Modelling of the rotational vibrations of the engine front-end accessory drive system: a generic method

Abstract

To investigate the rotation vibration dynamics of the pulleys and the tension arms, and to estimate the vibrations of the belts and the slip ratio between the belt and the pulleys in the engine front-end accessory drive systems, a systematic modelling and analytical method is proposed for engine front-end accessory drive systems; this can be used for modelling engine front-end accessory drive systems with different layouts and different numbers of tensioners, including automatic and fixed tensioners. In the modelling, the rotational pulleys are classified as fixed-axis pulleys and moveable-axis pulleys (such as the pulley in the tensioner). Moreover, the belt spans are classified as the belt spans between the two fixed pulleys, and the belt spans adjacent to the pulley of a tensioner. The equations of motion for each type of pulley and the tension calculation equations for each type of belt span are developed. In this way, the equations of motion for all the pulleys and the tensioner arms can be obtained easily, irrespective of the layout of the tensioners. To obtain the dynamic rotational vibration responses of an engine front-end accessory drive system by the conventional Runge–Kutta method, high-efficiency algorithms or methods are also proposed for calculating the tangent-point coordinates between a belt and the adjacent pulleys and the belt length of the contact arc on one pulley. The proposed modelling and analysis methods are validated by modelling different layouts of the engine front-end accessory drive systems with different types and numbers of tensioners, and also by comparisons between the calculated dynamic vibration responses of the pulleys and the belts and the real experimental data.