Evaluation of the Oldham-Coupling-Type Balancer on a 90° V6 Engine

This paper describes the effectiveness of an Oldham-coupling-type balancer in reducing the first- and second-harmonic rotating unbalance couples of a 90° V6 even-firing engine. It is shown that the prototype balancer can be configured to eliminate the residual, first-harmonic rocking couple usually remaining in a conventionally balanced 90° V6 engine. Further, the Oldham-coupling-type balancer can be used to reduce the elliptical second-harmonic rotating couple to a horizontal rocking couple. The power consumption of the balancer was measured to be approximately 0.35 kW at 2000 r/min and 1.5 kW at 4500 r/min.