The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1997
Alan Zhao, Columbus, IN (US);
Thomas E Reinhart, Columbus, IN (US);
Kwin R Abram, Columbus, IN (US);
Mark A Zen Ruffinen, Columbus, IN (US);
Paul A Hayes, Columbus, IN (US);
Cummins Engine Company, Inc., Columbus, IN (US);
Abstract
An improved engine gear drive train arrangement is provided which effectively minimizes the crankshaft torsional vibrations at the location of the gear train, for engines with a front gear train. A flywheel is resiliently connected to the rear end portion of the crankshaft so as to resiliently connect a driven unit to the crankshaft. An extra inertial device is connected to the front end portion of the crankshaft and includes an inertia so selected as to cause a nodal point of the first torsional vibration mode of the crankshaft to be located in the vicinity of the crank gear to minimize the amplitude of torsional deflection of the crankshaft at the crank gear. Also, the device for resiliently connecting the flywheel to the rear end portion of the crankshaft may include resilient members positioned in cavities formed by engaging rings. The nodal point of the first torsional mode of the crankshaft is optimally positioned close to the crank gear by selecting an inertia for the rear mounted flywheel, an optimum inertia for the front mounted inertial device and a resilient material for the flywheel connecting device having the appropriate stiffness, so that the combination of these features achieves the desired nodal point positioning for a given engine or application.