Simulation of Engine's Structure Borne Noise Excitation due to the Timing Chain Drive

Due to durability and lifetime requirements, the timing drive systems of modern passenger car engines are often equipped with chain drives. Chain driven systems are usually more critical in view of NVH compared to synchronous belt-drives. Mainly the polygonal effect and the related phenomena, like impacts caused by the meshing between the chain-links and impacts in the engagement/disengagement regions of guides and sprockets, lead to an increased excitation of the engine's structure. Since the polygonal effect occurs with the meshing frequency, the excited vibrations are basically narrow banded and can finally be recognized as an annoying whine-noise.

This paper describes the modeling (MBS) of the entire timing-drive system containing a bushing-chain-drive, camshafts and all connected single valve trains. The investigations carried out are mainly focused on the primary dynamics of the chain drive and the forces which are transferred to the engine's structure. A comparison with measurements serves to assess the validity of the MBS-Model used in view of the primary chain-drive dynamics and induced structural excitation.