除了不用关闭引擎能让汽车停下以外,扭矩转换器事实上在汽车起步加速时输出更大的扭矩。现代的扭矩转换器能够把引擎的扭矩放大两到三倍。当引擎的转速比变速箱转的快时,扭矩转换器能够输出比引擎大的扭矩来了。
在更高速时,变速箱的速度就渐渐追上引擎的转速了。最终两者的速度就很接近了。当然最好是相同,因为若是转速不同,就有能量损耗。这也就是为什么自动档的车比手动要耗油的原因之一。
为了解决这个问题,有些汽车上的扭矩转换器上有一个锁止离合器。当扭矩转换器的两半转速相近时,锁止离合器就把它们联起来,这样它们之间就没有滑动,提高了传动效率。
原文有笔误,更正如下:
In addition to the very important job of allowing a car come to a complete stop without stalling the engine, the torque converter actually gives the car more torque when you accelerate out of a stop. Modern torque converters can multiply the torque of the engine by two to three times. This effect only happens when the engine is turning much faster than the transmission.
At higher speeds, the transmission catches up to the engine, eventually moving at almost the same speed. Ideally, though, the transmission would move at exactly the same speed as the engine, because this difference in speed wastes power. This is part of the reason why cars with automatic transmissions get worse gas mileage than cars with manual transmissions.
To counter this effect, some cars have a torque converter with a lockup clutch. When the two halves of the torque converter get up to speed, this clutch locks them together, eliminating the slippage and improving efficiency.