Roller One-Way Clutch System Resonance

Driveline vibration is usually associated with friction clutch dynamics. However, the roller One-Way Clutch (OWC) can also be a source of vibration. The OWC has two basic operational modes: 1) Engaged, and 2) Freewheel. In this paper we will develop a means to predict the freewheel-mode resonant response of a roller OWC system. The study begins by making some fundamental simplifying assumptions, which lead us to an equivalent OWC system spring rate, kowc. The roller OWC system is then modeled as a simple mass-spring-mass system, from which the application of appropriate boundary conditions yield the desired fundamental resonant frequencies. This analysis method is then applied to a number of roller OWC systems, and the results are compared to numerical simulation and experimental results.