Gear Rattle during a start-up transient in a driveline equipped with a tuneable torsional Vibration Damper with Magneto-Rheological Elastomers

The paper reports a numerical investigation on the dynamic behaviour of a vehicle driveline, equipped with a Torsional Vibration Damper (TVD) based on Magneto-Rheological Elastomeric (MRE) spring elements, during the start-up transient considering an abrupt manoeuvre of clutch engagement. The TVD device consists of a flywheel and a damper disk, with interposed some elastomeric samples which react for relative angular displacements of the two disks. The dynamical parameters of the TVD can be properly tuned by varying the magnetic field surrounding the MRE springs to mitigate the torsional oscillations of the flywheel, causes of many undesired inconveniences as critical speeds or vibro-acoustic issues. The present study promotes the use of the MRE torsional vibration damper to reduce the annoying vibroacoustic phenomenon of “gear rattle” arising in the unloaded gear pairs of the gear box, during and after the rapid clutch engagement transients in the vehicle start-up phase and is conducted on a simplified automotive driveline equipped with a dry clutch. The possibility of quickly tuning the mechanical properties of the MRE-TVD, makes this device particularly eligible for suppressing the above disturbance, adapting to the various operative conditions of the automotive driveline. Results of the analysis, by the help of a Gear Rattle Index (GRI), demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed device in reducing the vibroacoustic phenomenon during the transient phases of the vehicle start-up, until the vehicles speed conditions are reached.

Characterization of Nonlinear Rattling Behavior of a Gear Pair Through a Validated Torsional Model

Dynamic response of a gear pair subjected to input and output torque or velocity fluctuations is examined analytically. Such motions are commonly observed in various powertrain systems and identified as gear rattle or hammering motions with severe noise and durability consequences. A reduced-order torsional model is proposed along with a computationally efficient piecewise-linear solution methodology to characterize the system response including its sensitivity to excitation parameters. Validity of the proposed model is established through comparisons of its predictions to measurements from a gear rattle experimental set-up. A wide array of nonlinear behavior is demonstrated through presentation of periodic and chaotic responses in the forms of phase plots, Poincaré maps, and bifurcation diagrams. The severity of the resultant impacts on the noise outcome is also assessed through a rattle severity index defined by using the impact velocities.

An experimental methodology to study engine gear rattle problems

Gear induced noise represents a major part of overall automotive drivetrain noise. Gear rattle noise is caused by strongly nonlinear dynamic behavior of the gear pair, primarily due to external torque of speed fluctuations under lightly loaded conditions. Such loading conditions cannot be generated by using the conventional gear dynamics test set-ups that employ power recirculating gearbox arrangements or conventional electric motors. In this paper, a new test set-up is introduced to emulate the actual torque/velocity fluctuations of the input and/or output members of a gear train through three-phase synchronous servo-motors. In addition to establishing backlash boundaries, a pair of absolute encoders are used to measure the relative motions of the gears as well as their impacts along the drive and coast sides flanks or gears. Torsional vibratory behavior of a gear pair is presented at different backlash values under several input/output fluctuation conditions along with the companion sound pressure measurements.

Optimization on Nonlinear Dynamics of Gear Rattle in Automotive Transmission System

Recently, gear rattle noise is gradually becoming a nonignorable issue involving comfortableness in automotive transmission for a car. Generally, the rattle noise is influenced by nonlinear dynamic of multiple pairs of idler gears in the multistage gear transmission system. Optimization methods based on nonlinear rattle dynamic analysis are worthy of further study to control the noise. In this research, an equivalent rattle dynamic model of the idler gear is proposed, and the nonlinear rattle dynamic responses are solved based on the integral method. The effect laws of key factors on nonlinear dynamic performance are investigated by using a bifurcation diagram, spectrum map, and Poincaré map. Finally, the gear backlash, equivalent mass, and rotational speed are optimized based on Kriging surrogate model (KSM) and differential evolution (DE) algorithm by taking the minimization of the maximum rattle noise as the optimal object. It can be concluded that the rattle dynamics of the idler gear show rich nonlinear characteristics as the parameters change. The proposed method can not only reduce the sound pressure level of rattle noise but also provide a viable path and reference value for the low-noise design of the gear transmission system.

An Analytical Investigation of Rattle Characteristics of Powder Metal Gears

This study employs an analytical model of a gear pair with transverse-torsional dynamics that allows analysis of single-sided, double-sided, and random rattle situations to contrast rattle characteristics of isotropic PM gears with a baseline steel gearset. This model utilizes time-varying gear mesh stiffness and transmission error as the internal excitation sources and time-varying operating torque as an external excitation. The gear rattle performance of PM gears is investigated under different torque conditions and operating speeds. The system kinetic and potential energy is assessed as an evaluation tool that can indicate the severity of different rattle conditions. The dynamic response of two different versions of an existing PM gear design are compared with a baseline traditional steel gear.