A hydraulic control unit configured to improve energy efficiency is provided. The hydraulic control unit is comprised of: a feeding passage that delivers fluid from at least any of an oil pump and an accumulator storing hydraulic pressure to an actuator; a draining passage that discharge the fluid from the actuator to a drain spot; and a discharging means that is configured to selectively discharge the fluid from the actuator to the accumulator through the feeding passage, if the fluid has to be discharged from the actuator and a pressure of the accumulator is lower than that of the actuator.

A CVT 6 (FIG. 9) comprising of two substantially identical CVT 4's. Each CVT 4 comprises of two cones that are coupled by a transmission belt. The driving cones of the CVT 4's are mounted on a common shaft, and the driven cones of the CVT 4's are mounted on a common shaft. For each CVT 4, one of its cones is mounted on its shaft using an adjuster, which uses an indexing mechanism, that can lock or release the rotational position of its cone relative to the shaft it is mounted. Each CVT 4 has a tense side tensioning/support pulley and a slack side tensioning/support pulley (FIG. 6) which can provide and remove slack as needed to allow for axial position changing of a cone for all operating conditions of their CVT without breaking/excessively stretching a transmission belt.

A transmission controller searches a mechanical High, which is a minimum value of a possible speed ratio of the continuously variable transmission (CVT), based on an actual speed ratio, sets a control High lower than the mechanical High by a predetermined amount, and controls a speed ratio of the CVT by setting a minimum value of a speed ratio range of the CVT at the control High.

A Flexible Ramp for a Cone Assembly that uses a Torque Transmitting Member; said Cone Assembly uses a Transmission Belt that has its teeth shaped below its belt. Said Flexible Ramp can ideally raise a Leveling Extension of said Torque Transmitting Member or a Non-Torque Transmitting Member from a base surface of a Cone of said Cone Assembly to a raised surface of said Cone, for all pitch diameters of said Cone Assembly. When said Leveling Extension is positioned on a raised surface, it can support the teeth of said Transmission Belt; even-though the teeth of said Torque Transmitting Member have tooth bases, and said Non-Torque Transmitting Member has a base surface for the teeth of said Transmission Belt; since the thickness of said tooth bases and said base surface can be compensated by the height of the raised surface on which said Leveling Extension is positioned.

A Flexible Ramp for a Cone Assembly that uses a Torque Transmitting Member; said Cone Assembly uses a Transmission Belt that has its teeth shaped below its belt. Said Flexible Ramp can ideally raise a Leveling Extension of said Torque Transmitting Member or a Non-Torque Transmitting Member from a base surface of a Cone of said Cone Assembly to a raised surface of said Cone, for all pitch diameters of said Cone Assembly. When said Leveling Extension is positioned on a raised surface, it can support the teeth of said Transmission Belt; even-though the teeth of said Torque Transmitting Member have tooth bases, and said Non-Torque Transmitting Member has a base surface for the teeth of said Transmission Belt; since the thickness of said tooth bases and said base surface can be compensated by the height of the raised surface on which said Leveling Extension is positioned.

A system for managing and accommodating variations in the operational interfaces involved in the linkage of segmented gears that expand radially, to include improvements to the mounting and articulation of the segment portions of the gear and subsystems for controlling and ameliorating the effects of linear variations in the plane of rotation and variations in the coordinated changes in the radius of multiple segmented gears in a linkage system with the incorporation of a microprocessor.