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      07-22-2012, 09:26 AM   #84
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Drives: 2009 135i
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Location: Indianapolis

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike649 View Post
If I understand correctly, a significant difference between eLSD and LSD is that with eLSD torque is never transferred from one wheel to the other as is the case with LSD. eLSD uses open diff which by design splits torque 50-50 between the two wheels all the time. Therefore when the eLSD system controls slippage by braking, it results in pure loss of energy. Whereas, an LSD controls slippage by transferring power between the two wheel.
Applying brake force to one wheel on an open diff does actually transfer torque to the other wheel. The real point is to keep any given wheel from spinning freely, which can actually just raise engine RPM without increasing vehicle speed. When a wheel spins you waste some energy just accelerating the engine and drivetrain components.

Yes, some energy is lost as heat in the brakes, but it's not 100% loss in the way you are thinking.
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