Practical Optimisation of Novel Continuously Variable Transmission Design

Advanced optimisation techniques have been empirically successful in hundreds of applications; however their complexity often means they are not utilised by individuals from other disciplines whom do not necessarily have the correct background or time to fully understand their potential. Whilst these techniques perform exceptionally well on test problems designed to catch out simpler optimisation approaches, in practical situations they are not always necessary. This presentation presents a remarkably simple optimisation technique that has been successfully used to improve the specific efficiency and general characteristics of a novel transmission system. Results are compared to a canonical genetic algorithm and discussed in relation to practical considerations.