Personal Project Pitch

Geared CVT for RC Cars

The Problem

The issue I’m trying to fix is within remote controlled cars. While these models can be fun and somewhat technically advanced, they’re often limited in two key performance areas: power and speed. This is due to several intentional inefficiencies in their drivetrains and motor setups for cost savings. More specifically, these problems stem from three main issues: fixed gear ratios that don’t adapt to changes in speed causing bottlenecked motors that can’t operate optimally across all conditions. And poor acceleration dynamics, issues that cause consumer grade RC cars to feel slow while professional examples often cost up to 10 times as much.

The Solution

To solve this, I designed a gear system that acts like a Continuously Variable Transmission often found on economy cars. This system allows the gear ratio to shift smoothly from 2.8 down to as low as 0.4. It’s controlled either automatically using a variety of sensors or manually using a switch mounted on a controller, giving the car much better performance and efficiency. In the video one can see how by adjusting the arms one can gain or lose leverage based on what the conditions require.

Conclusion

This device is a cheap and reliable way for enthusiasts around the world that don’t have the time or technical expertise to understand and manually adjust gear ratios to extract more performance on their RC cars. My solution allows for easy installation and use on many cars with very little technical knowledge or tools. A massive innovation for the hobby car market!