NVH Development of Lightweight Polymer Engines Oil Pans for Gasoline

The increased demand to reduce cost and weight is forcing engine manufacturers to replace some metal under hood components with high performance polymers. The use of these materials has often been avoided in this type of applications due to concerns around their long-term strength and temperature performance. In particular, the materials of choice for the oil pans in the gasoline engines, at the present time, are aluminum and stamped steel.

This paper presents a case study to evaluate the NVH performance of a plastic oil pan designed to replace a stamped steel pan in a gasoline engine. Emphasis is given to the design features and material characteristics that were considered to achieve the required NVH performance. Experimental data, presented in this paper, demonstrates that an optimally designed thermoplastic oil pan achieved equal or superior NVH performance while providing substantial weight saving which plays a critical role in improving fuel efficiency along with potential cost advantage.