old tech of the fluid coupling, torque converter, to help do it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go buy a third fan. Torque converters! Thanks for watching this episode of Science Garage, guys. We can't do this without you. Subscribe to Donut. Hit this beautiful globe. Check out this Up to Speed on Koenigsegg. Check out this Wheel House on cop cars. Follow Donut on Twitter and Instagram @donutmedia. Follow me @bidsbarto. We got new merch coming out. Sign up on our email list at shop.donut.media. Don't tell my wife what I did with the fans.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(cars zooming)- How does a Koenigsegg Regera,a car without a transmission,get to over 250 miles an hour?With a torque converter.- Just move.- Who's that-- what now?How'd that car stop without stalling out?Doesn't even have a clutch!That's un-possible!Well I'm gonna give you zero guesses how.That's right, it's a torque converter.The basic function of a transmission,whether it's manual or automatic,is to transfer power to thedrive shaft and drive wheelsof a vehicle.It also makes sure thatthe speed and torqueof the drive wheels syncwith the speed of the engineso that everything's copasetic.In order to shift gears or come to a stop,something has to interrupt the connectionbetween the constantly spinning engineand the sometimes moving drive shaft.If you stop the drive wheelsand there's no clutch,the engine dies.In a manual transmission,you can engage the clutchand that disconnects the engineshaft from the drive shaftso the engine can spin independently.An automatic transmissiondoesn't have a clutch.It has a torque converter.Okay, real quick, let's hiton the Koenigsegg Regera.You know, only one of thesweetest cars on the planet.Maybe you heard of it?The Regera is a hybrid super carthat has 15,000 horsepower.- What?- That has 1,500 horsepowerand can hit 250 miles an hour.It's got a twin turbo V8 combustion engineand three electric motorsbut no transmission,so there's a combustion enginegoing directly to the rear wheels.Each output shaft of the rear wheelsgets their own electric motor,and there's one more electricmotor on the crank shaftuses a starter, agenerator, a torque adder,a power adder, and it can beused to charge the battery.You wanna take a guessas to what sits betweenthe combustion engineand the drive unit?Yup!It's a torque converter.Koenigsegg likes to callit a hydraulic coupling,but we know what it is.It's a torque converter.A torque converter is afluid coupling system.That's a hydrodynamic deviceused to transmit rotatingmechanical power.Letting the car come to a stopwhile keeping the engine runningisn't all that a torque converter can do.It's also got a secret functionthat not a lot of people know about.- Spooky spooky.- It also converts torque.I know, right?(applause)Torque converter.Torque converters multiplyengine torque output,transferring the power from the engineto the transmission input shaft,and they drive the pumpof the transmission.That's all pretty important stuff.All right, so let's take alook at one of these suckers.I know what you're thinking.Looks like a UFO.But most UFOs are bluish.(crash)This is the torque converter housing.It's bolted to the flywheel,so it turns at whateverspeed the engine's turning.Inside this torque converterare four main components.We have the impeller, thestator, and the turbine,and on newer cars, we alsofind a torque converter clutch.Okay, let's start with the impeller.It's named after the firstvampire, Vlad the Impeller.It's got fins all over it, see?The impeller is weldedonto the inside of thetorque converter housing,so the impeller spins with the engine.There's transmission fluid in here,and while the impeller is spinning,these fins catch the liquidand throw it outward.The impeller essentiallyacts like a centrifuge.I'm sure you know how finscan fling a liquid out.You think of a blender.A little blade spins at the bottom,but it spins so fast, itcan shoot your smoothieall the way up the sides and out.And that's centrifugal force.And that's centrifugal force.Cen-centrifugguh vuss?Now imagine that blenderturned horizontally,and the whole thing's spinning.That's how the fins inthe torque converter work.Or, maybe it's more like a salad spinnerwhere the whole thing spins.Well, whatever.The next component's the turbine.The turbine in a torqueconverter is loosely mountedbecause it's gotta be driven.The impeller is the driver,and the turbine gets drove.And the turbine is splinedto the input shaft of the transmission,so insie the torque converter,the impeller is sending fluid out,and that is driving the turbine,which is then sending thatliquid down to the impeller,which sends it back to the turbine,and so on and so on andso on and so on and so onand so on and so on andso on and so on and s...(wormhole sound effect)Well anyways.Let's say I've got two fans,and not just because I wanna show youthat I can afford two fans,but because we're gonnado a demonstration.This fan is gonna bepowered by electricity.Nolan.That's really getting going.But look what's going on here.The unplugged fan withno power is also moving.All right, now I'm gonna do another trick.I'm gonna stop this fanwith my bare bart hands.Thee?So, the nonpowered one is stopped.Now I'm gonna let it go.(applause)And it's moving again.This is what happens whena car comes to a stop.The impeller always has power,because it is connected to the engine.The impeller's supplyingpower to the turbine,which is connected to the transmission,which controls the drive shaft.When you brake, all thatstops is the turbine.So we don't have to cutoff power to the engine.And then, when you're ready to go again,you let off the turbine bytaking your foot off the brake,and you let it receive allthat sweet sweet power.And also, keep in mindthat I can afford two fans.That was fantastic.Now if this was all thetorque converter did,and don't get me wrong, that's a lot!But if it's all we did, we'djust call it a fluid coupling.We'd also lose lots of energybecause of all that churning loss.But we don't do that andwe don't call it that.The reason we call it a torque converteris because that other littlecontraption we mentioned,the stator.The stator sits between theimpeller and the turbine,and that minimizes the churning loss.You know what else it does?It converts torque.The stator actuallyincreases torque outputby redirecting the fluid.The stator blades haveaggressively sharp angles.You see how aggressiveand sharp those angles areon the blades of the stator?You can think of the liquidbeing sent out of the impellerlike it's water coming out a garden hosehitting the turbine.But when the stator'sin there and spinning,it acts like your thumbbeing placed over part ofthe end of that garden hose.Now, the liquid beingsent off the impelleris shooting off those sharp angled blades,and the stator can onlymove in one direction.It's actually now makingthe turbine spin fasterthan the impeller.You got any idea what that's doing?It's increasing torque!It's a torque converter!It's all about using viscous force,which was also my nickname in high school.The stator's also gotthis nifty one-way clutch,so when you're at a dead stopand the engine's turning the impeller,it's not moving.It only gets going whenthe liquid hits it,and when the impeller and turbineare going around the same speed,it's now moving too, creatingless resistance to liquidbecause less torque is needed.Now let's look at thetorque converter clutch.This is basically a lockup clutch.It's the equivalent ofpopping it into fifthin a five-speed manual.It fits around the turbineinside the torque converter housing.Remember those two fans that I can afford?(somber music)The one with power blewthe one without the power,but we lost some power in the process.That happens because theimpeller drives fluidto drive the turbine.You're always gonna lose abit of energy to that fluid.But at a certain point, thefluid pressure builds up enoughand the speed of the impellerand turbine are close enough,and that causes this clutchto lock the turbine into placemaking it a part of thetorque converter housingalong with the impeller.Now you're at cruising speed,And these springs helpto dampen that shift,just like the springs wesaw on the clutch platein a traditional clutch.Christian Koenigsegg saidhe approached torqueconverter manufacturersand nobody was interestedin producing what he wantedat a low volume, and some of themcouldn't even understandwhat he was trying to do.- What is this?- So he built his own hydrauliccoupling to the extreme!It's got crazy fins all over it.It's super lightweight,made entirely out of machined aluminum.It can be opened or closedor locked up completely.It's not needed for thevehicle to function,but it is necessaryto attain that mindblowing acceleration.The Regera's basically inseventh gear all the time.When you're at a dead stopand you start to accelerate,the electric motors are drivingthe rear wheels directly.Then, between 20 and 30 miles an hour,the combustion engine takes over.The hydraulic coupling steps in,and it begins thattorque converter effect.While the torque converter'sincreasing the torquefrom the combustion engine,thanks to the turbine,the electric motor of the crank shaft,well, that's increasing torque as well,and that allows the Koenigsegg Regerato go from zero to 250in 20 goldarn seconds.Koenigsegg says, if you justhad the combustion engineon this car, it'd go zeroto 60 in seven seconds.Just leaving the rearwheel electric motors,you'd to zero to 60 in four.But the combination withthe torque converteris what allows it to go fromzero to 60 in 2.8 seconds,or as much as the wheel grip allows.He reinvented the hybrid electricand reimagined the oldtech of the fluid coupling,torque converter, to help do it.Now if you'll excuse me, Igotta go buy a third fan.Torque converters!Thanks for watching thisepisode of Science Garage, guys.We can't do this without you.Subscribe to Donut.Hit this beautiful globe.Check out this Up to Speed on Koenigsegg.Check out this Wheel House on cop cars.Follow Donut on Twitterand Instagram @donutmedia.Follow me @bidsbarto.We got new merch coming out.Sign up on our emaillist at shop.donut.media.Don't tell my wife whatI did with the fans.